Examining Environmental Education and the "Quality of Life" Concept

Abstract

Each of us have been greeted by familiar words such as, “How is it?” or “Hi, how are you doing?” or “ How have you been?”. These greetings question our general well-being or happiness and are usually answered by statements like, “Fine thanks, and you?” or “Great!” and sometimes “Not so good, but I‘m hanging in there.”. Imagine, if people started greeting each other with, “Hi, how’s your quality of life?” or “Your quality of life been okay?”. How would you respond? You’d probably think awhile and maybe say, “Fine, thank-you” or “Good, what about you?” and maybe even “Not so great, but I’m hanging in there.” What do we mean when we talk about our “quality of life”? How do we define it and by what do we measure it by? Is there some way to improve upon it? The difficulty with the “quality of life” concept lies in agreeing on a set definition and naming a set of indicators to measure the concept. Quality means a “degree of excellence” or “inherent, enduring good traits that makes something superior”. How do we define and measure what is “good” and “excellent” in life? Each of us have basic needs to fulfill in life, yet we also have our own desires and wants in life that contribute to our different lifestyles. The meaning of “quality of life” becomes very personal and subjective because of our own values and attitudes affect our defining “quality of life”. Several of us would differ in the way we define “quality of life” because of our different standards and different perspectives.