Experience-based environmental education and significant life experiences that influence environmental action among Filipinos

Collective action and the active participation of people are needed to chart a path toward a more sustainable future in the face of environmental crises. Environmental education is a key strategy for encouraging people to do their part in protecting the environment. The study applies the significant life experiences research in the Philippine context through in-depth, virtual interviews with young environmentalists. The results indicate that while formal education can be effective in deepening technical competencies, non-formal and informal approaches tend to have great importance at different stages of a person’s life in influencing environmental action. The study found that there is a potential “life path” of target personal outcomes that can lead toward environmental action, starting with appreciation and awareness, followed by analysis and action, and the key to this progression is a person’s ability to reflect and derive meaning from their experiences. The most important finding of the study is the importance of immersion in communities and the power of relationships with both people and nature as drivers and sustaining factors for environmental action among young Filipinos. The academe and civil society, through environmental organizations and other influential groups, can play a pivotal role in creating genuine life experiences with communities and healthy environments to supplement current environmental education strategies found in academic spaces.