Human-Environment Thinking and K-12 Geography Education

Abstract

Pollution issues, anthropogenic climate change, and biodiversity declines, formerly local in scope, accumulate to threaten crossing planetary boundaries and tipping Earth’s system to an uninhabitable state. The human-environment identity is an unsung cornerstone of geography that can educate upcoming generations of citizens about trends over time, current conditions, and pathways to a more desirable future. The geography education community should develop and apply human-environment thinking through tools like timelines and big ideas. We hope the geographic thoughts presented herein will provide a scholarly rationale for K-12 educators to consider as they design curricula to share human-environment geography with students.