Environmental Interpretation

The compounding elements of toxic releases make teaching and learning about them difficult. For example, toxic releases have multifarious source/sink dynamics, high-stakes risk profiles, complex timelines and passionate stakeholders with conflicting concerns and objectives. Furthermore, the environmental and health-related impacts of hazardous releases are difficult to pin down and challenging for scientists to communicate to stakeholders. As a result, the management of toxic releases and associated processes of risk reduction and policy development are difficult to explore in conventional classroom settings. Toxic Release is a high-touch educational game created by students and faculty at SUNY Plattsburgh. The simulation is designed to overcome barriers to teaching and learning about toxics and environmental governance. The project is supported by the Environmental Protection Agency’s (EPA) Toxics Release Inventory (TRI) University Challenge, an outreach program intended to spur creative research and education about the threats posed by hazardous pollutants. This brief pedagogical report outlines the history and details of the TRI, describes EPA’s TRI University Challenge program, and outlines the learning objectives of Toxic Release as well as preliminary observations about the project’s outcomes.

This paper deals with the pivotal role of tour guides for connecting visitors with nature. The guides can introduce outsiders to a specific natural assets, forests, savannah, marine reserve, providing specific in-situ information about a certain biome, ecosystem, landscapes, while raising awareness of and respect for nature. As an example, bush tucker or a wildlife encounter mediated by guides can be a fascinating experience in getting to know about a local forested area by using the senses. Reconnection with nature is important for a better understanding of the intrinsic values and of the environmental services the natural environment offers to us; notions which more than often are not clearly perceived in our modern, highly urban-based and industrialized society. The paper examines the instrumental (tour management), mediatory (experience management), and interpretive (resource management) roles of guides. The paper offers an original approach and comprehensive understanding on the theme by critically appraising this tourism niche. It provides a conceptual review of key aspects related tòguidingànd seeks to illustrate the case with some examples of guided tours in Australia. Methodologically, the paper is qualitative oriented.

In spite of being inserted in a civilization that strongly worships the images, the use of photography in environmental education is still little discussed in relation to the interpretation of images. Our work discusses the photographic insert in critical environmental education. We seek, through the educational process, the perceptive looks development - looks able to produce and understand photographs in a critical
perspective as representation of forms and spaces that compose people. This qualitative survey was guided for participatory methodologies and was chosen the
method photo - elicitation. Data were collected during a process of teachers’ education in a municipal school in Barra-BA, a community located in the Caatinga. We analyzed
these data with assumptions of semiotics and hermeneutics interpretation. We
observed that photography can play an important role for critical environmental education, constituting a transdisciplinary strategy, which is potentially sensitizer and a expressions of feeling and significance to human beings.

Contribution to a Bristol  seminar on Legibilities : Place,Identity and Design which discusses some of the methods used in a British consultancy project for the Brazilian conservation programme MONUMENTA. The aim was to develop a plan for the interpretation of heritage, in all its dimensions, in Recife's Old Town.

Paper outlining the potential - and problems - of heritage in the development process. Discusses the potential of environmental interpretation and interpretive planning. (An introduction to local decision-makers of a British consultancy project for the Brazilian conservation development agency MONUMENTA)

Fornlämningar var tidigare en del av människors vardagslandskap, de ingick i en närmiljö och omgärdades av traditioner, berättelser och var på så sätt symboler
både för den stora och för den lilla historien (Burström et al. 1996). Idag är hotet mot fornlämningarna det som ofta diskuteras, eller att de upplevs vara ett hinder för utvecklingen, både när det gäller privata och offentliga intressen. I den här artikeln är syftet att använda fornlämningsplatsen Pilane på Tjörn (Bohuslän, Sverige) som exempel för diskussioner om hur vi kan iscensätta, tolka och använda kulturmiljön. I artikeln kommer diskussionerna att röra sig om förhållandet arkeologi och konst hur den samtida konsten kan användas i arbetet
med att iscensätta en plats sett i motsats till skylten som trots allt är det vanligaste sättet att kommunicera arkeologi och historia i kulturlandskapet. Syftet är att också utifrån en praktik diskutera teoretisk tematik och på så sätt föra samman teori och praktik, något som ofta är separerad när det kommer till kulturmiljövårdens arbete med att tolka och levandegöra landskap och fornlämningar.

This handbook was constructed by Rob Thomas and Krishna Gopal Shrestha to teach natural history and natural hazards to Nepali mountain guides at the Khumbu Climbing Center in Phortse, Nepal. Given recent events, I thought it would be worth posting this PowerPoint for use by educators and Nepali guides. I hope it is of value.

Sustainable tourism is lauded for simultaneously benefitting local residents, tourists, and the environment.  Environmental interpretation is considered a vehicle for sustainable tourism as it minimizes the adverse environmental and social impacts of tourism by creating pro-environmental attitudes and behaviors. The purpose of this paper is to assess the effectiveness of interpretative tour guiding by comparing guided and non-guided tourists’ attitudes and behaviors. The data were collected from 230 visitors at the Annapurna Conservation Area, Nepal, using self-administered questionnaires. Results showed that the effectiveness of interpretation varies in relation to a number of ecological and socio-cultural attitudes and behaviors. The positive change in attitude and behavior indicated that interpretation can be an effective and desirable tool in sustainable tourism. The conditions when interpretation cannot produce desirable outcomes and the theoretical and managerial implications of study findings are also discussed.

