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National Environmental Education Week Celebrates Ocean Connections

by
Bill Whorton

Join teachers and students in exploring our Ocean Connections as part of National Environmental Education Week, April 10-16, 2011!

We might have divided it up and given the different areas different names, but there really is only one ocean. And it is the dominant feature of our planet. No matter how far we live from the coast, we are all connected to the ocean, sometimes in nearly invisible ways. For those in the Chesapeake Watershed, this connection is very strong. In Maryland, Virginia, Pennsylvania, Virginia, West Virginia, New York, and the District of Columbia, we live a 64,299 square miles drainage basin that flows into the largest estuary in the United States of America: the Chesapeake Bay!

From the vast network of streams and rivers that make up the major watersheds on Earth (all of which, including the Chesapeake Bay, drain into the ocean) to the ingredients in products we use every day, there is no escaping our dependence on the ocean. The ocean supplies us with food and medicine, cycles our water, generates most of the oxygen we breathe and balances our climate. Recognizing the vital importance of the ocean to all life on Earth, National Environmental Education Week’s 2011 theme is Ocean Connections.

National Environmental Education Week (EE Week) is the nation’s largest environmental education event held each year the week before Earth Day – this year, April 10-16. EE Week inspires environmental learning and stewardship among young people by connecting educators with environmental resources to promote K-12 students’ understanding of the environment. The goal of EE Week is to assist educators in incorporating more high-quality environmental education across the curriculum. In 2010, over 2,000 schools and organizations across the country organized EE Week events. Collectively these organizations reached millions of students with environmentally themed lessons and activities.

This year, EE Week will celebrate the ocean by offering resources and curricula for teaching about the ocean and oil spills, facts about our ocean connections in English and Spanish, online Ocean Bee quizzes for students (created in partnership with National Ocean Sciences Bowl) and a series of educator webinars. The first Educator Webinar: Teaching about the Gulf Oil Spill will be held Feb. 23, 2011 at 7 p.m. EST. Register for EE Week to participate.

Registration takes only seconds but has many benefits. Registered EE Week participants receive grade-appropriate toolkits for each school day during EE Week, with outstanding lessons and activities on prevalent ocean subtopics created in partnership with Centers for Ocean Sciences Education Excellence.

Learn more about EE Week by visiting EEWeek.org and register your school or organization to participate and join a national network of educators dedicated to increasing the environmental literacy of students.

Do you have a successful environmental education project to tell us about? We’d love to hear about it. Contact EEWeek@neefusa.org and info@baybackpack.com to share your story.