Letter in Support of EPA funding for Environmental Education

The Honorable Lisa P. Jackson
Environmental Protection Agency
Ariel Rios Building-Mail Code 4101M
1200 Pennsylvania Ave,
NW Washington, DC 20460

Re: Draft FY 2011-2015 Strategic Plan

Dear Administrator Jackson:

On behalf of the American Forest Foundation, a non-profit conservation organization that strives to protect America’s family forests and to prepare our future generation of conservation leaders, I urge you to turn your attention to education and the important role that environmental education plays within the strategic priorities that you have set for the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) in the next five years.

We appreciate the opportunity to comment on the draft of your five year strategic plan for the EPA and commend you for setting goals to tackle some of the complex environmental problems our country faces. However, we were disappointed that you did not include education as an integral part of your strategies to address the key priorities.

Education should be a key component throughout the cross-cutting strategies mentioned to address the five priorities. We have seen firsthand, though Project Learning Tree® (PLT), a program of the American Forest Foundation, which trains over 30,000 educators each year to include environmental education in their classrooms,
the power of education to change actions and create solutions.

I do not believe you can fully accomplish your work around your top five priority areas unless you educate and engage students and the public. Each of the strategies seem to skirt the concept of increasing support for environmental education, and yet
education would be an ideal complement—often should be a key component—of each of the strategies you mention.

Environmental education should play a fundamental role in expanding the conversation on environmentalism. Through environmental education in the classroom, students connect to their environment, engage in learning through their environment, and learn how to think—not what to think—about the complex environmental problems in their own backyards and across the country. Through environmental education in schools, students develop an appreciation for their outdoors and a desire to protect
their environment. Next, students take that appreciation home with them, sharing their new knowledge and excitement with their families.

In South Lake Tahoe, CA, students participated in a PLT GreenWorks! grant, where the local high school and the US Forest Service partnered to involve local high school students to clean up the Angora Fire Burn site and to teach younger students about trees and the role their local forest plays to give them clean air and water and many other benefits. All of the students then helped to replant the forest. The high school students involved developed a deep appreciation for their local ecosystem and learned how to take initiative to solve problems in the community. As a result, they involved their siblings, friends, parents, and local businesses.

Our schools should be the first place to start to begin expanding the conversation about the environment, particularly in high-need communities. Education also plays a key role in your work advancing science,research, and technology innovation and in strengthening EPA’s workforce and capabilities. EPA needs to begin now to train the next generation of scientists and innovators who can lead EPA’s workforce through the 21st century.

Schools across America are starved for programs that not only teach students about their environment but take it to the next level by guiding them to develop critical thinking skills to identify and solve environmental challenges.

For example, the students at Scattergood Friends School in West Branch, Iowa conducted an investigation of their school as a part of PLT’s GreenSchools! program. They identified major issues with storm-water runoff on the campus, which created problems associated with water pollution and soil conservation. In addition to identifying the problem, students also developed and implemented the solution—the school needed a rain garden. The students at Scattergood Friends School and other schools with strong environmental education programs learned about their environment but also acquired problem-solving skills. EPA will need scientists, researchers, innovators, and program staff with these problem-solving skills.

As one that has seen first hand the power of education to change actions and create solutions, I do not believe you can fully accomplish your work around your top five priority areas unless you invest in programs to educate and engage students and the public. As you note in your expanding the conversation strategy, there are many things the federal government can do to solve our environmental challenges, but there are many more things that private citizens and individuals can do. A key focus on environmental education will unlock this potential in America’s students, young people, and our citizens.

The EPA has supported environmental education since 1990 from funds through the National Environmental Education Act (NEEA). NEEA authorized the Office of Environmental Education, which in turn funds EPA Environmental Education Grants, the Environmental Education and Training Program, and regional grants, all of which help to support PLT and environmental education programs across the country. I urge you to continue and expand your support for environmental education programs.

Many of the students who learned about their environment through a program like PLT are now in positions where they make decisions about our environment everyday, like how to keep our air and water clean. We need to continue to lay the groundwork for future generations by continuing to make environmental education a priority today.

Sincerely,

Tom Martin
President & CEO, American Forest Foundation

1111 Nineteenth Street, NW
Suite 780
Washington, D.C. 20036