Ecological Intelligence Theory Summary

Goleman (2009) argued that the shared nature of Ecological Intelligence makes it synergistic with Social Intelligence, which gives us the capacity to coordinate and harmonize our efforts. According to him, the art of working together effectively, as mastered by a star performing team, combines abilities like empathy and perspective taking, candor and cooperation, to create person-to-person links that let information gain added value as it travels. Collaboration and the exchange of information are vital to amassing the essential ecological insights and necessary database that allow us to act for the greater good. Goleman (2009) explains that while nature operates at different scales—from the micro to the global—humans tend to perceive only

Rather than reinforcing the tendency to rely upon packaged learning experiences, the stress should be placed upon the teacher's awareness of the issues, misunderstandings being perpetuated in the curriculum, and examples of ecological thinking that can be introduced in different learning settings.

Goleman, Barlow and Bennett (2010) emphasised the importance of growing ecological awareness among students which extends empathy to all living systems. They pointed out the example of New Orleans schools where they are showing how a culture of innovation can be cultivated on the grounds of emotional, social, and ecological intelligence, which, in turn, fosters positive new norms throughout a school

They argued that the present situation has created an urgent and compelling need centered on how the future citizenry of the industrialized world will be prepared relative to addressing and dealing with enormous ecological and social problems and challenges. ‘Science and technology--in and of themselves--cannot save humanity from the impending environmental disaster now closing in on it. What is required at this juncture in history is a transformation of a particular way of life that has resulted in planetary degradation and the wholesale destruction of natural environments and entire species. What is required is a fundamental transformation in support of the development of a new paradigm, a new lens through which our mind can adjust its view of society, education and learning, citizenship, and the nature of human habitation on Earth. There is no doubt that formal education has a role to play in this transformation from the standpoint of important shifts in broad cultural and individual attitudes and intellectual