United States
                       Environmental Protection
                       Agency
                              Office of Communications,
                              Education, and Media Relations
                              (1704)
EPA-171-F-98-011
July 1998
                 r
&EPA  |       Public-Private  Foundation
                        National Environmental Education and
                        Training Foundation
                        Background
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     The Water Source Project provides education to
     individuals and community leaders about the health
     and economic benefits of protecting drinking water
     sources, rather than relying solely on costly
     treatment plants
     Foundations for the Future, a partnership with
     major national environmental education
     organizations to ensure that environmental
     education is based on sound science and promotes
     balance and excellence in educational achievement
     National Public Lands Day (NPLD), an annual
     nationwide event that gives citizens  a hands-on
     opportunity to become involved in land and
     recreational improvements  on the nation's public
     lands while learning about  the environment
  makers, other environmental organizations, and the
  business community. The Foundation believes that
  distributing this data is an important part of its
  mission to correct myths about public opinion and
  attitudes, so that the policy makers and the private
  sector can develop approaches to environmental issues
  that benefit the nation.
  Friends of Environmental Education Fund
  expands support for the Foundation's initiatives and
  operating expenses. Among the private sector
  donors to the fund are individuals, foundations, and
  major corporations.
  Environmental Education Roundtable
  Discussions strengthen environmental education
  grant programs.
NEEfF Initiatives
To fulfill its mission to foster "essential environmental
knowledge" in all Americans, NEETF sponsors a number
of initiatives. Among those initiatives are:
  •  Partners for Resource Education involves the
     general public in the effort to balance economic and
     other needs with the need to maintain and protect
     environmental health. Under the program, NEETF
     works in partnership with five federal agencies — the
     Bureau of Land Management, the U.S. Forest
     Service, the National Park Service, the U.S. Fish and
     Wildlife Service, and the Natural Resources
     Conservation Service — to develop the Ecosystem
     Matters Tool Kit, a package of materials designed to
     educate citizens about the principles of ecosystem
     management and the role of healthy ecosystems in
     supporting quality of life.
  •  "NEETF/Roper National Report Card:
     Knowledge, Attitudes and Behaviors of American
     Adults" is a multi-year effort by NEETF and Roper
     Starch Worldwide to collaborate on an attitudinal
     survey of adult Americans. In 1997, not only did the
     NEETF/Roper survey contain six years of data on
     environmental attitudes and opinions, but also an
     assessment of the public's environmental knowledge.
     The survey asked 12 basic questions about such
     subjects as air and water pollution, conservation, and
     garbage disposal. It also assessed the degree to which
     the public engages in ten individual behaviors that
     have an impact on the environment, such as recycling,
     and then evaluated the degree to which
     environmental knowledge relates to those behaviors.
     Also included in the survey were questions to
     determine the degree to which Americans support
     environmental education being taught in schools.
     Each year, NEETF has made the data compiled
     through the survey available to the media, policy
The program initiatives NEETF supports
benefit the American people in numerous
ways, among them:
   Protection of human health and, reduction of
   the costs of health care by building public
   awareness of the adverse health effects of
   environmental degradation, supporting health
   care providers in improving their diagnostic
   skills, and educating citizens about the need to
   improve preventative health care

   Conservation of the nation's national
   resources, including farm land, timber and
   mineral resources, water supplies, and fossil
   fuel reserves

   Reduction of losses caused by natural disasters,
   such as floods, hurricanes, and fires, by
   educating the public about the natural forces
   that bring about such disasters and about
   avoiding danger and reducing the damage
   disasters cause

   Promotion of sustained economic growth,
   by encouraging communities to recognize
   the role of natural settings in attracting
   and keeping businesses that strengthen
   local economies

   Encouragement of self-rule within the
   community and creative individual action
   by supporting the development of an
   environmentally literate citizenry that
   ultimately will solve the nation's  most difficult
   environmental problems

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 NEEIF's Grant Program
As a grant maker, NEETF awards funds appropriated by
Congress to support a range of environmental education
efforts. NEETF targets programs that foster informed
decision making at home, in the community, at school,
and at work, seeking programs that:
  •   Address environmental issues that affect health and
      pose significant long-term threats to society
  •   Train teachers to effectively integrate environmental
      education into their curricula
  •   Promote training of the workforce in environmental
      issues
  •   Strengthen the focus of the field of environmental
      education by duplicating environmental education
      projects that have been proven successful

Each year, NEETF receives proposals for support for
programs that foster those goals. The Foundation's staff
and its Board of Directors, made up of experts in
education, environmental issues, and management, work
with peer reviewers to select approximately one project in
ten for funding.  In fiscal year 1998, NEETF awarded
competitive  challenge grants in three program areas:
health and environment, safe water, and environmental
education excellence. Three such projects that the
Foundation has funded are described below.


ToxRAP Network
Environmental and Occupational Health Sciences Institute
Piscataway, New Jersey
Despite the evidence linking environmental hazards to
human health, ToxRAP (Toxicology, Risk Assessment and
Pollution) is one of the only K-9th grade curricula
available on the subject.  This grant will support the
establishment of the ToxRAP Network leadership teams.
Using a train-the-trainer model, the network will reach
500 educators in Arizona, California, Massachusetts, New
Jersey, Oregon, Pennsylvania, and South Carolina in the
first year.
De-centralized Wastewater Planning/Education Project
Marine Studies Consortium
Chestnut Hill, Massachusetts
The health of many coastal ecosystems are suffering from
wastewater contamination that poisons shellfish and
threatens human health. Failing septic systems can be
replaced with efficient, cost-effective alternatives to
centralized sewer systems. This grant will support
alternative waste-water planning, design, and
management training for 300 municipal, engineering, and
regulatory personnel in Massachusettes, Rhode Island,
Connecticut, and neighboring states.

What Determines Responsible Environmental
Behavior? Evaluation of an EE Model
University of Michigan, School of Natural Resources
and Environment
Ann Arbor, Michigan
The relationships between environmental knowledge,
attitudes, and behaviors have been theorized but not
rigorously tested.  This grant will support a statistical
assessment of the leading environmental education
behavior model proposed by Hungerford and Volk in
1990. Outcomes will guide future environmental
education priority setting.
                   For additional information about NEETF or its grant program, contact:
                                        Kevin J. Coyle, President
                              Phone: (202) 628-8200; Fax: (202) 628-8204

                                      Or visit the World Wide Web at
                                         http://www.neetf.org

                                                Or contact:
                                      Michael Baker, Acting Director
                U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, Office of Environmental Education
                              Phone: (202) 260-4965; Fax: (202) 260-4095

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