"Those memories made me realize something important: Maybe I didn’t hate teaching. Maybe I just needed a different way to teach. Perhaps I felt most alive when children learned in nature, not just about it. That’s when I started to learn again, looking for courses and materials about nature-based education. One day, I found the NAAEE Guidelines for Excellence..."

Through the ee360+ initiative, state instigators were able to create a community around advancing environmental education (EE) by meeting with others to discuss needs, barriers, and avenues of success while actively enriching our local networks.

As environmental educators, how can we ensure that valuable academic insights reach those working on the ground? The eeRESEARCH project, a collaborative initiative led by NAAEE as part of ee360+, has been working to address this challenge by making environmental education research more accessible to practitioners

ee360+ has supported capacity-building activities that have bolstered both individual Affiliate organizations and the Affiliate Network as a whole. Over recent years, ee360+ funding has enabled Affiliates to undertake projects to broaden their reach and establish programming with new audiences.

Environmental literacy for everyone, everywhere is an inspiring vision that ee360+ is actively bringing to life. Through its innovative coalition of higher education institutions, nonprofits, and federal agencies, ee360+ creates powerful synergies in training, resource development, and professional standards.

North Carolina is one of the states that offers a certification program to recognize educators with proficiency in both the interdisciplinary content and pedagogy necessary to develop and deliver high-quality, effective EE programs. The UDL in EE course is currently one of the courses that can be used to meet certification requirements in North Carolina.

The ee360+ initiative brings together various partners to build an environmentally literate and engaged public that is building resilient communities and a healthier, more sustainable and equitable future for all. As a longtime training partner on the ee360+ initiative, Project Learning Tree (PLT) focuses on providing training and long-term support to diverse formal and nonformal environmental education leaders.

Working alongside communities of any scale to create change takes “long-term initiative, requiring a commitment to relationship building and an ongoing and evolving process of engagement” (Community Engagement Guidelines Key Characteristic #5). Misty's story exemplifies one workshop participant’s commitment to creating change over the past 6+ years in collaboration with AUNE’s ee360+ team.

I was approached by two ee360+ Partners, the University of Florida and Project Learning Tree (PLT), about integrating PLT into our teacher preparation curriculum with pre-service teachers. The outcome is what I like to call ECO-READ, Empowering Conservation Through Observation, Reading, Education, Application, and Discovery. I think of it as this holistic, transformational project that's transforming STEM into STREAM education with an R for reading and an A for art. 

The members of the NAAEE Affiliate Network make up an extensive circuitry of programs, initiatives, and supports to energize the field. A strong and healthy network ensures that ideas, learnings, and successes can flow easily across the network, powering ongoing innovation.

The 2023 NAAEE virtual conference brought together educators, experts, and advocates from various sectors to explore ways to address environmental and social issues. The conference, themed around collaboration and creativity, showcased the dedication of our ee360+ partners working towards a more sustainable and equitable future.

The work of students at St. Francis de Sales High School exemplifies the transformative power of ee360+. A teacher from this school on the east side of Chicago participated in Earth Force’s professional development process hosted by the Environmental Education Association of Illinois (EEAI). Students at this co-ed, college preparatory Catholic high school located in a traditionally working-class neighborhood were alarmed by seasonal flooding.

The ee360+ initiative serves as an effective catalyst for collaboration, centered on making the best of environmental education (EE) accessible for everyone. While collaboration occurs at a wide range of scales, three national and long-standing environmental education nonprofits and ee360+ partners—Project Learning Tree (PLT), Project WILD (WILD), and Project WET (WET)—are taking it to a whole new level.

In this featured podcast, University of Florida (UF) master’s student and host Cayla Romano interviews Alachua County 4-H Leader Sarah Wolking about a recent, successful youth-driven initiative. Youth participating in the 4-H Community Action Projects for the Environment, or CAPE, observed a disturbing trend in their community.