Environmental Education Plan (pdf)The Office of Environmental Education
The N.C. Office of Environmental Education in the N.C. Department of Environment and Natural Resources was established to increase environmental literacy and natural resource stewardship in North Carolina by encouraging, promoting and supporting environmental education programs, facilities and resources throughout the state.
The office serves as North Carolina’s clearinghouse, or central source, for all of the environmental education resources in the state and is responsible for disseminating information on those resources to PreK-12 schools, colleges and universities, government agencies, nonprofit organizations, environmental education centers, citizen groups, business and industry, libraries and the general public. The office is responsible for implementing the N.C. Environmental Education Act; establishing policies to guide the development of environmental education materials and programs; and drafting North Carolina’s Environmental Education Plan and achieving the goals of the plan through community involvement, innovative partnerships and collaboration.
Mission
The mission of the N.C. Office of Environmental Education is to encourage, support and promote environmental education programs, facilities and resources in North Carolina for the purpose of improving the public’s environmental literacy and stewardship of natural resources through planning, policy development, community involvement, innovative partnerships and collaboration.
Why Environmental Education?
In the classroom and beyond, the desired outcome of environmental education is environmental literacy. People who are environmentally literate understand how natural systems function and how humans and the environment are intertwined. To that end, environmental education strives to provide learners with sound scientific information and the vital skills of problem solving, critical thinking and decision-making. At one time or another, individuals will be compelled to address and solve complex environmental problems affecting the economy, public health or shared natural resources. Environmental education provides the necessary tools.
The National Science Foundation’s Advisory Committee for Environmental Research and Education noted that “in the coming decades, the public will more frequently be called upon to understand complex environmental issues, assess risk, evaluate
proposed environmental plans and understand how individual decisions affect the environment at local and global scales. Creating a scientifically informed citizenry requires a concerted, systematic approach to environmental education.”
History of Environmental Education in North Carolina
Enabling Legislation, The Environmental Education Act of 1993
Impact of Budget Cuts to Environmental Education
North Carolina's Master Plan for Environmental Education