The Iguassu Falls National Park, located in southern Brazil, has one of the most impressive waterfalls in the world and is one of the biggest natural attractions of Brazil. This Protected Area has the potential to join the Global Geoparks Network and to provide geotourism activities. Despite the great potential in terms of its geodiversity, the Park lacks informative and interpretative material about the Geological Heritage. To reverse this situation, the MINEROPAR (Geological Survey of the State of Parana) has been placing interpretative panels on Protected Areas and sites that have geological interest. The aim of the study was to verify the effectiveness of three interpretative panels implemented by MINEROPAR in the Park and, especially to ascertain whether or not they are meeting the expectations of visitors,. 300 questionnaires were distributed to the Park´s visitors. The methodology also encompassed field trips, consulting the available literature and contact with the managements of the Park and the concessionaires. The paper addresses aspects of environmental interpretation, interpretative resources (specifically on interpretative panels), about the Iguassu Falls National Park and finally the results are presented, based on the questionnaires. It was found that most visitors did not read the panel, but these who did so appreciated its content. In conclusion, considerations were made to improve the interpretation of the environment made with the help of interpretative panels.

O segmento de geoturismo, realizado em áreas naturais, é uma das modalidades que surge como uma forma de contraposição ao “turismo de massa” e também como forma de minimizar os impactos negativos ocasionados pelo homem ao realizar o turismo em ambientes naturais de maneira inadequada. A Interpretação Ambiental é considerada como parte da Educação Ambiental e seu papel fundamental é de estimular o ser humano a refletir a respeito do meio ambiente em que está visitando. Para que a Interpretação Ambiental possa ser realizada em algum local, esta depende dos meios interpretativos, sendo eles: guiados (personalizados) e autoguiados (não personalizados). Os painéis interpretativos são meios não personalizados (ou seja, não utilizam pessoas diretamente) bastante utilizados na Interpretação Ambiental, pois estão disponíveis a qualquer horário do dia. O Buraco do Padre é um atrativo turístico natural localizado no Município de Ponta Grossa a aproximadamente 24 km de distância do centro da cidade. Pelo fato do Buraco do Padre possuir diversas características de cunho geológico ser um local em que já vem ocorrendo visitação turística, possuindo infra-estrutura inadequada no que diz respeito à Interpretação Ambiental, é que o objetivo desta pesquisa foi estudar o local, destacar seus aspectos da geodiversidade e assim sugerir o segmento de geoturismo e painéis interpretativos para o local. A metodologia utilizada nesta pesquisa é qualitativa, que incluiu pesquisas bibliográficas e pesquisas in loco. Pode-se destacar as principais características do local, e são sugeridos os painéis e a localização para cada um deles. Assim, são propostos cinco painéis interpretativos e cada um deles abordará um tema em específico, sendo que três deles procuram explorar a questão dos aspectos da geodiverdidade, transmitindo informações de maneira simplificada a respeito das características do local para que os visitantes possam compreender melhor o ambiente em que estão inseridos.

PALAVRAS-CHAVE: Geoturismo, Painéis Interpretativos, Buraco do Padre.

The proponents of Environmental Interpretation generally draw a sharp distinction between "interpretation" and "education". The former they say occurs in informal learning settings such as national parks and heritage sites, whereas the latter pertains to formal, class-room learning. This paper argues that this distinction is only sustainable if one adopts a parochial and narrow view of both education and interpretation. In the light of Hans George Gadamer's hermeneutics the dichotomy between interpretation and education dissolves into culturally situated, reflexive and dialogical learning practices. That is, the difference between learning in 'informal' and 'formal' settings is shown to be a difference of degree not kind. It is also suggeted that Gadmaer's hermeneutics may point may help reconcile the contradictory tendencies of contemporary, social constructivist and situated socio-cultural perspectives on learning.

Keywords: Hermeneutics, Gadamer, Dialogue, Informal Learning, Environmental Education, Interpretation, Social Constructivism, Socio-cultural Learning Theory.

This article re-examines the theoretical basis for environmental and heritage interpretation in tourist settings in the light of hermeneutic philosophy. It notes that the pioneering vision of heritage interpretation formulated by Freeman Tilden envisaged a broadly educational, ethically informed and transformative art. By contrast, current cognitive psychological attempts to reduce interpretation to the monological transmission of information, targeting universal but individuated cognitive structures, are found to be wanting. Despite growing signs of diversity, this information processing approach to interpretation remains dominant. The article then presents the alternative paradigm of hermeneutics through the works of Schleiermacher, Dilthey, Heidegger and Gadamer, to provide a broader interpretation of interpretation. This not only captures the essence of Tilden's definition but construes heritage interpretation as a more inclusive, culturally situated, critically reflexive and dialogical practice.

Keywords: environmental interpretation; heritage tourism; hermeneutics; Gadamer;
Heidegger; Tilden