Mission

The mission of the Nova Scotia Envirothon is to develop knowledgeable and dedicated citizens who have an understanding of natural resources which will enable them to be prepared and willing to work toward achieving and maintaining a life which environmentally, economically, and socially sustainable. This is accomplished by instilling an understanding and appreciation of the principle and practices of natural resources management and ecology.

Goals

  1. To promote a desire to learn more about the natural environment and equip students with the knowledge and skills needed to apply the basic principles and practices of resources management and ecology to complex environmental issues.

    a) Students should be able to demonstrate a basic knowledge and analyze problem-solving activities of the following key areas: forestry, wildlife, soils and land use, aquatic ecology and current environmental issues.
  2. To promote stewardship of natural resources and to encourage the development of the critical thinking, cooperative problem-solving and decision-making skills required to achieve and maintain an environmentally, economically and socially balanced society.

    a) Students should be able to take into consideration environmental, economic and social factors when identifying and assessing environmental issues.
    b) Students should be able to investigate issues through comprehensive listening, collecting, organizing and analyzing information, framing appropriate questions, using resources and technologies and critically examining information from various sources.
    c) Students should be able to assess the nature of information from various viewpoints and evaluate their implications.
    d) Students should be able to evaluate alternative solutions to various issues with respect to the environment, economy and society.
    e) Students should be able to identify their own position on various issues and be able to back their position with balanced information, critical analysis and careful synthesis.
    f) Students should be able to evaluate the interactions of proposed solutions to various issues with environmental, economic and social factors
  3. To provide students with experience in environmentally-oriented activities, enabling them to becoming environmentally-aware, action-oriented citizens.

    a) Students should have knowledge of a wide range of action strategies involved in seeking solutions to environmental problems.
    b) Students should have knowledge of agencies and organizations that can used as resources to seek solutions to environmental problems.
    c) Students should be able to evaluate the impact of the own actions affecting a particular environmental problem and devise alternative courses of action toward mitigating the problem.
    d) Students should be able work independently and/or collaboratively to solve environmental problems.