# Rediscovering the Significance of Environmental Education: A New Type of Environmental Education Found in Picture Books # Mitsuyuki Imamura Abstract-This paper aimed to apply Fromm's theories of social character and insights into the human being as the basis of the educational philosophy of EE. Development of a social character with predominance of the "being mode of existence" is not feasible because of the unpredictability of the outcome. An attempt to contrive another educational philosophy and to build another theory of EE that promises viability would be fruitless. The tale of EE is a failed project. We can see how Fromm's theories of society and his view of man can update and enrich our visions of education we have in hand. Likewise, now that we look at environmental picture books as a framework, we can recognize the "being mode" more realistically. What then is the significance of EE? Recognizing the pre-existing EE, rediscovering the lost "teaching and learning" practice, is the new significance of EE. "Look! Here are traces of EE!" To point this out again and again wherever possible, to sustain the long practice of teaching and learning for humans to live in harmony with nature --that is the important role of the environmental education. Keywords: environmental education, picture books, erich fromm. # I. Can Environmental Education Save the Earth? --Questionable Viability and Future Prospects an Environmental Education (hereinafter EE) realize a sustainable society?" --This is a seemingly honest but tricky question. If we say "yes," we will be asked to give concrete methods and the evidence that proves its viability, and immediately we will be stuck for an answer. On the other hand, if we say "no," we will be tripped up by the question "What then is the existential significance of EE?" How would I answer this question myself? --"Alas, EE may not be of much help as it stands, but what about Education for Sustainability (EfS), the upscaled successor of EE?" As known, half a century have passed since EE was established around 1970 with an educational objective to solve global environmental problems. While EE has gained social recognition, its viability to contribute to the solution of environmental problems has come to be questioned. The Declaration of Thessaloniki in 1997 (International Conference on Environment and Society: Education and Public Awareness for Sustainability) reaffirmed that EE may also be referred to as education for environment and sustainability ( UNESCO, 1997). An initiative "The Decade of Education for Sustainable Development 2005-2014" led to further relabeling of EE to "Education for Sustainable Development: ESD" (UNESCO, 2005). The question on the viability of EE thus produced new types of environmental education --EfS and ESD --which are, in effect, relabeled EE. With EE having different names now, the following answer may also be possible to the question above: "While the current EE is useless, a brand new type of Education X concerning environment --which is neither EfS nor ESD and even more advanced than either of them --may be useful." However, we already know that this answer is hardly acceptable because, undoubtedly, the same type of questions, only having the term EE replaced with X, will be posed against Education X. How could environmental education (EE, hereinafter including EfS and ESD), which has come to be considered questionable in viability, advocate its own significance? Can education solve environmental problems in the first place? If not, does it have pedagogical significance? This paper will discuss these issues vital to the existence of EE. Frankly speaking, I find it hard to be a blind optimist about EE having the educational aim to solve environmental problems. This does not mean that I deny the significance of its existence. My feelings toward EE are "double bind-ish" (cf. Jickling, 1992). What can we do in future to free ourselves from the double bind? I would like to make an attempt to rediscover the significance of EE. # II. Direction of Human Formation in a Sustainable Society: Finding Clues in Fromm's Theories a) Fromm's views of society and man Education has always been expected as a panacea for all sorts of social problems. It is safe to say that a problem produces an education named after it. The list of educations seeking solutions to problems goes on endlessly, such as consumer education, human rights education, sex education, and so on. Some of these may have been successful. Unfortunately, however, the environmental education in Japan has not fully lived up to its expectations. Why is that? To build a philosophy of EE for solution of environmental issues from a pedagogical standpoint, it is necessary to have visions of 1) the direction of human formation and 2) a sustainable society. As far as at least Japan is concerned, such visions have not been considered seriously enough. Educational values in the field of EE, i.e., visions of the ideal person we want to bring up, and of what the society and culture are like for such an ideal person to live in, have never been debated in Japan. This explains the current vulnerable state of EE in Japan (Imamura, 2017). To break through this situation, I conducted a theoretical