The Environmental Literacy Council

We believe that teachers are the key to the quest for environmental literacy - and they need better resources. Towards that goal, the Environmental Literacy Council has assembled top scientists, scholars, economists and educators to provide direct support to teachers. Our programs bring the best minds on environmental issues into classrooms across the country. Expert advisors provide practical teaching resources in a wide variety of projects, available both in print and online.

Our approach toward building environmental literacy accepts that environmental issues involve many dimensions - scientific, economic, aesthetic and ethical. It recognizes that our knowledge is rapidly evolving and that scientific evidence is often uncertain. Above all, it acknowledges the critical importance of environmental literacy, not only to society, but to the environment itself. If we are to protect the Earth and our future, we need to equip today's students to be tomorrow's environmental stewards. Our classrooms must become places where students achieve a deep understanding of complex environmental issues. A forest, for example, may be at one and the same time a place of great beauty; a natural resource critical to the health and well-being of neighboring communities; a local ecosystem, supporting rich plant and animal life; and a vital component in the planet's great biogeochemical cycles for regulating global climate. The Council seeks to help teachers and their students see this forest and its trees: to analyze and evaluate risk, and to understand the limits and impact of our actions.

Please see our website, enviroliteracy.org for more.