An Analysis of the Native North Americans' Environmental Views by Reorganized Ecocentrism and the Implications for Environmental Education

생태주의 환경관의 재구성을 통한 북미 원주민의 생태주의 환경관 분석과 환경교육점 시사점

This study started from the need to change the technocentric view of environment into the ecocentric one to overcome ecological crisis today. Thus, the purposes of this study are to reorganize characteristics of ecocentrism, to analyze ecocentrism of Native North Americans as a realistic model, and to finally find suggestions to environmental education. The results of this study can be summarized as follows; Frist, the ecocentric perception on relationship between human beings and nature pursues co-existence through harmony and balance based on holistic understandings. And the ecocentric perception on relationship among human beings attempts to preserve environment by overcoming rule structure among them. The ecocentric perception on relationship between human beings and spirituality is to set life goals to achieve spirituality rather than to pursue material life. Second, Native North Americans have a holistic world view that human beings and nature are an inseparable one through the symbol of 'the Sacred Circle'. They also lived simple lives which satisfies vital needs instead of pursuing material lives in terms of the perception on relationship among human beings. When it comes to the perception on relationship between human beings and spirituality, they feel sacredness from all things in daily life and want to have peaceful relationships with their own inside through spirituality toward 'Mother Earth'. Third, the ecocentrism of Native North Americans make suggestions that environmental education confirm again what roles of human beings are in ecosystem, and that it helps students develop ecological sensitivity by giving them many opportunities to go to field trips. Furthermore, environmental education helps them positively think about and actively choose simple life. In addition, it has to be designed to help students seek sacredness in daily life through ecological imagination. This study has values of newly organizing characteristics of each ecocentric idea by integrating it from complementary aspects, and pursuing direction of ecocentrism and its realistic possibility by analyzing the ecocentrism of Native North Americans as a model of ecological life.