All of the programs presented at the Global Forum include active participation, in one foam or another. Passive learning, or just being told, is not sufficient to change behavior and attitudes. Most of the programs include an approach of "learning by doing." Participation can take many forms and below is a list indicating how it is carried out in each program. (The Programs are arranged in the order in which they were presented at the Global Forum.)

　 The Earth Restoration Corps' web-site describes its course content as: "leadership training through presentation, facilitation, and communication skills; conflict resolution; team building; networking; self empowerment; project management. Environmental training via field experience in land reclamation, environmental technologies, sustainable farming and housing, management of waste, energy, water and health. Natural Law through exploration of diverse spiritual perspectives, cultural traditions and nature-wilderness experiences" (www.manitou.org/erc.html).

　 Participants engage in problem-solving and practical project work that differ case by case. Projects have included: developing environmental education textbooks for communities or countries; establishing legal status for community forests; strengthening community-based management of natural resources; etc. In these projects, the participants themselves do research, file legal documents, make decisions about what issues need to be addressed, take the steps needed to address them, etc.

　 Children create compost and raise earthworms. This involves adding materials to soil and evaluating which materials decompose, while observing the organisms that live in the compost. The compost can be used as fertilizer to raise vegetables, which becomes a related project. In a case of upper school students, the compost produced with the help of the earthworms is evaluated for its chemical properties and included in a comparison of fertilizers. Students research, experiment, and record the results of their observations and share information with other schoolchildren through the internet.

　 Pupils research animals and insects living in or by a water system nearby. They stock fish and firefly embryos to correct the imbalance in the environment. They collect litter and refuse from the areas around the water system and have begun a no-litter campaign. At their school, the pupils come before school starts to collect trash from the school grounds, have begun a campaign to reduce lunch waste, and collect money to contribute to OISCA's Children's Forest Program. Additionally, they have planted and are raising a Kenaf grove on the school grounds in an effort to reduce carbon-dioxide levels in the atmosphere.

　Teachers can download environmental education curricula from the American Forest's web-site. Students research the uses of trees and how they benefit the environment. In the case of Living Classrooms, the trees to be planted are propagated from a tree related to a historic person or event, and the historical background of that person or event is also researched. Additionally, students work to raise funds to plant trees, find appropriate locations to plant trees, do the actual planting, and care for the trees for three to five years (including watering, fertilizing, etc.).

　 The Eco-Schools Program involves the whole school, especially the students, in developing the program. Students are involved in all stages of the process and decision-making. The schools go through a set of steps including: undertaking a review of the environmental impact of the school; developing a plan of action with achievable targets ; monitoring and evaluating implementation of the plan to see whether it is working; informing and involving the entire student body and the outside community; curriculum work; and establishing an "eco-code." At the center of the operation is an Eco-School Committee. Additionally, since it is an international program, experiences are shared with Eco-Schools in other countries through information technology.

　 Students plant and care for trees over a period of three to five years. Caring for the trees includes watering that may entail carrying water from a nearby stream or pump, fertilizing, weeding, and fence-building. Teachers, parents, and other community members usually become involved in the process. Additionally, sometimes the students pursue other environmentally related projects, such as picking up and sorting rubbish and recycling cans and PET bottles. Some schools grow gardens including medicinal trees and herbs, and students learn about the care and uses of the plants (OISCA-International 2001 A, 32). The Program is flexible and meets specific needs of the community. For example, in Thailand there is a CFP project to grow trees to feed elephants and the students can see first hand how elephants live and how damage to the environment effects elephants' lives (OISCA-International 2001 B) .

　 Although all of the programs presented commonly seek to provide environmental education, there are some variations in what they perceive as the needs to be addressed and the goals to be accomplished. In the following is a list of needs and goals for some of the programs presented.

　 Earth Restoration Corps is based on the observation of the realities that there is "a large and growing youth population, particularly in developing countries, with marginal prospects for gainful employment in the 21st century" as well as "the need to restore local environments as a means to redress global environmental degradation" (Gyallay-Pap 2001, 2). The program is directed primarily towards three target groups--"young people in the military,"" young indigenous peoples," and "rural women living in poverty"--and seeks to "shift military uses to Earth security" to help "threatened indigenous peoples' [sic] to restore their communities to health and.... to uplift the poor and disadvantaged, in particular, rural women in the least developed and developing countries" (ibid, 5-6).

　 Living Earth Foundation states on its home page that it addresses "a wide range of issues from pollution to bio-diversity, from population to cultural diversity and from agricultural practices to energy consumption." It goes on to say that it does not impose solutions and that it works "with people for positive change by encouraging community participation, and by forging and strengthening links between organizations and individuals" (www.livingearth.org.uk). In the section-link "What We Do," it states that "Living Earth specializes in environmental education and community development...The role of Living Earth is to create a learning environment that encourages all participants to acquire and develop a broad range of appropriate community development skills, which they can pass along to their communities" (www.livingearth.org.uk/802569E4004F1B4F/Menu?OpenView&count=99).

