Environmental education is a multi-faceted tool that goes far beyond informing people about how to protect the environment. Such learning can help people make wise choices in all of their various roles— as consumers, employees, voters and citizens—by assimilating, analyzing and evaluating the complex and diverse sources of information, data and opinion about the environment. Such knowledge is essential if the United States and the world community are to meet the difficult challenge of achieving global sustainability for future generations. Yet, according to research sponsored by the National Environmental Education and Training Foundation (NEETF),American adults currently have only a “comic book-level” basis of environmental knowledge. This problem is further compounded by outdated—and sometimes inaccurate—information on the central causes of environmental degradation and the problems that result from it.

1. Environmental Education Prioritization
The Administration should make environmental education (EE) a top priority and encourage and fund EE partnership programs involving federal agencies, and state, tribal, local and private organizations.

2. Environmental Education Act
Congress should reauthorize the 1990 Environmental Education Act and increase the funding in this area by at least an order of magnitude.

3. Non-Traditional and Diverse Audiences
The Department of Education (DOED), National Science Foundation (NSF), Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), and other agencies should support research on the most effective methods to reach non-traditional and diverse audiences through EE.

4. Teacher Training
EPA, NSF, and DOED should encourage and support the availability of pre-service and in-service teacher training in EE for all teachers.

5. Non-Formal Education Programs
NSF, EPA and other federal agencies should increase support for EE curriculum development and dissemination through non-formal education programs such as 4-H, scouting, zoos, aquariums, nature centers, museums, etc.

6. Effectiveness of Environmental Education Programs
DOE, EPA, and NSF should support research to measure the effectiveness of EE programs, such as the Environment as an Integrating Context initiative.

7. Block Grants
DOED and EPA should provide block grants to states for EE programs.

8. Assessment
EPA, DOED, and NSF should cooperatively develop and implement a yearly assessment of public environmental knowledge (expanded from the existing NEETF/Roper Starch Survey).

9. Environmental Literacy
EPA, in cooperation with DOED, should assist states in integrating environmental literacy assessments in their on-going state assessments in order to develop baseline data on student environmental literacy.

10. North American Association of Environmental Education Guidelines
EPA, NSF, and DOED should promote the dissemination and use of the North American Association for Environmental Education (NAAEE) “Guidelines for Excellence” in EE to ensure that scientifically accurate and instructionally sound EE materials are used by educators.

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