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Environmental Education Week Webinar: Teaching Ocean Connections from Watersheds to Reefs

by
Bill Whorton

The ocean covers nearly three quarters of our planet’s surface, provides 70 percent of the oxygen in the atmosphere and houses about 20 percent of the known species on Earth. It regulates climate and weather and provides food and energy resources for humans worldwide. Water in every stream or river on the planet eventually ends up in the ocean, and all life on Earth is dependent upon its health. More than half of all Americans live within 50 miles of the coast, but whether near or far our lives are inextricably linked to the ocean.

In 2011, National Environmental Education Week (EE Week), the nation’s largest environmental event, will be held from April 10-16. Here in the Chesapeake Bay Watershed we will be celebrating the 2011 EE Weeks’s focus on Ocean Connections in the nation’s largest estuary!

Registered EE Week participants are invited to participate in a free educator webinar hosted by the National Environmental Education Foundation. The Teaching Ocean Connections: Watersheds to Reefs Webinar will be held on Wednesday, March 30, 2011 at 7:00 p.m. Eastern. Take advantage of this opportunity to learn from and interact with National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) experts Rob Ferguson, Paulo Maurin and Cathy Sakas, who will share their knowledge and ideas for compelling classroom activities on watersheds and introduce participants to NOAA’s Rivers to Reefs Program. This webinar should be a great chance to learn about watershed lessons that can be connected back to the Chesapeake Bay and can be used in your own classroom!

Register for 2011 EE Week to participate in this online professional development experience. Registration is free, and registered participants will receive login information via email prior to the webinar.

Click this link to learn more about the Teaching Ocean Connections: Watersheds to Reefs Webinar, and be sure to check out Bay Backpack’s watershed lesson plans for more fun ideas on how to teach about watersheds!