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Ann Arbor, MI48106 NATURE AND CULTURE IN THAILAND: THE IMPLEMENTATION OF CULTURAL ECOLOGY IN ENVIRONMENTAL EDUCATION THROUGH THE APPLICATION OF BEHAVIORAL SOCIOLOGY A DISSERTATION SUBMITTED TO THE GRADUATE DIVISION OF THE UNIVERSITY OF HAWAII IN PARTIAL FULFILLMENT OF THE REQUIREMENTS FOR THE DEGREE OF DOCTOR OF EDUCATION IN EDUCATIONAL FOUNDATIONS MAY 1991 By Poranee Natadecha Dissertation Committee: Royal T. Fruehling, Chairperson Alice G. Dewey Anna M. Keppel Robert T. Bobilin Ralph K. Stueber James J. Harpstrite iii GV Copyright by Poranee Natadecha 1991 All Rights Reserved iv ACKNOWLEDGMENTS Many colleagues, friends, and family members made invaluable contributions to the research and writing of this dissertation. I am most grateful to everyone of them for kind and generous encouragement and assistance. Dr. Royal T. Fruehling, Chair of the Graduate Committee, a faithful and understanding friend as well as an outstanding director for this dissertation, was especially helpful in refining ideas about the theory of behavioral sociology. others on the committee --- Drs. Alice Dewey, Anna Keppel, Ralph Stueber, Robert Bobilin, and James Harpstrite, each helped with expertise, criticism, and clarification of concepts in personal discussions, with reading the draft of the dissertation, and during the defense examination. My husband, Dr. Leslie Sponsel of the Department of Anthropology, sacrificed time from his own work to type and edit the dissertation, discuss aspects of cultural ecology, and provide numerous references to the literature. v At various stages of my graduate program financial support was provided by an East-West Center grant as well as by Dai Ho Chun, Altrusa Club, and Phi Delta Kappa (Willis B. Cole) scholarships. An opportunity to serve as a Lecturer in the Philosophy in Schools Program, directed by Dr. Thomas Jackson of the Department of Philosophy, enabled me to apply some of my ideas in the classroom. Ms. Joyce Wright, Librarian Emeritus and a former Head of the Asia Collection in Hamilton Library, under whose direction I worked as a student assistant, introduced me to useful methods for my library research and, as a friend, provided encouragement throughout the writing. I am indebted to my parents, Aroon and Sumon Natadecha, for their care and guidance during my formative years; to my sisters, Mathana saengjindawong and Sriwalla SUkchot, and to my daughter, Vivaswan Verawudh, for providing a supportive environment which has contributed much to undertaking and completing this dissertation. vi ABSTRACT The usual approach to the solution of environmental problems is mostly limited to the treatment of their symptoms through the application of the natural sciences and technology. In this dissertation I argue that to solve present ones and prevent them in the future it is necessary for government, researchers, educators, and the pUblic to address their underlying causes. Environmental problems can only be effectively resolved by behavioral modification of the social behavior of individuals in society. One route for this is to present case studies of the long-term adversive consequences of maladaptive behavior to educate people about the underlying causes of environmental problems. Successive chapters of the dissertation study relevant aspects of environmental problems, cultural ecology and Buddhism in Thailand, behavioral sociology, and environmental education including environmental philosophy and environmental ethics. In the process of this study a philosophy of environmental education is developed including a theoretical framework which applies vii social learning theory from behavioral sociology to integrate cultural ecology as a central component in environmental education and curriculum development in Thailand. Social learning theory is also applied in cultural ecology to explain the mechanisms linking human actions to the environment. Content from the social sciences (especially cultural ecology) and humanities (environmental philosophy and ethics) must be integrated into environmental education if present environmental problems are to be solved and future ones avoided. In Thailand the mission of cultural ecology in the context of environmental education is to systematically explore, through casa studies, the perennial fundamental question of the relationship between society and nature including the concepts of culture and the ecological transition, in order to demonstrate the long-term adversive consequences of maladaptive behavior, and to illustrate the ecological wisdom of the environmental philosophy and environmental ethics inherent in Buddhist thought. viii TABLE OF CONTENTS ACKNOWLEDGMENTS •••••••••••••••••• eo. •••••••••••••••• i V ABSTRACT •.••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••• vi LIST OF TABLES .•.•.• $ •••••••••••••••••••••••••••••• X LIST OF ILLUSTRATION ...•.•......•.................. xi CHAPTER I INTRODUCTION ........................ 1 Environmental Problems 1 Present Research 19 CHAPTER II CULTURAL ECOLOGY AND BUDDHISM . 28 Key Concepts 28 CuItural Ecology 30 Ecological Transition ..............•. 33 Buddhist Ecology ..................••. 35 Cultural Ecology, Environmental Problems, and Education 69 CHAPTER III BEHAVIORAL SOCIOLOGY ~~D CULTURAL ECOLOGy . 72 Description of Behavioral Sociology.. 74 Potential Application of Behavioral Sociology............. 76 Cultural Ecology: The Case for Behavioral Modification ......•... 84 Behavioral Sociology and the Implementation of Cultural Ecology in Environmental Education 95 CHAPTER IV ENVIRONMENTAL EDUCATION ...•........• 97 History of Environmentalism 98 Environmental Education 103 Environmental Philosophy ...•......... 113 Environmental Ethics 117 Environmental Programs .. < •••••••••••• 128 ix CHAPTER V SUMMARY AND CONCLUSIONS .•.•.........• 150 APPENDICES A. Compassion for Nature 155 B. Rebirth... ....................... 156 C. Forests and Ecology •........•.... 157 D. Protecting Trees and Other Life.. 159 E• Greed.. .......................... 161 BIBLIOGRAPHY 163 x LIST OF TABLES Table 1 The Process of Environmental Education 132 2 Multidisciplinary Organization of Environmental Education 134 3 Contents Relating to Environmental Concerns in the Elementary School 139 4 Contents Relating to EnvirDnmental Concerns in the Lower Secondary School 140 5 Environmental Curriculum in Universities . in Thailand .....•.,........................ 143 xi LIST OF ILLUSTRATION l<'igure 1 Conceptual Model .••••••••••.••...••...••.•.•..• 26 1 CHAPTER I INTRODUCTION Environmental Problems General Through time humans increased their ability to manipulate, transform, and pollute their environment as they evolved new technology, economy, social organization, and values, including new patterns of organizing people in relation to each other and their environment. Simultaneously, there has been a long-term increase in population and resource consumption. These trends have often been exponential in form. This is ~evealed, for example, in marked increases in population density and nucleation in the transitions from hunter-gatherer to agricultural to state and to industrial societies (e.g., Anderson 1989). Many traditional societies, especially hunter-gatherers, developed a dynamic equilibrium with their environment. They had adaptive strategies to maintain a relative balance between their population and 2 resources which tended to prevent resource depletion and severe environmental problems. However, in the case of state level societies, at some phase in their evolution! all of them faced environmental disequilibrium, an imbalance between population and resources resulting in resource depletion and severe environmental problems (Bennett 1976:123-155, Campbell 1983, Eckholm