The Enlightenment of Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs Theory on Rural Environmental Education in China
Ecological revitalization is the core content and important support of rural revitalization, and the villagers are the main force of rural ecological environment construction, as well as the destroyers in their production and life. Their actions such as burning stubble, abusing pesticide and fertilizer, discharging livestock manure everywhere, and stacking garbage randomly, which have caused great trouble to environmental remediation. Therefore, strengthening villagers’ understanding of environmental connotations, changing their unfriendly attitudes and behaviors towards the environment, and enhancing their enthusiasm for participating in environmental protection are urgent tasks for rural environmental protection. In the past 20 years, while urban environmental education has gradually been strengthened, the effectiveness of rural environmental education has not been significant, and the issue of farmers’ zero awareness of environmental protection has become increasingly prominent. To solve the environmental problems in rural areas, the first and foremost task is to find appropriate entry points, carry out effective environmental education, and improve the environmental awareness, knowledge, and participation in environmental protection practices of rural residents. Based on Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs Theory, this paper analyzes villagers’ needs, motivations, behavior and their impact on environmental problems in terms of physiology, safety, love and belonging, respect, self realization, and puts forward corresponding countermeasures in order to promote rural environmental education.
