Informed Consumer Update

Many of you have been using our Informed Consumer resources online. We're happy to announce that the Infomed Consumer sections have been given a makeover! They now are easier to navigate and have even more information to help you make informed consumer decisions. We will continue to add to these pages and welcome any comments you may have.

Explore the new Informed Consumer here!

Check out our RSS Feeds

We update several of our online news sections daily, but there was no way for us to let you know which sections had been updated except for occasional e-mails with huge lists of news items. That has all changed!

We have set up all of our news sections as RSS feeds, so now you can be alerted to new stories and resources as they are added. Also, now you can focus on the news sections that are of particular interest to you and won't have to sift through all of the other sections.

Go to http://www.eenorthcarolina.org/rssfeeds.html to get your environmental education and informed consumer news the new, easier way! Even if you do not have RSS feeds set up, you can still view current news stories for each topic by clicking the orange RSS button under each heading.

Never heard of RSS and not sure about this new-fangled technology? It's really EASY to use and can save you lots of time. Go to http://www.eenorthcarolina.org/rssfeeds.html for an explanation of RSS News Feeds and how to get started. There is even a 3-minute video that is free of geek speak to help you out.

Get ’em Outside: A Celebration of Environmental Education

Get ’em Outside is a 5½-minute video that captures the joy and excitement of environmental education. Students, teachers and principals describe the value of learning outdoors, and vivid photography depicts kids leaning about everything from migrating butterflies to the path pollution takes into local waterways.

Get ’em Outside will appeal to students, teachers, parents, elected officials and anyone who cares about teaching young people about their natural world.

The video was commissioned by the No Child Left Inside Coalition, a coalition of hundreds of environmental, educational, public health, recreation and business organizations – all committed to expanding environmental education.

Click here to see the Get 'em Outside video.

Graduation Project SUPPORT!

Students: Find a Mentor for your Environmental Graduation Project!

Students and teachers interested in completing an environment-related graduation project should check out the NC Graduation Project Support page for a listing of potential mentors and project ideas, as well as information about interactive networking opportunities. Community members interested in becoming a mentor can also complete a short survey in order to have their information listed on the mentor pages.

Send Your Kids to an EE Camp!

Do you want your children to get some quality time outside this summer? Well, you're in luck! There are plenty of opportunities in our state for environmental education camp experiences. Day camps, overnight...there are camps for everyone! Click here to learn more!

Archives

Get 'Em Outside:A Celebration of Environmental Education

Send Your Kids to an EE Camp

Check Out Our Eco-Smart Consumer Blog

Get the Skinny On Water Conservation

No Child Left Inside Legislation

Discover the World Outside Postcards Now Available

Presenting Climate Change

Science & Children Focuses On EE

2006 State of the Environment

Why Zoos and Aquariums Matter

Barbie Picks Up After Pooch!

The Omnivore's Dilemma

Our Urban Wildlife

Environmental Tipping Points

Office of EE and EENC Adopt National EE Guidelines

Elephants and Ivory Soap

NC's Environmental Success Stories

NC's Environmental Challenges

Last Child In the Woods

Grist Magazine

Store Wars

Get ’em Outside: A Celebration of Environmental Education

Get ’em Outside is a 5½-minute video that captures the joy and excitement of environmental education. Students, teachers and principals describe the value of learning outdoors, and vivid photography depicts kids leaning about everything from migrating butterflies to the path pollution takes into local waterways.

Get ’em Outside will appeal to students, teachers, parents, elected officials and anyone who cares about teaching young people about their natural world.

The video was commissioned by the No Child Left Inside Coalition, a coalition of hundreds of environmental, educational, public health, recreation and business organizations – all committed to expanding environmental education.

Click here to see the Get 'em Outside video.

Send Your Kids to an EE Camp!

Do you want your children to get some quality time outside this summer? Well, you're in luck! There are plenty of opportunities in our state for environmental education camp experiences. Day camps, overnight...there are camps for everyone! Click here to learn more!

Check Out Our Eco-Smart Consumer Blog

That's right...we're blogging! Our Informed Consumer Initiative gives you the information you need to be smart, buyt smart and know your choices. Stay up to date, find eco-consumer news feeds and learn more about the choices you can make every day on the Eco-Smart Consumer Blog!

