I hope everyone is having a happy and healthy July!
I want to inform you of an opportunity to take action to protect environmental education. Please read over the following message and send a letter to your senator today.
Happy Summer!
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Action Alert:
Help us reach our goal of 51 Senate Co-sponsors
We need your help to shore up support for the No Child Left Inside Act by securing as many Senate co-sponsors as possible before Congress takes its August recess.
The Senate version of the No Child Left Inside Act (S.866) was introduced by Senator Jack Reed on Earth Day, April 22, 2009. Already, this bill has 15 bi-partisan co-sponsors—a great start, but still a long way from our goal of 51 co-sponsors. Please help us to make progress towards this goal before August recess begins. Email your Senator today and urge him or her to become a co-sponsor (for a list of co-sponsors, click here). Visit your Senator’s website for their contact info; we have provided a model letter below.
As our leaders in Washington are focused on health care and climate change legislation, we have the opportunity to highlight the value of high quality environmental education in fostering good health and long-term stewardship of our planet. But, as the August recess approaches, time is short to meet the goal of 51 Senate co-sponsors. Your help is critical. Please take a moment to personalize an email letter to your Senator today.
A strong show of bipartisan support for programs that get children outside to learn and foster environmental literacy and stewardship will greatly aid our chances of swift passage of Senate bill 866, the No Child Left Inside Act.
Thank you for all you do!
Abby Ybarra and Lucas Johnson
Grassroots Coordinators
No Child Left Inside Coalition
DATE
The Honorable MEMBER FIRST AND LAST NAME
United States Senate
__________ Senate Office Building
Washington, DC 20510
Dear Senator LAST NAME,
We are writing to you today to urge you to become a co-sponsor of the No Child Left Inside Act of 2009 (S. 866). In doing so, you will take a leadership role in advancing our shared goals of achieving a clean environment, healthy and academically successful students, and a thriving 21st century workforce, for STATE NAME and the nation.
Introduced this year by Senator Jack Reed, the No Child Left Inside Act will help to ensure that students across the country graduate from high school as environmentally literate citizens who are prepared to care for our natural resources and compete in a green economy. This bipartisan bill would provide funding to states for implementation of preK-12 environmental literacy plans, and expand opportunities for schools and school systems to integrate high quality environmental and outdoor education programs across the curriculum at all grade levels. Specifically, the bill provides:
- Incentives for states to create and implement State Environmental Literacy Plans to ensure their students are environmentally literate when they graduate.
- Grants to states to improve teacher quality and professional development to support implementation of environmental literacy plans in schools and school systems.
- Increased national capacity through grants to state education agencies, local education agencies, institutions of higher education or nonprofit organizations for dissemination of proven environmental education models and studies of national significance.
The benefits of environmental and outdoor education are substantial. Use of the environment as a context for learning is proven to increase student achievement in core subjects, as well as improve engagement and reduce disciplinary problems. Outdoor learning and play are critical to early childhood development, both cognitively and emotionally. Early engagement in environmental studies fosters an interest in and aptitude for more complex science and technology as education progresses. Further, an understanding of the fragility and complexity of the natural world, and the role of individuals and communities in protecting it, is key to developing a long-term sense of civic engagement and environmental stewardship.
ADD A PARAGRAPH HERE ABOUT YOUR ORGANIZATION’S WORK, HOW YOU ARE EDUCATING KIDS ABOUT THE ENVIRONMENT LOCALLY, HOW MANY MEMBERS YOU HAVE, ETC. IT IS IMPORTANT TO SHOW THIS LOCAL CONNECTION.
Thank you for your thoughtful consideration of an issue that is so critical to our children and to the future of STATE’S treasured natural resources.
Sincerely,
NAME
