Environmental Literacy Summit – Environmental Literacy Series, Part 3

I started a series on environmental literacy several months ago, and am finally picking up the thread of those posts and continuing it here by reporting out on the Environmental Literacy Summit  hosted by the New England Environmental Education Alliance (NEEEA), held on October 26, 2013  in Biddeford, ME.

Much of the work I’ve been doing lately focuses around environmental literacy, and specifically environmental literacy plans (ELP), and helping to finalize one here in Massachusetts. As the Massachusetts State Coordinator for the EPA’s Sub-Grant Program being administered by NEEEA  (and as the Vice-Chair of the  NEEEA board) I attended the Environmental Literacy Summit which was hosted by NEEEA and the Maine Environmental Education Association (MEEA), and held at the University of New England.

Please note that the information about the Summit and ELP work here in Massachusetts that I post on this blog is strictly my observations and opinions, and does not reflect the position or views of the NEEEA Board, MEES Board, EPA, SAGEE, or any other  organization involved in or associated with ELP work here in New England.

The Summit was a great opportunity for educators and administrators involved in the environmental education field around New England to gather for updates on ELP work in each of the six New England States, and gain insight and build forward momentum for work in our field, particularly as it regards to environmental literacy. I provided the update for the state of Massachusetts and later in the day facilitated a discussion around sustainable environmental literacy programs.

Our keynote speaker was the amazing Laura Downey, Executive Director for the Kansas Association for Conservation and Environmental Education, whose inspiring talk reminded us that even though things are going to hell regarding the environment, the American public really does care (why we’re not doing more to reverse the current trends is another rant post).  She was super-enthusiastic about the work all the state boards and NEEEA are doing to forward environmental literacy across the region, and cheered us on to further our work. Laura is in part the reason NEEEA received this EPA grant, as she worked with a member of our board to collaborate on the grant proposal.

After a full day of important work done by presenters and participants alike, the NEEEA Chair wrapped up the Summit with a full-group gathering and sent us off with a charge – and pledge (see photo at the top of the post) – to work collaboratively with our colleagues across states and regions to advance environmental literacy.

I will compile the links to each of the posts in the environmental literacy series at the beginning of the first post, and will place a link to the series somewhere on the site (yet to be determined).

Are you an educator working on environmental literacy in any way? I would love to hear about the work folks are doing in the comments.