No Child Left Inside Legislation

Companion bills, proposed reauthorization of No Child Left Behind Act and other proposed legislation could garner federal support for environmental education

Senator Reed Introduces "No Child Left Inside" Act

On August 3rd, Senator Jack Reed introduced a Senate version of the "No Child Left Inside Act" as a companion bill to the House version that was introduced by Representative John P. Sarbanes in July. The introduction of this Senate Bill is a positive indication, since it would allow both bills to be considered simultaneously by the House and Senate.

This legislation is supported by a coalition of groups, including the Sierra Club, the National Wildlife Federation, Audubon and the Chesapeake Bay Foundation. Updates and more information can be found on the No Child Left Inside Coalition Web site.

For updates on Congressional Action...

H.R. 3036 currently has 17 co-sponsors, but the companion bill, S.1981 currently has none. For updates on the bills and a list of the co-sponsors, go to the H.R.3036 and S.1981 Summary pages on the U.S. Congressional Library THOMAS site.

Draft of Reauthorized No Child Left Behind Act includes Environmental Education Provisions

Another promising development is the possible inclusion of environmental education in the reauthorized federal No Child Left Behind Act. The No Child Left Behind (NCLB) Act of 2001 is the reauthorization of the Elementary and Secondary Authorization Act of 1965. It is the principal United States education law and sets strict accountability standards. It also mandates that all students be taught by a "Highly Qualified" teacher. However, many in the formal and non-formal education and environmental education fields believe that NCLB has reduced environmental education and outdoor opportunities for students. NCLB is currently up for reauthorization, and the current discussion draft includes several provisions from H.R. 3036 (the No Child Left Inside Act). More information, as well as the draft, is available on the US House Committee on Education and Labor Web site. The environmental education provisions are on pages 121-134 of the draft http://edlabor.house.gov/bills/MillerMcKeonNCLBDiscussionDraftIII.pdf

There are also other bills and budget items that could affect or impact environmental education, including NOAA's Environmental Literacy Grants and the EPA Office of Environmental Education. You can find out more on the Campaign for Environmental Literacy Web site.

Discover the World Outside Postcards Now Available

An increasing amount of research shows that spending time outdoors has many benefits to both the mental and physical health of adults and children. The Office of Environmental Education wants to share this information and make spending time outside easier for people in North Carolina.

Our new Discover the World Outside postcards relate the many physical and mental benefits of spending time outdoors. Some of these cards are targeted towards parents and highlight the specific benefits for children. Others are aimed at reaching the adult population in our state. All of the post cards share recent research findings and direct people to the statewide EE Calendar, the online EE Centers database and many other resources that can help them Discover the World Outside wherever they live!

View all 4 postcards available below and then scroll to the bottom of the page for the order form (the postcard shown above is on the back of the adult-focused postcards).

Front of parent-focused postcards :

Front of adult-focused postcards:

Back of parent-focused postcard:

Click here to order your postcards!

Presenting Climate Change - Some messages about global climate change could be counter-productive

Professor Mike Hulme is with the Tyndall Centre in the United Kingdom. Here he has been conducting research on people's attitudes to media portrayals of a catastrophic future. Those who are involved in educating people about global climate change may be interested in his findings.

Hulme compared the responses of people from two groups. One group was shown sensational media coverage on global climate change, while the other group was provided with information from scientific reports. The initial findings suggest that those exposed to the sensational media perceived the problem to be further in the future than the other group. Perhaps more importantly, they also beleived there was little they could do to address the problem.

Social marketing experts do sometimes use "fear appeals" to try and change people's behavior. They are quick to point out, however, that this tactic works best when it is accompanied by solutions that are effective and easy to perform. A good example of such a fear appeal is an anti-smoking campaign for young teens. It could work to use lung cancer and tracheotomy patients to scare the audience. They can simply avoid this fearful scenario by not taking up smoking as a habit.

The solution to issues concerning global climate change are not so simple. Until they are, Hulme's research suggests that the "fear appeal" might not be the way to go.

Check out the BBC News Article about Mike Hulme's research.

Science & Children Focuses On EE

The April/May 2007 issue of the National Science Teachers Association's journal Science & Children focuses on environmental education. Science & Children is NSTA's peer-reviewed journal for elementary teachers. Be sure to check it out at http://www.nsta.org/main/news/stories/journal_archive_date_list.php?category_ID=86&issue_ID=1013

This quote from the Editor's Note will likely resonate with many environmental educators.

