WSF Joins Invitation Only White-House Kick-off on Climate Education and Literacy

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Will Steger Foundation Executive Director Nicole Rom joined The White House Office of Science and Technology Policy (OSTP) for a Climate Education and Literacy Roundtable on December 3rd, 2014, as part of the launch of a new Climate Education and Literacy Initiative to help connect American students and citizens with the best-available, science-based information about climate change.

The Roundtable brought together senior Administration officials including, among others, OSTP Director Dr. John P. Holdren, NOAA Administrator Dr. Kathryn D. Sullivan, and National Park Service Director Jonathan B. Jarvis, along with leaders from the public, private, academic, nongovernmental, and philanthropic sectors to discuss new steps and commitments to connect America’s students and citizens with the skills they need to succeed as tomorrow’s community leaders, city planners, and entrepreneurs, in the context of a changing climate.

The White House has been exploring opportunities at the intersection of two key priorities of the Obama Administration: lifting America’s game in STEM education, and combating climate change.  OSTP’s launch includes a number of exciting new commitments by Federal agencies and outside groups, including the Will Steger Foundation, which was highlighted among 30 of 150 projects submitted! We encourage you to learn about these new commitments on the newly released White House Factsheet.

We also invite you to join the Will Steger Foundation and OSTP in the kick-off of the Climate Education and Literacy Initiative by sharing your photos on social media platforms (such as Facebook, Twitter, Instagram) with a caption of what you are working on, as well as the tags #ActonClimate and #ClimateED

Together with The White House, we recognize that climate change education requires an “all hands on deck” approach. The Will Steger Foundation is committed to building the knowledge of climate science and growing the skills, attitudes and motivations to develop a citizenry that is able and willing to address climate change. WSF believes that every environmental educator and science educator should have the knowledge and skills to teach climate change in their educational setting. WSF believes that every educator should know where to go to find trusted scientific information about climate change, as well as solid educational resources. Finally, WSF believes that every student should graduate high school climate literate as defined by the Climate Literacy Principles: “Climate literacy is the understanding of your influence on the climate and climate’s influence on you and society.”

The Roundtable provided a chance to discuss successful efforts underway and ideas for new actions and opportunities to enhance climate change education and literacy through K-12, high education, and informal education.

Thanks to your support and investment in our work, the Will Steger Foundation is a leading voice for advancing climate literacy and education at top leadership levels, and working directly with educators on the ground in today’s classrooms with tomorrows leaders.

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