study to apply the theories of Erich Fromm (1900Fromm ( -1980)), a psychoanalyst and social psychologist, as the basis of the philosophy of EE, which is summarized as follows in relation to the two visions above: 1) Social character formation based on the "being mode of existence" according to Fromm can become the linchpin in resetting the educational objective, and 2) EE can be reinterpreted as education for development of a social character, or for formation of human beings (Imamura, 2005). Fromm demonstrated, from a socioanalytic perspective, that human characters are developed by social and economic conditions in which we live, and argued, from a psychoanalytic perspective, that men are determined by unconscious vitalities. His analysis in general enriched the existing views of education to create psychoanalytic and social awareness of the social character (e.g. Claßen, 1987). Let us have a closer look at this: Fromm showed a dynamism that the socioeconomic structure creates a social character that reproduces the structure so that a lifestyle is designed based on this social structure. He argues that the human being is a product of social relations, an existence that mutually and dynamically builds the lifestyle and socioeconomic structure. His view of human beings as a psychoanalyst is that the social character is determined by two potential orientations, or the proportion of two types of vitalities, the "having" and "being" modes of existence. I will briefly explain the two modes: "Having" is a mode of self-recognition in the form of "I am = what I have and what I consume" (Fromm, 1976, 15). "My relationship to the world is one of possessing and owning, one in which I want to make everybody and everything, including myself, my property" (Fromm, 1976, 65). When this is the basic relationship to one's life, one's attitude is predominantly the having mode of existence. On the other hand, when one feels one exists through productive work, love, consideration arising from one's true nature, the will to give and share with others, or to make a sacrifice, one is already experiencing "being," the other mode of existence. In Fromm's words, being is "the mode of existence in which one neither has anything nor craves to have something, but is joyous, employs one's faculties productively, is oned to the world" (Fromm, 1976, 87-90). These are traits that Fromm previously described as "productive character," an element that shows the life-loving goodness of man he explains with the term "biophilia," the passionate love of life and of all that is alive. "Being" is neither a tendency to narcissism nor self-centeredness. Simply being there as an individual cannot make one feel fulfilled. One always needs personal "productive relatedness" with others or the world --to be with somebody or something --to feel fulfilled (Fromm, 1993, 117-119). To be more specific, one feels fulfilled by humane actions such as consideration for others, sacrifice, sharing, and dedication, or relatedness such as fusion with the world. # b) EE approach based on Fromm's theories Fromm's dynamic view of society and relatively fixed view of human nature discussed above can be illustrated in relation to the direction of education based on his theories as shown in FIG. 1 The left side of the figure sums up Fromm's dynamic view of society. The social character in the middle is developed through mutual relationships with the basic lifestyle, i.e., lifestyle habits and behaviors, and the socioeconomic structure, as indicated by arrows. A highly industrialized society creates a character structure that craves to own and consume for the stability of its social system. The established squandering lifestyle ensures stability of the industrial society. Thus the social character serves as the cement of the socioeconomic structure. In other words, the industrial social system intends to maintain its main system itself by creating, encompassing, and operating the education system as its sub-system. This argument of Fromm's applies to Japan, too. Since the rapid economic growth in the 1960s until the burst of the bubble economy in the 1990s, the education system in Japan has committed to develop a character with predominance of the "having mode of existence." It was tacitly understood that excelling in school, graduating from a high-status university, and getting a high-salary job was desirable. People believed that they could become happy if they could lead a rich, comfortable, and convenient consumer life. Nowadays this tendency has somewhat receded, but there certainly were a large number of people who felt a sense of "being" by symbolically "having" money, property, consumer goods, and pleasure. The consequences were the mass-production and mass-consumption, and the resultant environmental problems. Let us now look at the fixed normative view of human nature in the middle in FIG. 1, where Fromm's psychoanalytic view of humans is shown. In an attempt to present a mass audience with an easy-to-follow logic, Fromm often described the goodness and badness of human nature in dualistic terms. This eventually led to his definitions of the "having" and "being" modes in later life. According to him, the social character is determined by which