Education

When Earth Day was founded in 1970, a key component of the mission was the thoughtful engagement of youth in environmental thinking and action. The original Earth Day was largely carried out on college campuses and billed as a "national teach-in on the environment," the first one in fact. We believe that by emphasizing environmental education programming we carry that original message of Earth Day into the 21st century. In the in-between period of 1970 and today, we grew as a Dept. by distributing themed environmental education curricula tied with Earth Day to teachers who volunteered to serve as Earth Day Coordinators for their schools.

Over the years, this network has grown to a network of 25,000 self-selected K-12 teachers who view that Earth Day offers a unique opportunity to bring environmental awareness into their classroom. Building upon Earth Day Network's historic roots as an environmental teach-in, our globally recognized leadership role and experience in the environmental education and the school greening movement, and our continuing programs, Earth Day Network's Education Department seeks to utilize Earth Day 2010 as a major vehicle to continue and expand the Education initiatives of EDN for broader success.