
Environmental Literacy Report
Environmental education (EE) is a means to improve lives, protect the environment, and prepare all Americans to address 21st century environmental challenges.
Our country is faced with environmental challenges affecting everyday life: our families, our jobs, our communities, and our health.
Solutions often require a sophisticated understanding of complex systems and the interdependencies of people and the natural environment.
Check out how organizations across the country are rising to meet these challenges through environmental education.

EE Week in Shiprock, New Mexico
"You can create your own world. Look all around you. Everything around you is science. There are so many things that need to be studied out there."

Taking Nature Black
"According to Green 2.0, about 38% of the United States population is comprised of people of color, but of the almost 300 environmental institutes examined in 2014’s report “The State of Diversity in Environmental Organizations,” ethnic minorities only made up 16% of the staff and boards of the organizations, and the membership and volunteer base of these organizations were also predominantly white."

DIY Girls Take Action in LA with a Little Help from NEEF
"High school students in the program built and programmed air sensors and placed them on their shoe laces, purses, and even skateboards. The visibility of the air sensors started community conversations about air quality."

Community Food Bank of Southern Arizona
"Las Milpitas serves close to 2,000 people annually by providing materials and support for local residents to grow their own food. For six years Las Milpitas has strived to make healthy, local food more accessible to low-income families and marginalized communities."

Climate Education on the Local News
"Through Climate Matters, Climate Central produces research and tools to help TV meteorologists talk about the science and impacts of climate change with their audiences. Weekly Climate Matters packages include data analysis and research, localized whenever possible, as well as TV-ready graphics and animations, interactives, and social media material produced by a team of scientists, journalists, and creative artists."
In 2015, NEEF released Environmental Literacy in the United States: An Agenda for Leadership in the 21st Century.
Its nine chapters include:
- Chapter 1: Environmental Literacy and Change
- Chapter 2: The New American Landscape
- Chapter 3: Tectonic Shifts in Technology
- Chapter 4: The Greening of the American Education System
- Chapter 5: Americans in the Great Outdoors
- Chapter 6: Environmental Literacy in the Corporate World
- Chapter 7: Facing Environmental Threats
- Chapter 8: Building Support for Environmental Education
- Chapter 9: Building Sustainable Communities
This isn't a report to put on the shelf. This is your document, to be updated and refreshed. Tell us your latest bright spots in the field.