Tunza International Children's Conference on the Environment

Stavanger, Norway 17-21 June 2008

Theme: A Climate for change

The United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) will be organizing its Tunza International Children's Conference on the Environment in Stavanger, Norway from 17 to 21 June 2008. It will bring together 1,000 children aged 10 to 14 years, to learn about the environment through plenary sessions, hands-on workshops and field trips. The Conference will increase the children's understanding of environmental issues by providing them with a forum to share experiences and collectively voice their concerns for the environment. The themes of the Conference include, Energy, Bio-diversity, Resources and water. For more information on the Conference, and to submit a nomination from your organization please visit our website: http://www.unep.org/tunza/children/events/icc_2008/ For those who are unable to apply on-line, please complete the attached nomination form and submit to the address given below. (See attached file: conference nomination form.doc) For further information on the conference, please contact: The Children and Youth / Sport and the Environment Unit Division of Communications and Public Information United Nations Environment Programme P.O. Box 30552, Nairobi, Kenya Tel: +254 -20- 762 3937 / 762 5066, Fax: +254 -20-762 3927/ 762 4350 Email: children.youth@unep.org .

EASY TO UNDERSTAND ENVIRONMENTAL LITERACY AND EE DESCRIPTIONS POSTED

EASY TO UNDERSTAND ENVIRONMENTAL LITERACY AND EE DESCRIPTIONS POSTED

Environmental educators usually have a difficult time explaining environmental literacy and environmental education to the average person or decision maker. You will often see the glazed over and confused look appear on the person’s face after the first few words are spoken:

“EE is a learning process that increases people’s knowledge and awareness about the environment and associated challenges, develops the necessary skills and expertise to address the challenges, and fosters attitudes, motivations, and commitments to make informed decisions and take responsible action.”

While this definition may be understandable to some, most people would not have a clue about what it means.

To make it easier for the field to explain what it does and why it’s important, EETAP worked with a writer and several EE leaders to develop easily understandable descriptions that connect directly with people’s lives. These descriptions are now posted on the EETAP web. The section, titled Education and Environmental Literacy is divided into 4 sections:

· What is Environmental Literacy?

· What is Environmental Education?

· How EE and Educational Achievement Are Linked, and

· FAQs about environmental literacy and education.

The first three sections feature easy to understand descriptions of the topics listed. Also included are descriptions of what environmental literacy looks like, EE “done right”, and resources for further reading.

To view the pages click on the link below and then pass your cursor over “Education and Environmental Literacy” on the navigation bar. When the drop down menu appears click on the topic of interest.

http://www.eetap.org/

We hope you will find the descriptions and resources useful. Please send your comments, suggestions, and additional resources to consider listing on the site to: gmedina@niagaradsl.com

EE in Ontario: a big announcement

Sent: Friday, June 22, 2007 2:25 PM

Subject: major announcement

Today the Ontario government, as one of their green announcements this week, has released the Report of the Working Group on Environmental Education that was chaired by Roberta Bondar and included as one of the members of the Working Group OSEE now-past president Allan Foster.

The announcement can be seen at http://ogov.newswire.ca/ontario/GPOE/2007/06/22/c8204.html?lmatch=&lang=_e.html.

The Report Shaping Our Schools, Shaping Our Future can be seen at http://www.edu.gov.on.ca/curriculumcouncil/shapingSchools.pdf.

In their announcement Minister Wynne said the government will adopt and implement all 32 recommendations, the Report would not spend any time sitting on the shelf, and action would begin immediately.

The 32 recommendations are far-reaching, will finally create policy, and will affect curriculum, teacher preparation and professional development, both pre-service and in-service, resources, outdoor education, and a new grade 11 course focussed on environmental education.

I believe any of us invested in seeing these changes who reads the Report and its 32 recommendations will be very impressed.

Kudos to all who participated in providing input submissions to the Working Group.

Dave Arthur

Interesting web site...Josef Graf

This is the Josef Graf website: http://www.evbooks.net He is here in Whitehorse this summer again. You, teachers and environmentalists might enjoy this. He can be contacted at 334-2260. Sylvie Binette