No Oregon Child Left Inside


THE PROBLEM

Youth today are increasingly disconnected from the natural world. Richard Louv (2005) refers to this disengagement as “nature deficit disorder”. Although environmental health is of significant importance to Oregon, efforts aimed at cultivating our youth to be informed, responsible, and action oriented citizens are scattered. These efforts, as inspiring and exceptional as they are, will continue to operate in isolation until they become part of a collective vision and strategy.

Climate changes, depletion of natural resources, air and water concerns, and other environmental challenges are pressing and complex issues that threaten human health, economic development and national security. Finding wide-spread agreement about what specific steps we need to take to solve these problems is difficult.

For more than 30 years, Oregon has been home for many exemplary environmental education organizations and programs. However, Oregon lacks a common vision or statewide master plan for preparing our youth to understand complex environmental issues, assess risk, evaluate proposed environmental solutions and understand how individual decisions affect the environment at local and global scales. The challenge in Oregon is compounded by the large number of non-profit environmental education providers competing for limited resources.

As Oregon’s population grows and becomes more urbanized, its leaders and residents face the challenge of how to balance the economies within which we thrive, the communities where we reside, and the natural resources we depend on.

THE SOLUTION - No Oregon Child Left Inside Act

Balancing economic interests, community needs and environmental concerns requires the ability to understand different points of view, analyze problems, and devise creative solutions. Environmental education helps solve the education and natural resource challenges we face in Oregon. Environmental education helps ensure our children have the knowledge and skills necessary to address these complex issues.

Our future depends on the knowledge of every citizen to understand how our communities, economy and the environment are mutually dependent. By working together, we will introduce environmental education legislation in Oregon to provide a framework, complete with funding, for synergistic activities among government agencies, nonprofit organizations and industry maximizing the efficiency of our efforts and dramatically increasing the effectiveness of environmental education throughout the state. We need structural support for preparing all citizens to contribute to the overall health and well being of Oregonians, our environment, economy and communities.

The No Oregon Child Left Inside Act will establish and articulate an infrastructure for the advancement of environmental education in Oregon. The Act will create a framework to develop a statewide plan for environmental education by engaging individuals and communities throughout Oregon from diverse sectors including business and industry, government, natural resources, recreation, religious and spiritual, non-formal education, local communities, K-12 education, higher education, Pre-K education, teacher education programs, underserved and underrepresented populations, etc.

Additionally, by joining the national campaign for “No Child Left Inside” (NCLI) in support of environmental education we will improve our collective leadership capacity to reach state goals for human and community health, environmental sustainability and a prosperous economy.

TALKING POINTS

Use the information below when meeting with members of the Oregon legislature and their staff.

Background: The No Oregon Child Left Inside Coalition is a statewide coalition of environmental, natural resource, recreational and educational groups including teachers, environmental educators and others. The Coalition was formed to alert Oregon’s legislature and the public to the need for our public schools to devote more resources and attention to environmental education.

Goal: The Coalition is working to pass the No Oregon Child Left Inside Act during the 2009 Oregon legislative session. The Act would provide new funding for environmental education, particularly to develop a common statewide vision, train teachers and to develop a statewide environmental literacy plan.

Key Points on No Oregon Child Left Inside:

  1. Environmental education is critical now because of the complex environmental challenges confronting Oregon, our nation and the world, including human-induced climate change, air and water pollution and the loss of sensitive habitats.

  2. We will be passing these complicated problems on to future generations. We must give them a solid understanding of these problems and the basic tools to overcome them and make informed choices in their own lives.

  3. Environmental education must not be considered merely an optional topic. Understanding the environment and our natural resources is a critical need for our young people.

  4. The No Oregon Child Left Inside legislation will provide new resources and incentives for enhancing environmental education. It will not add any new requirements for schools, school systems, teachers or students.

  5. The new funding and incentives to expand environmental education will give school systems and environmental education program providers new tools to improve such offerings.

  6. Environmental education can generally be incorporated into courses already being taught including science or social studies classes.

  7. The legislation will help establish relevant, rigorous standards for environmental-related instruction and will help train teachers to use the best methods to teach these topics.

  8. Beyond the critical importance of teaching young people about the planet and its challenges, research has shown that environmental education leads to improved student performance. Students enjoy learning about the environment and become more engaged with their schoolwork.

Key Points on Environmental Literacy Plans:

  1. A state environmental literacy plan will ensure that environmental education activities are aligned with and support state curriculum content, benchmarks, standards and graduation requirements.

  2. A state environmental literacy plan will ensure that environmental education activities are carefully thought out and planned such that they are integral to state education goals and systemically implemented.

  3. A state environmental literacy plan will ensure consistency, accuracy and excellence in environmental content knowledge.

  4. The development of a state environmental literacy plan will engage underserved communities through an inclusive process so that all stakeholders are beneficiaries of environmental education in schools.

  5. A state environmental literacy plan will ensure that the focus of environmental education is on the students; that the needs of students are identified and addressed.

  6. A state environmental literacy plan will ensure that environmental education is fully, efficiently and appropriately integrated into formal education systems.

  7. A state environmental literacy plan will ensure that nonformal environmental education providers, state natural resource agencies, community organizations and other partners are involved appropriately and effectively in environmental education activities in the schools.

  8. A state environmental literacy plan will make Oregon eligible to apply for teacher professional development funds included in the federal No Child Left Inside Act.

  9. Research has shown that a state environmental education master plan is a necessary component of a comprehensive state environmental education program. A state environmental literacy plan is a vital component of a state master plan for environmental education.

Learn more about the No Child Left Inside Act.