Our Impact
The National Environmental Education Foundation (NEEF) provides knowledge to trusted professionals who, with their credibility, amplify messages to national audiences to solve everyday environmental problems. Together, we generate lasting positive change.NEEF partners with professionals in health, education, media, business and public land management to promote daily actions for helping people protect and enjoy the environment. Through our primary programs - Classroom Earth, National Public Lands Day, National Environmental Education Week, Business and Environment, Earth Gauge(r) and Health & Environment -- we offer Americans knowledge to live by. To learn more, call (202) 833-2933 or visit www.neefusa.org.
- Improving Our Health
- Promoting Ideas for Everyday
- Caring for Our Public Lands
- Transforming Education
Improving Our Health
Our Health and Environment program gives health professionals the tools and knowledge they need to diagnose, treat and prevent conditions caused by environmental threats, such as pediatric asthma. Groundbreaking programs like our Pediatric Environmental History Initiative stand to revolutionize the way the health care industry views the environment.
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The Health and Environment programs seeks to advance environmental knowledge among health professionals in order to improve public health, with a special emphasis on children and other populations disproportionately impacted by environmental health disparities.
- 33 organizations representing 2.5 million health care providers including: American Medial Association; American Academy of Pediatrics; National Association of School Nurses; Academic Pediatric Association and the American Nurses Association, have signed on to NEEF's environmental health position statement.
- Our Pediatric Asthma Faculty Champions have trained 1,600 health care professionals since January 2007. We are projecting that in the next three years they will train another 4,500 medical faculty members, who will reach 90,000 medical residents and health care students, enabling them to bring this knowledge into their practice.
- Kaiser Permanente has integrated our Asthma Guidelines into their Clinical Library intranet site, giving us potential reach to their 139,000 employees and 8.4 million members.
- The EPA honored our work by naming us one of the recipients of the 2006 Children’s Environmental Health Excellence Award.
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Our Pediatric Environmental History forms are featured in the fourth edition of the book Pediatric Primary Care.
More information.
For many Americans, the weather is the clearest connection between the environment and their daily lives. That’s why we partner with the American Meteorological Society (AMS) to work with weathercasters across the country to draw links between weather and environmental topics like water and air quality, and wildlife and public health.
- Earth Gauge™ is used by more than 130 local meteorologists and radio broadcasters in 85 media markets, which reach over 175 million television viewers or 57% of the population, and 1.7 million radio listeners.
- Earth GaugeTM action tips are being disbursed to 15 of the top 20 largest media markets, including the top three largest markets -- New York, Los Angeles, and Chicago.
- Earth Gauge™ has a major partnership with The Weather Channel, which reaches 87 million households daily. They use our tips on-air 2-3 times a day and use our Climate Facts feature on their Forecast Earth website.
- Earth Gauge™ is going beyond the broadcast to educate meteorologists and their viewers:
- 37 National Weather Service Warning Coordination Meteorologists receive Earth Gauge™ and use it in their materials and to better communicate with their local meteorologists.
- Local meteorlogists are using Earth Gauge™ in their outreach to classrooms and communities.
- Select NBC stations use Earth Gauge™ action tips in the Going Green section of their website.
Caring for Our Public Lands
Our public lands program works to increase environmental stewardship through education and volunteerism. Our signature event for this effort is National Public Lands Day, the nation’s largest single day for improving and enhancing the public lands that are a vital part of America’s heritage.
More than 1,300 parks and other public land areas benefited from the work provided by 110,000 volunteers in every state of the nation. Eight federal land management agencies and over 500 city, county, state, and other local recreation, park and resource departments participated.
National Public Lands Day:
- Educates Americans about critical environmental and natural resources issues and the need for shared stewardship of these valued, irreplaceable lands;
- Builds partnerships between the public sector and the local community based upon mutual interests in the enhancement and restoration of America's public lands;
- Improves public lands for outdoor recreation, with volunteers assisting land managers in hands-on work.
Transforming Education
National Environmental Education Week is designed to increase the amount of environmental education received by K-12 students in formal and non-formal education settings across the country. Through this week-long celebration, we reach millions of students by encouraging educational preparation, learning and activities in K-12 classrooms, nature centers, zoos, museums and aquaria.
- Nearly 2000 schools, museums, nature centers, zoos, and aquariums participated in 2008.
- EE Week has over 75 National Partners, including: National Geographic Society; North American Association for Environmental Education (NAAEE); U.S. EPA Office of Children’s Health and Environmental Education; Roger Tory Peterson Institute of Natural History; Earth Day Network; and National Science Teachers Association (NSTA).
The National Environmental Education Foundation prides itself on its long history of strong and cooperative patnerships. We strive to bring all parties to the table and create lasting public/private relationships. You can find out more in our Partners section.