of these is predominant. These two modes are not two extreme opposites or either-or tendencies, but rather, vectors of vitality inherent in the human being; when one grows, the other decreases. On the right side of FIG. 1 is education based on Fromm's theories. Education X aims at development of a social character with predominance of "being" over "having." By building a social character who lives by "being with somebody/something," and by reducing the number of people who acknowledge themselves by "having" or consuming, the total amounts of consumption and production are expected to decrease, which may change the industrial social structure. Transformation from a society dominated by a havingoriented social character into a society of a social character with more predominance of "being" will ensure the viability of solving environmental problems. The society will be reshaped into a sustainable one in its entirety. Education X in this case is the dynamite of the society. The paradox of this logic will be discussed later. The being mode of existence is possible only when there is a society or community that supports it. Now, turning from the direction of individual human formation, let us discuss visions of sustainable societies. Can a vision of a being-predominant society be shared among us? Social histories of indigenous peoples in various regions before the impact of Western culture may tell us something. Or, ecologically sustainable indigenous communities with non-Western cultures in modern times, for example, the communities of Aboriginal peoples, the Kwakiutl, the Bari, and the Hopi, may help, too. The worlds of such communities may seem illogical and unscientific from the modern rationalistic and scientific view. On the other hand, sustainability is secure in these communities. While lacking modern school education systems, these peoples pass tacit knowledge that promises sustainability from one generation to another (Bowers, 1993). Another reference we can turn to is the Amish society, a religious group that resides in Ohio, Pennsylvania, and other Midwestern regions. The Amish preserve the lifestyle of the time in which they immigrated, make a living mostly farming, and are basically self-sufficient. They do not use electrical products, automobiles, and telephones, and eschew most modern conveniences of material civilization of the American society. In some periods they rejected the American public education system and taught their children in their own way to reproduce their community (Hostetler, 1993). What is worth noting is that sustainable communities, whether traditional indigenous peoples or religious groups in modern times, have directed their own educations and reproduced themselves. The social character that functions as cement to maintain a group is mostly developed by education (Knapp, 1989). How they teach their children in a group is the lifeline of the group. Every group therefore has given great importance to their own education. While these models may give us a hint, they are not groups that have purposefully embodied the being mode of existence. The pedagogical acceptance of Fromm's theories as described above --philosophy of Education X --is naive, one-dimensional, and lacks verifiability. It may be theoretically presentable, but entails significant difficulties. How a community can develop a social character with predominance of "being" is not clear, because there can hardly be a unified "being mode," which makes it difficult to build a framework of education of that community. Indigenous cultures and the education in social groups such as the Amish do not directly link to being-oriented education. This is the major drawback of Education X, i.e., the lack of a vision of a society in which Education X is feasible. An even more serious challenge is the impracticability of concepts of planning for the education aimed at development of a beingpredominant social character based on the theories of Fromm. The next section will discuss this point. # a) EE as an incomplete project When accepting a certain social change approach as an educational theory in the area of EE, planning can cause a big aporia. This is a serious issue and will be discussed next. Environmental problems started to arise almost at the same time as the development of the industrial society. A significant amount of time was spent for scientific positive determination of the causes, and in the meantime the problems escalated and involved a large number of victims. In the case of regional environmental issues of small areas such as the four major diseases caused by environmental pollution in Japan, the causal relationship could be determined to some extent to name who was responsible. Fortunately, the outcome of environmental destruction was reversible, though partially, so that some attempts have been made to solve the problems. On the other hand, scientific and positive research of global environmental issues, typically global warming and ozone depletion, is difficult. It is not even possible to identify what is responsible because of the convoluted relationships between culprits and victims. Sometimes the environment may be irreversibly changed. In this regard, global environmental issues differ substantially from regional environmental problems. Despite this fact, measures have been taken for solution of global environmental issues in the same manner as they are for dealing with regional environmental problems. One of these measures was education --namely, EE. From a scientific point of view, it is only natural to think that we need opportunities to learn what behaviors are beneficial to the environment. Accordingly, scientific EE theories were formulated with an educational goal for the solution of global environmental problems. Emphasis was put on scientific recognition for the understanding of problemgenerating mechanisms, and on the education practice that encourage mechanical precautionary actions. Thus EE, or the "tale" of scientific, international, and planned education, unfolded: It was engendered by the discovery of global environmental problems by the science and the necessity of mechanical measures (definite beginning of the tale), and through the processes of development and planning of techniques for solution of global environmental problems (the middle where the tale evolved), reached the assertion that solution and prevention of global environmental issues by means of EE were possible (end of the tale). This mechanical-technical "tale" that created EE defined the characteristics of EE itself. Mechanicaltechnical EE has been developed based on an initiative called the RDDA (Research, Development, Dissemination/Diffusion, and Adoption) approach. (e.g., Robottom I., 1987, and Robert B.S., 2007). Specifically, according to the RDDA approach for EE , teachers and researchers first conduct research on environmental issues such as waste, water, air, ecosystems, and so on. Then they develop teaching materials and curriculums for dealing with these environmental issues, and make teachers' manuals. These materials, curriculums, and manuals are promoted and distributed so that they are adopted in as many schools as possible. The RDDA approach was an effective technique in terms of wide diffusion of EE through material development by dedicated teachers and researchers, and EE programs and techniques have been developed so far in this way. However, the RDDA approach entails the danger of producing teachers who unquestioningly and blindly accept technocracy, merely passing along scientific positive information on environment, and passively consuming the developed materials and techniques. Moreover, such teachers who depend on technocrats and casually put techniques into practice without critical thinking may fall into a pitfall of losing their own rich skills of "teaching and learning" about the environment. Here the term "mechanical" is used along with "technical," because they are not clearly distinguishable. When we think of the society's underlying sense of values --economy/efficiency supremacy seeking maximum efficiency relative to economic costs, human supremacy justifying human alteration of nature itself and natural processes in accordance with human purpose-rationality, and technology supremacy claiming the mechanical revelation of truths and renewal of technologies being goodness themselves, these two words are inextricably linked and intertwined, hence the term "mechanical-technical." For example, a study conducted in the mechanical-technical mindset first shows a result that global environmental issues are attributable to the lack of nature experience in infancy. Development of programs and techniques for nature experience education ensues. The designed programs is promoted, in an attempt to increase the opportunities for infants to experience nature. Many kindergartens and nurseries adopt the programs. The envisioned final goal is that the problem will be solved by the children who experienced these programs taking actions to tackle environmental issues when they grow up. In Japan, many theorists and practitioners of EE came to believe in educational planning that would enable control of human behaviors and construction of a new social system, on the theoretical and quantitative basis of environmental carrying capacity, by reviewing the modern lifestyle from the scientific perspective of environmental sustainability. They talked of EE in a mechanical-technical manner as if development of "production techniques of environment-friendly humans" was a possibility. Put differently, they have followed the story of science and technology being practicable and able to alter the natural things and processes. Such a tale entails a potentially serious problem in two senses. First, from a falsificationist's view of science that falsifiability of a theory increases with the progress of science, mechanical-technical EE is only an ad hoc hypothesis unless completeness of science is guaranteed in infinite time and space. For example, an assertion that a certain substance is good/bad to the environment could be contradicted by future advanced science. As to the positivist's starting point that alleges lack of nature experience in infancy, the reasons of the shortfall are not scientifically determinable. Second, the envisaged goal of the educational effect that children educated in a certain way would take environmentally beneficial actions in future when they grow up is hazy. An