　 The Earthworm Project aims to present the abstract concepts of "eco-systems" and "solid waste management" in a concrete form that even very young children can understand. It is sometimes difficult even for adults to fully understand about the interconnectedness of life and that our lives depend on other creatures, including those that we don't use for food or work. Through the Project, children directly interact with earthworms and can see for themselves how the worms break down solid waste and produce manure that adds to the fertility of the soil. The Project also has an international dimension and children can share information via the internet (www.gsp-net.org/e/index.html and www.gsp-net.org/e/ netfriends.html).

　American Forests is the USA's oldest conservation NGO, founded in 1875 by "citizens concerned about the waste and abuse of the nation's forests", and has developed new approaches to help people improve the environment for the 21st Century. Their work is "community-based forestry" and ranges from working with classrooms to working with cities to reverse the "national tree deficit." "A Tree for Every Child" project is described on their web-site as "a hands-on and flexible environmental program that allows children to see how practical action can create a better world." Correcting problems related to the loss of trees through taking positive action is the main focus of American Forests' major programs (www.americanforests.org/about_us/ and www.americanforests.org/resources/kids/a_tree_for_every_child/).

　The Foundation for Environmental Education (FEE) was established to "raise awareness of environmental issues and to effect change through education," and was "designed to involve people of all ages across borders through formal and informal education" in keeping with Agenda 21 (www.feee.org/html/fi.htm). Likewise, the Eco-Schools program is intended to raise the students' awareness of environmental issues and "deliver environmental education through classroom study and apply this to the day-to-day running of schools. It also encourages environmental responsibility both at home and in the wider community" and works as "a practical application of Local Agenda 21." In the first years of participating in the waste, water and energy," and later move on to "other aspects of environmental and sustainable development issues" (www.feee.org.html/egate-info.htm).

　 Over time, OISCA-International "reached the conclusion that it was a losing battle to promote agriculture and not address the problem of an increasingly deteriorating natural environment." It "observed that deforestation was particularly harmful as it causes the loss of soil and its nutrients and is also a crucial factor in water related issues, such as flooding and water shortages." In 1980 forestation projects were started and in 1991 the CFP was incepted (OISCA-International 2001 B). OISCA also realized that it was not enough to plant trees, "but that the minds of people had to be changed as well," and saw "the importance of promoting `Earth Ethics'" (emphasis original, Nakano 2001, 2). The CFP is a hands-on program, as OISCA feels that "field experience conveys a much deeper understanding of the complexity of the situation and is absorbed on a much deeper level" (italics original. Ibid., 3). Besides correcting the physical problems associated with deforestation, OISCA hopes to help transform humanity's orientation to the environment.

　 When a seed is planted, it does not grow into a tree overnight. It takes time and care to mature into a full-grown tree. Likewise, programs need time to mature and grow before concrete benefits can be seen from them. Those benefits can take the form of deeper understanding of the environment and even affection for Nature, less waste, greener communities, a greater sense of involvement, and a commitment to live in harmony with the natural world. And programs need to be able to adapt to different physical and cultural environments in this diverse and changingworld.

　 There are a number of examples of persistence and flexibility in the programs presented at the Global Forum, which on one hand can be seen in the duration of an organization or program, and on the other, a capability to adapt to changing times and situations. American Forests has a most impressive record, dating back to the 19th Century. Through the years it has evolved to respond to the needs of the times, and presently employs modern technology and satellite imagery in assessing the damage done to high canopied areas and in assisting cities to correct the damage. OISCA-International has a forty-year history and it too has evolved over the years, expanding its programs to include experiential environmental education programs, such as the CFP. As for the flexibility of the CFP, it has grown in ten years to include some 2,500 schools in more than 20 countries (OISCA-International 2001 B). Similarly, the Eco-Schools program of FEE, developed following the 1992 UNCED, has grown to include over 5,000 participating schools in 24 countries (www.feee.org/html/participation.htm). And Living Earth Foundation, begun in 1988, has had projects in Ukraine, Venezuela, Uganda, Nigeria, the UK, Ghana and Cameroon.

　 Some notable examples of follow-up can be seen in the 3-5 year period of nurturing saplings until they mature enough to survive on their own in the programs "Living Classrooms" and "A Tree for Every Child" of American Forests and in the CFP of OISCA-International. Additionally, the CFP has Coordinators working with every participating school that facilitate the program and visit the schools on a regular basis. The Eco-Schools program of FEE is a long-term project that gives an award of a "Green Flag" after several years of a school's successful participation. Of the schools registered in the Eco-Schools program, to date approximately 1,500 have received the award (www.feee.org/html/participation.htm). The ERC of the Manitou Institute is planning the establishment of "master trainers" for the program that would also function as "program coordinator cum ERC country representative" (Gyallay-Pap 2001, 3). And the Global School Project has a support team of environmental education specialists, or environmental counselors, that can work with schools involved in the Earthworm Project.

　 Although only a small number of experiential and participatory environmental education programs were presented at the Global Forum, they were diverse in content, approaches, types of participation, and sought after goals. Some of the programs are complementary and there is a potential for them to work together in partnership. We have presented this report with the hope that it will educate the reader about the programs that exist, stimulate thinking ― and more importantly action ― responding to the extraordinary needs of this time in history, and to save our precious Mother Earth for future generations.