Conference Registration Is Open!

Registration is now open for the 46th Annual KAEE Conference! Join us in Berea from Nov. 29-Dec. 1 for two or three days of learning, networking, exploring, and more. View the view conference schedule here.

Sliding Scale Registration Rates

The past few years have been difficult, and we are aware that many in our community would benefit from financial assistance in order to join us. We're more excited than ever to be back in person and have the opportunity to offer a sliding scale registration. When you register, you can choose the level that best fits your needs and enter the coupon code at checkout.

Showcase Your Organization as a Conference Sponsor or Exhibitor

The success of this event depends on our sponsors. Each sponsorship level includes varying levels of benefits. Click here to explore the 2022 Sponsor Packet, which includes details about each level so you can decide which sponsorship level is right for your organization. We appreciate your consideration and support for the field of environmental education! Please contact Leigh Cocanougher at leigh@kaee.org with questions or for additional information. Click here to become a sponsor!

Thank You to our Current Sponsors

Toyota Motor Manufacturing, Kentucky (title sponsor)

Kentucky Environmental Education Council

Kentucky Community & Technical College System

Kentucky Asthma Management Program

Bernheim Arboretum and Research Forest

Kentucky Division of Air Quality

Northern Kentucky University

Acorn Naturalist

Eastern Kentucky University Division of Natural Areas

Terry Wilson and Vicki Stayton

Kentucky Native Plant Society

Kentucky Academy of Science

Thank You to our Auction Contributors

Ale-8-One

Blue Grass Tours

Buffalo Trace Distillery

Green Teacher

Kentucky Science Center

Louisville Zoo

The Outdoor Learning Store

Get all the details and register at kaee.org/conference.

Make Your Voice Heard through our Landscape Analysis Phase 2 Survey!

We at KAEE, in partnership with the Southeastern Environmental Education Alliance, are excited to announce the launch of Phase 2 of our landscape analysis of environmental education efforts in eight southeastern states. This phase follows the successful Phase 1 project, which focused on environmental education (EE) in nonformal settings. Data from Phase 1 allowed SEEA to identify gaps and barriers to access that prevent successful implementation of EE in the region and determine next steps for incrasing environmental literacy efforts in the southeast. Collected from more than 650 programs in eight states, the data also allowed the network to equip organizations conducting environmental and conservation-related work in the region with the resources they need to allocate their own resources more effectively and to ultimately serve as a guide for future strategic planning efforts at the local, state, and regional level.

The baseline data we gathered in Phase 1 has the potential to do even more than it already has, and that is one reason why the next step, Phase 2, is essential. In Phase 2, SEEA will gather data from PreK-12 schools in the eight SEEA states, enabling the network to get the full picture of EE happening in schools throughout the region. Then, in late 2022 and early 2023 SEEA will compare this data with that collected in Phase 1. The two datasets together will offer the most complete picture ever collected of current EE offerings in the region and what gaps and barriers exist in both formal and nonformal settings for students of all ages and in all areas. Comparing the data from nonformal and formal EE providers will allow SEEA affiliates and their states to further the goal of advancing EE in the region and building collective impact that has a lasting effect on the southeast.

Following the success of Phase 1, SEEA is now distributing a robust survey to PreK-12 schools around the southeast. The primary target audience for the Phase 2 survey is school and district administrators and formal educators, at all grade levels, who work in the PreK-12 setting. The survey is the result of several collaborative sessions with EE leaders from the participating states and across the nation, and an in-depth analysis of the findings from Phase 1. Questions relate to organizational operations, audiences served, programming themes, and services to better understand environmental education and engagement in the southeast.

Take the Survey

Following the survey period, SEEA members will create communications tools custom tailored to the needs of teachers and administrators in the southeast. SEEA will then distribute the findings to survey participants, school administrators, community leaders, classroom teachers, nonformal education providers, and other potential stakeholders through various communications tools such as a shared narrative, website, presentations, infographics, and reports.

SEEA invites classroom teachers and PreK-12 school administrators to participate in this project by filling out the survey by October 5, 2022. You can learn more about the project and access the survey here.

The Southeastern Environmental Education Alliance is a partnership of the following organizations:

• Environmental Education Association of Alabama (EEAA)

• League of Environmental Educators in Florida (LEEF)

• Environmental Education Alliance (EEA) of Georgia

• Kentucky Association for Environmental Education (KAEE)

• Mississippi Environmental Education Alliance (MEEA)

• Environmental Educators of North Carolina (EENC)

• Environmental Education Association of South Carolina (EEASC)

• Tennessee Environmental Education Association (TEEA)

About the Southeastern Environmental Education Alliance (SEEA) SEEA is the result of a formal agreement between the southeastern states’ NAAEE affiliate organizations for advancing long-term objectives that further the common interests of the member states. The eight southeastern states’ NAAEE affiliate organizations are the SEEA affiliate members.

Don’t Waste It!: A Case Study of Success in the Southeast

Over the past two years, the Southeastern Environmental Education Alliance (SEEA), in partnership with Chatham County Solid Waste & Recycling, has worked to launch a new curriculum called Don’t Waste It! across the southeast. The goals of the Don’t Waste It! project were to help current and future educators across the southeast understand the systems for solid waste and recycling in their state and then provide them with resources and lessons to share this knowledge with students. We hoped these educators would go on to inspire their local communities to get involved with composting, recycling, and other waste reduction activities.

Thanks to a $100,000 environmental education grant from the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) awarded in September 2020, we were able to bring this program to Alabama, Florida, Georgia, Kentucky, North Carolina, and Tennessee. Each state developed a customized Don’t Waste It! guide, with state-specific resources, references, and curriculum correlations. Across the region, we were able to train 44 new Don’t Waste It! facilitators who went on to provide training to hundreds of educators in both in-person workshops and online training across the southeast.

This project was designed and proposed before COVID-19. Despite the many changes that resulted from the pandemic, the Don’t Waste It! project team accomplished all our originally proposed activities on time and exceeded all our original targets for engagement. This in itself is a huge success considering the many stresses educators have experienced in the past two years.

Some highlights of this two-year project:

• We brought the Don’t Waste It! curriculum to a total of 602 educators across the southeast, 45% more than our original target of 415.

• All workshops met or exceeded their goals for increasing educator knowledge and confidence in teaching about solid waste and recycling topics. Participants were also highly satisfied with the workshops and overwhelmingly intended to share what they learned with others.

• 95% of educators who responded to the follow-up survey changed their personal or professional environmental behavior due to project participation.

Plus, most of the states that launched Don’t Waste It! programs plan to continue offering workshops after this launch. This project is just one example of how SEEA can serve as a field catalyst, helping build capacity to ensure that educators across our region have what they need to do their jobs better.

To learn more about the Don’t Waste It! project and its impacts, please contact Lauren Pyle at director@eenc.org.