1 EMPOWERED FOR ACTION? HOW DO YOUNG PEOPLE RELATE TO ENVIRONMENTAL CHALLENGES? Published in Alsop, Steve. (2005) Beyond Cartesian Dualism. Encountering Affect in the Teaching and Learning of Science Dordrecht: Springer, Science and Technology Education Library. (p 53-69) Camilla Schreiner and Svein Sjøberg Department of teacher education and school development, University of Oslo, Norway Introduction Creating environmentally active citizens is crucial for the future environmental development. Through the slogan 'Science education for action' Jenkins (1994) addresses (among other subjects) the environmental protection issue and calls for 'integration of knowledge with action'. The background for this chapter is that we subscribe to the notion of responsible and successful action as a prime goal of science and environmental education, and that we wish to bring into light some essential conditions for purposeful action. We see environmental empowerment as a prerequisite to action. On the assumption that successful environmental actions require environmental empowerment, we argue that empowering young people to deal responsibly with environmental issues should be a principal concern of education. Empowerment may be described as encouragement for action and belief in one's possibility and ability to influence one's surroundings. It is important to understand the attitudes, beliefs and prejudices that might prevent individuals from recognising and using their possibilities to act. We are aware of the debate among educators, environmentalist and scientists concerning purposes of schooling in general and science education in particular. One view is that education should equip the students with knowledge and skills, but that it is up to the students themselves to decide how to apply these competences; otherwise education risks becoming indoctrination. While we acknowledge that this view makes an important point, we argue that some values, e.g. values of democracy, peace, equity, human rights and environmental protection, are universal. The German philosopher and educator