Minnesota Pollution Control Agency

Contacts: CoriAhna Rude-Young, 651-296-5965 Saint Paul, Minn. -- In an effort to increase environmental education in classrooms and provide opportunities for students to experience the environment firsthand, April 13 - 19 has been declared Environmental Education Week in Minnesota. Educators are being provided with activities and encouraged to develop partnerships with schools, nature centers, zoos, museums, science centers and parks. "The Minnesota Report Card on Environmental Literacy illustrates that there is still a need for citizens to be informed on environmental matters," says Lee Ann Landstrom, chairperson of the Environmental Education Advisory Board, the state board that guides the direction of environmental education in Minnesota. "The EEAB is pleased that the role of environmental education is being recognized and encouraged now and in the future." The EEAB was created by the 1990 Environmental Education Act to promote environmental literacy for all Minnesota citizens. The Board accomplishes this by advising the Governor through the Minnesota Pollution Control Agency, state agencies, organizations and citizens on the implementation of, A GreenPrint for Minnesota: State Plan for Environmental Education. To learn more about environmental education, visit www.seek.state.mn.us or call 651-215-0256.