action thought to benefit the environment at one point could be proved wrong by future science, which would be a critical issue. It is unforeseeable if nature experience in infancy is effective for future solution of environmental issues. In short, unless some facts are scientifically proven to be permanently true so that all results are correctly predictable, the RDDA approach is nothing but an incomplete project. # b) Aporia of mechanical-technical EE What can bring about an even more serious error is the mechanistic view of nature that underlies the mechanical-technical aspect of EE, and similarly, the innocent trust in manipulability of nature. Additionally, mechanistic views of human formation, technology supremacy, and purpose-rationality that treats EE as political means can exacerbate the problem. Mechanical-technical EE, in pursuing solutions to global environmental issues, conceives nature as isolated from humans from the beginning, and perceives problems as happening in the environment in a scientific and biological sense. Moreover, this comes with the presupposition provided by epistemological understanding and cultural criticism that the problems can be solved by changing human behavior. Thus the problem solving attempt follows the RDDA approach and process steps integral therewith, i.e., the process flow of "problem recognition-learning-thinking-action" based on purpose-rationality with the anthropocentric mindset. When failures of modern purpose-rational acts and capitalism brought about environmental problems, how can this approach of tackling with the problems with plans and ideas in the name of EE backed by the same purpose-nationality lead to a solution? Only a vicious circle awaits because this scientific positive approach further complicates and intensifies the issues. Assuming that a theory and its method of education for building a social character with predominance of "being" were developed, an attempt to form human and a society in a mechanical-technical manner would have ambiguous starting point and goal as with the example of nature experience education mentioned above. Namely, Education X based on Fromm's theories aiming at development of a beingpredominant social character may not unfold as planned. It is not only children but nature that sometimes shows a most unexpected outcome beyond the human ideas of planning. The idea of producing environmental-friendly humans in a mechanicaltechnical way thus falls into an aporia. Fromm of course did not contemplate such education. "Being is indescribable in words and is communicable only by sharing my experience" (Fromm, 1976, 15). Rainer Funk, the literary executor of Fromm, wrote, "Fromm withdrew the chapters on 'Steps toward Being' from the typescript shortly before the typesetting of To Have Or to Be? because he believed that his book could be misunderstood to mean that each individual has only to search for spiritual wellbeing in the awareness, development, and analysis of himself without changing the economic realities that produce the having mode" (Fromm, 1993, vii). Namely, humans are inseparable from social change, i.e., any acts based on an educational plan are useless in the face of great nature and in view of the social system theory. Is Education X based on Fromm's theories of no use at all? Is there no way of circumventing the aporia? Not necessarily. Understanding Fromm's "being" provides a way to the discovery of a new type of EE, as discussed below. IV. # Environmental Picture Books Embodying the Being Mode of Existence a) Environmental picture books as a new viewpoint How do we recognize the being mode as defined by Fromm? A clue can be found where it is least expected; the world of picture books. Apropos of nothing though it may seem, this section shares picture book experiences for deeper understanding of the being mode. The term "environmental picture book" was coined in Japan in the 1990s (Imamura 2007). Simply put, an "environmental picture book" is a picture book that is produced as an educational material with an aim to solve environmental problems. Circulation of this term gave the momentum to the publication of a large number of environmental picture books. This allows us now to turn to picture books with the new terminology (environmental picture book) and perspective. Looking over the picture books currently in print including those published before 1990, two types are discernible in "environmental picture books." One is idea-based, and the other is pre-existing. The distinction is briefly explained below. First, idea-based environmental picture books are those with a clear objective indication of having been produced with an awareness of EE. In addition to the title and contents, the book usually contains phrases such as "environmental picture book," "environmental awareness," environmental protection," "for protecting the earth," etc. in the afterword or commentary, or on the belly-band, flaps, dust jacket, seal, or bookmark. These indicators ensure that it is clear that producers of the book --author, translator, illustrator, planner, publisher, etc. --intentionally planned and produced the book, fully aware of its use as a material of EE. One example of such picture books is