When my students and I go into the field, I tell them that our first task is to learn to read the landscape. I show them that the landscape is a text that informs us about its capacity to produce and support life, its history, and what organisms are likely to be present. But for me, at least, environmental literacy connotes more than knowing the names of he organisms and understanding geomorphology. I also emphasize feeling the landscape through all the senses. This feeling of place distinguishes each site and makes a place special and memorable.
Environmental literacy begins with an experience of the environment.
In my case it began with scouting and led to an intense study of camping and woodcraft over about three years. My students tell me similar stories. Scouting, family camps in the national parks, volunteer work as naturalists all figure in these young peoples' backgrounds and provide the direct experience that leads to their study of ecology and environmental science. Experience is the trigger for environmental literacy. It ignites the curiosity and tests the muscles.