President's Message

The E3 Summit: You Can Be an Environmental Educator

By Janine Gates

What does it take to become informed, involved and inspired about environmental education? For Ken Jones, Mayor of Tenino, all it took was a personal phone call.

I met Mr. Jones at the Thurston-Mason E3 Washington Regional Summit on Environmental Education, held June 1st at The Evergreen State College. The conference, sponsored by the Environmental Education Association of Washington, attracted a diverse cross-section of 200 participants.

The term "E3" stands for education, environment and economy. By working with businesses, cities, tribes, schools, the media, museums, zoos, state agencies, non-governmental organizations, community groups, artists, and others, E3 leaders hope to create a statewide strategy to educate, coordinate and deliver environmental education to state residents. Governor Christine Gregoire serves as an honorary co-chairperson.

Mayor Ken Jones had received many emails about the conference, but did not make the decision to go until he received a personal phone call from a conference coordinator. "(For me), emails don't cut it. I came out of curiosity because I am interested in finding balance between economic development and environmental considerations, whatever they may be," Jones said.

Indeed, the need for stronger personal relations -- such as that phone call -- and connections to the history of our regional community were common themes heard throughout many conversations that day.

Urgently expressed comments from participants included: "Why isn't our community the way we want it to be?" "We need to understand each other." "We are over-structured. We need to learn how to play." "We are well entertained as a people, but we are not happy." "We need to enhance curiosity in all ages and create the space to allow change to take place." "Where is our common ground?" "It's not what needs to be done, but how to get people energized."

Upon my arrival, I sat at a table and was later surrounded by Ivaly Sandford, an Evergreen student enrolled in the "Sustainable Futures" program; Sara del Moral, an environmental educator for the City of Tumwater; Bernard Steckler of EarthCare Catholics; Ross Gallagher , a Mason County Commissioner; Lydia Beth Leimbach of Left Foot Organics in Rochester; and Kellie Peterson of Gordon's Garden Center in Yelm.

The sheer diversity of roles, perspectives and knowledge amongst this group was impressive, and that was just at one table! As this event demonstrated, our community possesses a great deal of power that could be better harnessed with effort directed toward personal and economic collaborations and visionary leadership.

As Chuck Lennox of Cascade Interpretive Consulting led participants through an exercise, he said, "Martin Luther King, Jr. didn't say, 'I have a plan,' he said, 'I have a dream.'" Translating the dream into solid environmental reform is the hard part, but the daylong event definitely inspired many to work toward a regional and state comprehensive environmental plan. Please read more about E3's efforts at www.e3washington.org.

On another note, my 12-year-old son and I gained a tremendous education traveling this April and May to an environment very different from that of the Pacific Northwest -- the Middle East. In an area where water is more precious than oil, our preconceptions, misconceptions and anxieties were replaced with the type of depth and understanding only first-hand travel can provide. The trip far exceeded our expectations and we returned having made several personal connections. More on this in a future article or two.

Environmental education can take many forms and can be worked through the media, families, K-12 schools, higher educational institutions, government and business. How might you get involved? What would it take for you to get involved on a personal level? SPEECH would love your involvement. As far as self-education, do emails work for you? Phone calls? Meetings? TV shows? Websites? International travel? Interpretive or solitary walks around the Nisqually National Wildlife Refuge or McLane Creek Nature Trail? All of the above?

Chances are, since you are reading this, the South Sound Green Pages is part of your environmental education plan. Thank you! Whatever the methods that best suit your interests, we at SPEECH hope you will get intimately involved so you can pass that knowledge on to someone who may not be as well informed. Each of us can be an environmental educator. All combined, our efforts support visionary leadership on a local level to maintain our values. They must -- our community's future depends on it.

Janine Gates, president of SPEECH, can be reached at http://www.janinegatesphotography.com