Spread the Word about NCLI to President-elect Obama

From:
Abby Ybarra and Lucas Johnson
Grassroots Coordinators
No Child Left Inside Coalition


Spread the Word about NCLI to President-elect Obama

We have an immediate opportunity to let the incoming Obama administration know about the importance of the No Child Left Inside Act. The president-elect’s transition team has launched a discussion of environmental issues on the official transition website.

Let’s make sure the administration knows that there are millions of people who believe environmental education should receive more support. We can do that by posting comments and voting on the importance of our issue on the change.gov site.

Here’s how to do it:

1. Go to the Obama transition team website devoted to a public discussion of issues.

2. Create a change.gov sign-in, which only takes a moment.

3. Click on the Energy and Environment tab on the left side of the page.

4. Post a comment about the importance of environmental education and the

No Child Left Inside Act. (See suggested talking points below.)

5. Or, vote in support of a previous post on NCLI by clicking on the button next to the post. The more votes the idea gets, the more prominence it receives on the page. You can also post comments about a previous post on NCLI.

6. Spread the word to your organization’s members.

We are told that the president-elect will indeed receive a summary of the issues advanced by the public on this website, so get busy!

Talking Points for posting on change.gov

- Environmental education helps kids engage with nature, gets them out of the house and the classroom and fosters lifelong interest in the environment.
- Outdoor learning activities will help kids become more physically active.
- The federal government woefully under-funds environmental education.
- The environment faces enormous challenges; we have to equip young people with the knowledge to understand and overcome them.
- Young people need a strong grasp of the environment to move into 21st Century jobs, particularly the millions of green jobs that the economy is expected to create.
- The NCLI movement is backed by more than 1000 member organizations, including many businesses.
- Tens of millions of Americans are concerned that kids are losing touch with nature.
- The NCLI Act is an affordable measure that will provide much-needed funds to train teachers, build high-quality environmental learning programs, and help states strengthen their environmental education programs.

Please forward this email to members of your organization.

As always, many thanks!