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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