Lexington mayor Linda Gorton has declared October 14-19 “Environmental Education Week” in Lexington. Coinciding with the week in which Lexington will welcome more than 1,000 educators and EE professionals to the North American Association for Environmental Education’s Annual Conference and Research Symposium, Environmental Education Week will be a celebration of the region’s natural resources—“from the horse farms to our streams and to the majestic Kentucky River,” Mayor Gorton says—and serve as a reminder that “to sustain the precious land and waterways of our great city requires the stewardship of every person, as well as future generations.”
“Stewardship is not possible,” Mayor Gorton states in her declaration, “without a strong sense of connection to the natural world and an understanding by our individual and collective responsibilities to protect it.”
The declaration also explains how environmental education increases student engagement, improves student achievement in core subject areas, and increases student awareness about how their actions affect the environment.