Education to build long-term community support groups

[Myra Immings <myra.immings@fta.dot.gov>]

Building upon remarks of Mary Popkin and Bruce Englebert regarding Environmental Alliance for Senior Involvement (EASI), it appears to me that we might benefit from EPA-sponsorship (or other enabling)of students' groups in primary and secondary schools to engender life-long interest in the environment and how citizen's participate in influencing decisionmaking impacting environmental planning and remediation projects.  We need an interested and informed public--not only when projects come to light, but as a continuous support group parallel to Citizens Advisory Committees supporting Transportation Metropolitan Planning Organizations.  How better than to build a long-term interested and informed public by first lobbying for stronger primary and secondary environmental protection and public participation curricula in our schools?  (Science Clubs of America might offer inroads.)  Public participation modules belong in civics, speech/debate programs as well.  We cannot fix apathy overnight, but are we not in this for the long haul? By offering published materials, curriculum outlines and perhaps sample lesson plans to educators, EPA may enable participants to "grow into" environmental sensitivity and public participation capability.  I am convinced from experience that long-term support groups "bring home the bacon" when projects arise (because they act as intermediaries beteen governmental and community representatives, and tend to dispell community/citizen mistrust of governmental agencies).  We need to build and nurture them.  (If anyone is interested in "war stories" supporting that assertion, he/she is welcome to contact me directly.)