Ecological Culture of the Person as an Object of Education

Ecology is a science that studies the interaction of a person with the surrounding natural environment. Man, as is known, is an integral part of nature and is inextricably linked with it. Ancient people perfectly understood this, they worshiped nature, she was their main wet nurse. Today such an attitude may seem ridiculous. Since ancient times, thousands of years have passed, mankind has moved far ahead in terms of science and technology, but has not yet learned to manage the natural elements and has not fully studied many of its phenomena. Some modern scientists believe that human civilization is on the verge of destruction, and it will destroy itself. Pollution of atmospheric air by poisoning emissions from numerous plants and factories, leading to an increase in cancer patients around the world, melting glaciers, leading to a rise in the level of the world's oceans, a reduction in the diversity of the animal world due to the extermination of many animal species - is this not the "beginning of the end"? Today, environmental problems worry humanity as never before, in many educational institutions, along with natural history and geography, children are told about the environment and problems of environmental pollution, more often on scientific television channels one can hear the term "ecological culture".

Ecological culture is a part of universal culture and is expressed in the perception of a person as an integral part of the surrounding natural world. In recent years, the interest of scientists and teachers to explore the main problems of environmental education of the younger generation has increased. Today, in schools, children are told not only that "it is not good to throw garbage and to kindle bonfires in the forest", ecological education implies the comprehensive development of schoolchildren, the formation of their humane attitude to nature and to people who are its integral part. The concepts of "ecological culture of the individual" and "ecological culture of man" are identical, because they both reflect the relation of the individual to the world around him.

Not the least role in the ecological education of children is played by the family, because the child's first ideas about the world around him are formed not in the school period, but much earlier. It is at the preschool age that a child receives initial ideas about various life forms and first impressions of nature . Ecological culture of the child should be formed from early childhood. This can happen only on one condition: if adults themselves are environmentally educated and have the opportunity to show their kid the diversity of the beautiful surrounding world and help to establish relationships with him. Unfortunately, in our country many families are not able to give the child elementary education, not to mention the culture and its components.

Famous teachers Vasily Sukhomlinsky, Nikolai Versilin, Anatoly Zakhlebny made a great contribution to the development of ecological education of Russian children. In the 1990s, Russian teachers and psychologists attempted to develop special approaches to the ecological education of the younger generation. The result of their successful work was the emergence of a large number of training programs: "Discover yourself" by E. Ryleeva, "We Are Earthmen" A. Veresova, "Semichvetik" SG and V. I. Ashikov, etc.

At present, there is no doubt that the ecological culture is an integral part of the general education of the future generation. However, today there are many unresolved questions in this area of education: what exactly and how to teach schoolchildren, what problems should the child learn about earlier, what later, what should be the requirements for the environmental preparation of students, etc.?