News Releases from Region 09

EPA awards $63,957 to Reno, Nev. Institute to educate students on climate change

SAN FRANCISCO - The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency has awarded an environmental education grant of $63,957 to the Great Basin Institute located in Reno, Nev. The project will help middle and high school students develop critical thinking skills related to climate change. They will learn how to plan and conduct scientific investigations, analyze and interpret data, and use mathematical and computational thinking through a variety of classroom and field-based educational exercises.

The Great Basin Institute's in-school climate change modules will cover a variety of topics, including: carbon dioxide trends, carbon footprint, climate change policy, ecosystems, energy use and conservation, environmental regulations, global connections, and greenhouse effect. Students will also go on two field trips to one of the five ecosystems in Northern Nevada.

"Climate change is the most pressing environmental issue of our time," said Jared Blumenfeld, EPA's Regional Administrator for the Pacific Southwest. "The Great Basin Institute project will increase environmental literacy and help motivate young people to become stewards of the environment."

"With Nevada educators estimating that up to 70% of our students have never been in a forest or to a lake, the future of natural ecosystem conservation and protection is jeopardized - we don't protect what we don't know," said Gwen Bourne, Galena Visitor Center Director of the Great Basin Institute. "Thanks to EPA's support for in-school and outdoor field study modules in climate change, Nevada students will gain priceless, discovery-based experiences in natural environments and motivation to commit to long-term environmental protection."

EPA's Environmental Education Local Grants Program supports environmental education projects that increase increase children's and college student's knowledge and provide them with the skills to take responsible actions to protect the environment. The EPA's Pacific Southwest Regional Office received over 80 applications this year, and the Great Basin Institute project is one of seven projects in the Pacific Southwest Region that will receive an environmental education grant.

For more information on Environmental Education Grants, please visit: www2.epa.gov/education/environmental-education-ee-grants

For more information on the Great Basin Institute, please visit: www.thegreatbasininstitute.org