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 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 case 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.