"In the past, there’s been some tension between environmental education and science education. Environmental education includes social sciences, natural sciences, as well as emotions involved in making decisions. As the first Earth Days were germinating, there tended to be a tendency for action before knowledge. Some extremists even blamed science and technology as the agent of environmental destruction. Science educators misunderstood the inherently interdisciplinary nature of environmental education and accused it of being “fluffy.” But the times for polarity are over. We can no longer afford to be ignorant of the consequences of our actions. This issue pays tribute to our acknowledgement of the importance of environmental education and its role in helping us develop our students into caring, knowledgeable citizens."

We couldn't have said it better ourselves!

2006 State of the Environment

It's the end of the year, which means it's time again for Jack Betts of the Charlotte Observer to share his 2006 State of the Environment. We'll start with the bad news, or as Betts titles this section, "Essential Conflict: Growth vs. Green." The biggest environmental challenge currently facing North Carolina is its outdated energy policy. Other significant challenges facing the state are hog waste, climate change, gentrification of the coast, political interference, landfills, air pollution, declining wildlife refuges and national parks, polluted runoff and the loss of forests, traditional viewscape and natural areas. But there is some light on the horizon. Betts follows his report on North Carolina's challenges with a report on the state's successes. Here he mentions the Catawba Lands Conservancy and the Nature Conservancy protecting substantial tracts of land, oyster bed restoration by the Coastal Federation, mercury controls for coal-fired power plants adopted by the Environmental Management Commission and the city of Charlotte being highlighted by the Sierra Club as an environmentally friendly place to live.

Why Zoos and Aquariums Matter

The Association of Zoos and Aquariums (AZA), Institute for Learning Innovation and the Monterey Bay Aquarium have collaborated to better understand the role that zoos and aquariums play as facilitators of free-choice learning. The study conducted sought to determine why visitors come to these institutions, what they already know when they come and what they learn while they are there. The study found that people's motivation to visit zoos and aquariums generally place them into one of the five following categories: explorer, professional/hobbyist, experience seeker, spiritual pilgrim or facilitator. Click here to see the results of the study. The information is applicable not only to zoos and aquariums, but also to nature centers, museums and parks!

Barbie Picks Up After Pooch!

She has everything...the looks, the clothes, a cool car and a pooper scooper. Wait a minute...what? It's true! Barbie has a new dog named Tanner. Tanner likes to go for walks, play fetch with her bone and eat doggie biscuits. She's your typical retriever, and like any typical retriever, she poops (although unlike your typical retriever, only after you press down on her tail). And Barbie is a model citizen who realizes the impact that dog waste can have on water quality, so she picks up after Tanner using her turquoise pooper scooper! That's why she dumped Ken, you know...he didn't care about fecal coliform levels and stormwater pollution. You go, girl! Click here for more.

The Omnivore's Dilemma

What will you eat for dinner? This is the question that Michael Pollan's latest book, The Omnivore's Dilemma, sets out to answer, and the answer turns out to be quite complex. It turns out that Pollan's skills in investigative journalism are necessary to get to the bottom of it. Pollan traces three food chains - industrial, organic and hunter/gatherer - back to their sources. The result is a rivetting tale that takes us across the globe, to small farms and large farms, to fast food meals on the highway and to much more. Pollan quotes Wendell Berry, who wrote that, "Eating is an agricultural act." Pollan adds that it is an ecological and a political act as well. He does an excellent job of uncovering the many layers of the deceivingly simple-sounding question, "What will you eat for dinner?"

Michael Pollan is a New York Times bestselling author. He has been a contributing writer to New York Times Magazine since 1987 and served as executive editor for Harper's for many years. His numerous awards include the James Beard Award for best magazine series in 2003 and the Reuters-I.U.C.N. 2000 Global Award for Environmental Journalism. He is currently the Knight Professor of Science and Environmental Journalism at UC Berkeley.

Click here for a New York Times review of The Omnivore's Dilemma

Our Urban Wildlife

We mean it...you really don't want to miss this! John Simmons, photographer for the Charlotte Observer, has done an incredible job capturing images of wildlife that can be found in and around Charlotte, NC. In Our Urban Wildlife, his photos interpret the lives of these animals that are caught up in urban growth. Learn about how some animals have adapted to this change as well as which ones are struggling with it, learn about the jobs and research of folks who work with wildlife on a daily basis, and be awed by the skill of Simmons' images. Bruce Henderson, environmental writer for the Charlotte Observer, has worked with Simmons and wrote two articles for the project. One looks at how animals are responding to expanding urban areas, and the second looks closely at those who understand this plight well, wildlife rehabilitators.