Captain Eco and the Fate of the Earth published in 1991 by Dorling Kindersley, written by Jonathon Porritt and illustrated by Ellis Nadler. This book was translated into Japanese and published in Japan in 1992. The contents will not be discussed here due to space limitations. Idea-based environmental picture books have been made in a mechanical, technical, intentional, and planned manner as materials for educating people to be friendly to the environment. They have two characteristics: They depict facts of environmental issues as the motif; and they contain messages that promote actions relating to environmental conservation. Admittedly, these picture books themselves are educationally worthwhile. Not only writers/illustrators of children's books but children and amateurs are often involved in the making of the books. Communities such as local governments and NPOs produce idea-based environmental picture books, and organize environmental picture book contests. These production processes are very meaningful. Even so, the ideabased type is not worthy of a high opinion because of its mechanical-technical aspect that will not be discussed here. Second, pre-existing environmental picture books are those that were not intended for EE. They possess absolutely no indicators that objectively show any intentions in this regard. The producers of the books most probably did not intend them to be used as a material of EE. Or they were published before the term "environmental education" emerged. These books, however, tell us about the connection between human and nature/environment. They can affect our lives depending on our points of view. These picture books allow the reader with a viewpoint of EE or environmental picture books to discover elements of EE. The following is one example of these books: The Little House written by Burton V.L. ) and published in 1942 by HMH Books for Young Readers was translated into Japanese and published in Japan in 1965, and has been constantly in print. The story is briefly as follows. The countryside where the Little House stood is turned into a city and all the nature and rustic landscapes are gone. The Little House moves to another countryside and she would never want to live in the city. The book suggests attractions of nature and life in the countryside. The readers are free to interpret the book as they want. The interpretation from the perspective of EE would be unambiguous. The plot, though, could make people stop to think about their lives in a way, because it suggests that living in the countryside is the only solution to various problems involved in urbanization. As demonstrated above, there is a familiar place that has slipped attention so far, where the "teaching = learning (imitation)" relationship in the issue of nature and environment has been established unintentionally and in an unplanned manner: Picture books, i.e., EE found in them. # b) Repurposing environmental picture books as a framework When we look at picture books from this perspective, we can discover pre-existing environmental picture books that take us to the "being mode of existence." Two picture books are discussed below in some detail. First, let us consider Little Blue and Little Yellow created in 1959 by Lionni L. , who worked both in Italy and in the US. "Little blue" and "little yellow" --colors endorsed with human traits and depicted as children --are best friends. One day, little blue wanted to play with little yellow and went out to look for him. He looked everywhere, and when they finally met they were so happy, and they hugged and hugged, until they became one and green. After having played together, when they returned home, their parents do not recognize them. Sad little blue and little yellow cried and cried until they were all blue and yellow tears. Blue tears and yellow tears became little blue and little yellow again. This picture book depicts unification with others as will be explained later. Let us now turn to another picture book. An American illustrator and writer Sendak M.B. wrote and illustrated more than 80 children's books loved by not just children but adults as well. His most famous book is Where the Wild Things Are, which was published in 1963 and for which he won the Caldecott Medal. Estimated to have sold 20 million copies, it is one of the best-selling books in the world. Spike Jonze directed a motion picture adaptation of the book in 2009 (released in Japan in 2010). The story goes like this: One night, Max, the boy protagonist, wears his wolf suit, and with a hammer and a fork, makes mischief of all sorts through his household, chasing the dog around, etc. His mother calls him "Wild thing!" Max retaliates, saying "I'll eat you up!" His angry mother sends him to bed without dinner. Magical things happen one after another in Max's room. Trees grow and grow into a forest. An ocean tumbles by. Max sails off to "where the wild things are," where he is made "king of all wild things." "And now," cries Max, "let the wild rumpus start!" Max then enjoys a romp with the wild things, ecstatic. The six facing pages illustrating the fun time, the frolic with the wild things, is the climax scene of the book. With no words. The facing pages are all pictures. Having had