North Carolina Environmental Education Week!

Gov. Beverly Perdue has proclaimed the week of April 11-17 as "North Carolina Environmental Education Week." The proclamation was read last week at the North Carolina Children and Nature Network Conference by State Representative Pat Hurley of Randolph County. North Carolina EE Week is part of a nation-wide effort to promote environmental literacy during the week before Earth Day. (View the proclamation.)

Since 2004, the National Environmental Education Foundation has coordinated the implementation of National EE Week. Working in partnership with various federal, local and state agencies and organizations, EE Week engages the participation of thousands of educators and millions of students and adults. It is the largest organized environmental education event in the United States. This year, the event is sponsored by the Walmart Foundation.

The N.C. Office of Environmental Education is promoting EE Week,
Earth Day and Arbor Day programs and events statewide in April using its Web site, http://www.eenorthcarolina.org/. On the Web site, individuals can use an online calendar to view environmental education activities across the state. Visitors can search for North Carolina Environmental Education Centers and teachers and nonformal educators can search for environmental education resources tailored to different ages and subjects. The office also encourages schools, organizations and agencies to sign
up as a participants in National EE Week at http://www.eeweek.org/.

Lisa Tolley, director of the N.C. Office of Environmental Education, hopes their Web site will help get children and adults outside this spring and introduce them to the benefits of environmental education activities.

“April is a great time to celebrate all the exciting outdoor events and programs going on in North Carolina. We want to help people find outdoor experiences and environmental education activities in their own community and at facilities they can visit across the state.”

For a list of environmental education activities in April, visit the N.C. Office of Environmental Education Calendar.

The Office of Environmental Education invites environmental education centers, parks, government agencies, cities, counties, schools and non-profit organizations to post their EE Week and Earth Day events on the Environmental Education Calendar. The office will then promote all of these events on their Web site, through press releases and on the NC-EE listserv. If your agency or organization is not listed as an organization on the Web site, these instructions show you how to register and post events.