Promoting environmental learning by operating environmental learning organization?A case study of Kukuma’s Satoyama Nature School of Kanazawa University in Japan

[[abstract]]The purpose of the research is to understand how universities play the role of promoting environmental learning and what types of environmental learning the universities can provide. Challenges and key factors in success that this kind of environmental learning organization might face are also analyzed. The results show that the advantages of the universities promoting EE lie in that the universities have abundant knowledge resources and students with passion. The biggest challenge is to communicate and coordinate with school administration. Thus, the key to success is not the transformation of hardware, but to reach consensus inside the universities and that needs passionate and persistent stakeholders to continue the job, no matter they are students, professors or administrators. The universities need outside resources to reach the consensus inside, so the government polices play an important role. In the social context in Japan, one of the universities’ responsibilities is to promote social contribution, and the stakeholders can achieve the goal of promoting environmental education through obtaining support from outside sources. In the social context in Taiwan, the society gradually emphasizes the interaction between the schools and the communities. Therefore, the experience of 「Kakuma’s Satoyama Nature School」 can be a good example for the universities in Taiwan that want to promote environmental learning, and it can also make the concept of universities promoting environmental eudcation better valued.