enough, Max starts to miss home. The wild things cry "Please don't go, we'll eat you up -we love you so!" but Max waves them good-bye and returns to his room. There he finds his supper waiting for him, still hot. This is roughly the plot. It is notable that the boy Max wearing a wolf suit becomes like an animal. Max finds himself in the realm of animals and experiences ecstatic moments without words --the six facing pages. In the world of the wild things, Max unites with the world. The boundaries between him and the world melted away and, he oned himself with the world --the being mode of existence as termed by Fromm. Humans have self-awareness because of which we feel split from others and the world, which Fromm called existential dichotomy. This is why we try to unify with others and the world that are objectively perceived. The picture books discussed above show this unification. A human once isolated is united with others and the world again. The experience of being one with others/world may be called a "dissolving experience" in which the boundaries separating them melt away. When we are absorbed in a fun activity, or admiring a fascinating landscape, we sometimes feel as if the boundaries between ourselves and the world surrounding us vanished. This ecstatic moment of perceiving the melting boundary between oneself and the world shall be called "dissolving experience" here. We have self-awareness, seek our own identities, and live in the "human world (here)" based on labor, i.e., based on modern rationalism and capitalism. Our general sense of values is that efficiency, profit, and pleasure are desirable. On the other hand, sometimes we live in the "world of vitality (there)" --irrational animal world. We indulge in skydiving and bungee jumping for no apparent reason. We drink nutritionally unnecessary alcohol. We ride roller coasters to little advantage. These are all considered playing. We play in one with wind, soil, and land, oblivious to our own selves. This is a catharsis more than anything else. Sometimes we wander over "there," and come back "here." In my view, Sendak showed the extension of two worlds in which humans live. "Here" is the human world, and "there" is the animal world. Occasionally humans dive from "here" in "there," and come back "here" again, because we cannot live solely "here." The dissolving experience is shown also in the following haiku by Basho, cited by Fromm (Fromm 1976, 4): When I look carefully I see the nazuna blooming By the hedge! Basho expresses the moment of satisfaction by only looking carefully to see the small flower, and refrains from plucking it and taking it home, which is an act predominantly of "having." If Max lets the wild things eat him up, he can no longer return. This is a perilous moment. In a "dissolving experience," there is a moment of looking into an abyss that lies between the two worlds, "here" and "there," a precarious point of no return. In the picture book, however, we can rest assured because the protagonist invariably returns so that we can experience a story that is structurally a there-and-back tale. Max never remains over there, like an alcoholic or a drug addict. Such a valuable picture book that lets you experience the double structure of the world. Curiously, a waning crescent moon is visible through the window when Max is sent to bed, but after he returned from "where the wild things are," the moon is full, even though that much time could not have passed by. Possibly a riddle by Sendak? To me it looks like a softly spoken message from Sendak, "You think 'here' is your real world but who knows, what if it is 'there' that is real?" These two picture books imply dissolving experiences in which humans feel as if the boundaries between themselves and others melted away. Little Blue and Little Yellow suggests that the wall between oneself and others who are fellow beings dissolves. Where the Wild Things Are represents a dissolving experience of a vertical direction in which a human fuses with heaven and earth, a transcendent, or nature. The "being mode of existence," or "to be oned to the world," as rephrased by Fromm, is described in two dimensions. The joy of being with others/world is depicted in these precious picture books. There are many folktales and stories that show the pitfall of "having." I will not go into detail but just give a few examples. A Japanese picture book How Much Land Does a Man Need (Yanagawa, 2006) based on a Russian folktale by Tolstoy L.N. (1828-1910) depicts a foolish farmer who, defeated by the insatiable desire, loses his life. The farmer who believed he would be happier the more he owns ended up needing only a patch of land for a hole to be buried in. The Hedgehog and the Gold Coin (Orlov, 2003) based on a Russian tale by Orlov V.N. was published in Japan as a picture book. An elderly hedgehog finds a gold coin on a path in a forest. He tries to buy things he will need for winter hibernation with the gold coin, but all the animals the hedgehog encounters give him what he wants, such as dried mushrooms, for free. No longer needing the gold coin, the hedgehog puts it back where he found it. The story tells us about the world of reciprocity where people live helping each other. This picture book suggests that we can obtain what we need without money if we have personal relationships. There are numerous picture books that allude to potential danger, limitations, and contradictions of "having." The coinage of the term "environmental education" has allowed us to recognize an area of education for teaching and learning the relationship between the man and nature. The emergence of ideabased EE in and after 1970 led to the discovery of preexisting EE (Imamura, 2017). Although buried in everyday life and hard to be aware of, there are moments of teaching and learning how to coexist with nature. There is practice of passing on the knowledge of the relationship with nature accumulated over the long history of mankind from one generation to the next. Likewise, we have gained the term "environmental picture book." Picture books allow us to be aware of pre-existing EE in specific forms. It is not only small children but adults, too, who learn, through the media such as these picture books and folktales, the human-nature relationship and how to live, as a human, with nature and fellow beings. Since "being" is indescribable in words and communicable only by sharing experiences as Fromm put it, sharing picture book experiences between parents and children can be understood as an important practice of EE. That is to say, the "steps toward being" are found in pre-existing environmental picture books. A new type of EE begins where parents read these books to and with the children. As demonstrated above, we have realized, by looking into pre-existing EE, in particular pre-existing environmental picture books, that there is, not just the mechanical-technical, idea-based EE mainly practiced in schools, but also the practice of "learning and teaching" the mankind's knowledge of coexistence with nature that has been passed on over generations. It is the academic role of EE to keep pointing out that this practice is meaningful. V. # Conclusion This paper aimed to apply Fromm's theories of social character and insights into the human being as the basis of the educational philosophy of EE. Development of a social character with predominance of the "being mode of existence" is not feasible because of the unpredictability of the outcome. An attempt to contrive another educational philosophy and to build another theory of EE that promises viability would be fruitless. The tale of EE is a failed project. Having said that, we can see how Fromm's theories of society and his view of man can update and enrich our visions of education we have in hand. Likewise, now that we look at environmental picture books as a framework, we can recognize the "being mode" more realistically. With this all in mind, lastly, let me answer the question at the beginning. "We cannot expect mechanical-technical EE to build a sustainable society." What then is the significance of EE? Recognizing the pre-existing EE, rediscovering the lost "teaching and learning" practice, is the new significance of EE. "Look! Here are traces of EE!" To point this out again and again wherever possible, to sustain the long practice of teaching and learning for humans to live in harmony with nature --that is the important role of the environmental education. Socioeconomic structure?â??"Having mode of existenceSocial character â??"<â??"Education based on Fromm's theories ? Education X?â??"Being mode of existenceBasic lifestyleDynamic view of societyFixed normative view of human nature * Critical Essays on Education, Modernity, and the Recovery of the Ecological Imperative, Teachers College CABowers 1993 New York Columbia University * The Little House, HMH Books for Young Readers VBurton Lee 1978 * Erich Fromm und die Padagogik JClaßn 1987 Beltz Verlag Weinheim und Basel * To Have Or To Be? EFromm BANTAM BOOKS 1976 15 * The Art Of Being, Constable London EFromm 1993 * JHostetler Amish Society The John Hopkins University Press 1993 4th ed * MImamura Jizokukanousei ni mukete no Kannkyoukyoiku Shouwadou 2005 * kankyoehonn no bunnrui to seisakukatei no igi MImamura 2007 * MImamura 2009 Kankyoukyouiku toiu Kabe, Shouwadou * Beyond the Limitations of Environmental Education in Japan Imamura Educational Studies in Japan 11 2017 * Why I don't want my children to be educated for sustainable development BJickling Journal of Environmental Education 23 4 1992 * The Art of Living, Perter Lang GPKnapp 1989 * Harinezumi to Kinnka,kaiseisha VOrlov N 2003 * Towards inquiry-based professional developement in environmental education IRobottom Environmental education: Practice and possibility Geelong, Victoria, Deakin UP 1987 Robottom * Schooling and environmental education: contradictions in purpose and practice NSakai Environmental Education: Practice and Possibility IRobottom Geelong, Victoria Deakin University Press 1997. 2007. 1987 13 Reprinted from * United Nations Decade of Education for Sustainable Development EPD-97/CONF. 401/CLD.3. 18. UNESCO. International Conference on Environment and Society: Education and Public Awareness for Sustainabilit: Final Report Thessaloniki, Greece 1997. 8 to 12 December 1997. 2005. 2005-2014. 2005/Pl/01 International Implementation Scheme * Yanagawa Hitoniwa Doredakeno Totigairuka 2006 Gennsaku torusutoi. inochinokotobasha