8 air pollution subjects, 1,900 persons received training in radiological Dr. Hanlon is with me this morning to discuss the activities of the programs. Turning outside the Department of Health, Education, and Welfare, would point out the contributions the National Science Foundation is making to environmental education under its broad authority to support research and education in the sciences. The Foundation is currently financing a broad range of activities in environmental sciences. Furthermore, with a focus in its FY 71 budget on problem-oriented activities, environmental programs will receive additional emphasis. I would like to include as a part of my testimony at this point an enumeration of some of the specific National Science Foundation programs in this field. Our current efforts, significant as they are, are but the start of what must be a prolonged and consistent drive to improve the world in which we live. I believe there is much more we need to do to stimulate and assist the education institutions in the Nation to meet the challenge of educating for environmental quality and ecological balance. My staff has examined S. 3151, Mr. Chairman, in relation to existing authority, particularly EPDA, the Cooperative Research Act, and the Public Health Service Act. It appears that we already have most of the necessary authority to carry out the purposes of S. 3151; nevertheless, I am pleased Statement by Honorable James E. Allen, Jr. Assistant Secretary for Education and U.S. Commissioner of Education Mr. Chairman and Members of the Subcommittee: I welcome this opportunity to discuss the interests and activities of the United States Office of Education in environmental and ecological education, and to give my strong support to the purposes of S. 3151. You, Mr. Chairman, and other members of the Senate are to be highly commended for the concern and leadership which you have shown with respect to the need for more intensive efforts to establish educational programs to encourage understanding of policies and support of activities designed to enhance environmental quality and maintain ecological balance. As you know, the President has stated that--"The 1970's absolutely must be the years when America pays its debt to the past by reclaiming the purity of its air, its waters, and our living environment. It is literally now or never. Thus, the Administration is dedicated in full measure to saving and rehabilitating our fragile, threatened environment--on which our very sur vival depends. The Office of Education has a special responsibility in this regard, for one of the keys to survival is education. I would like to tell the subcommittee something of our activities and plans. Soon after I took office as Commissioner of Education, my attention was particularly drawn to the growing seriousness of the pollution problem by a very excellent short film produced by a group of our summer interns. Entitled "Crisis in the Capital: When Will We Ever Learn?", this film portrayed dramatically the serious pollution problems in the District of Columbia area. This film increased my concern about what our schools and 2 colleges were doing to educate our young people, and the public generally, to the tragedy of our deteriorating environment, and, more particularly, what the Office of Education was doing to encourage and promote efforts to educate for environmental improvement. In order to have an answer to my question, I asked one of my young assistants, Mr. Logan Sallada, to chair a task force composed of staff members in the Office and to report to me on their findings. As you might expect, the task force found the Office was supporting through its various funds a variety of programs, ranging from the most elementary forms of traditional conservation education to new efforts in life and earth sciences. Their survey showed that one of the major sources of authority for the support of environmental-related activities was Title III of the Elementary and Secondary Education Act. Although evaluations of the ESEA title III conservation and outdoor education projects have not been completed, we do know that a number of these have emphasized the interrelationships and interdependencies of the elements of the environment and the changes resulting from man's activities. A list of those identified thus far is available for the record. Act. Another major source of authority is Title I of the Higher Education The Office had supported over $330,000 in projects which could reasonably be identified as making a contribution to a better understanding of our environment under this authority. These included in FY 1969, for example, 46-880 0-70- -4 3 grants to Bowdoin College to produce a film on community land use in Maine; to Boston Architectural Center for a study of environmental design in community planning; and to New Mexico State University for a citizens conference on water resources. In addition to these programs, monies provided from other OE programs, such as teacher training, manpower development, curriculum development, and graduate study have included projects related to environmental education. In an attempt to encourage the educational community throughout the Nation to assess its responsibilities in this vital area, I addressed the American Council of Learned Societies on January 23 on this topic. In February I sent a special message to Chief State School Officers suggesting specific activities for the encouragement of environmental education which they might undertake at the State and local levels, including the development of comprehensive State plans. I should like the privilege of inserting a copy of this message in the record. In response to these actions, we have received numerous letters, telephone calls, and visits from educators and local administrators expressing strong support of our position and interest in participating in activities planned by the Office. I have been pleased California, New Jersey, Pennsylvania, and to note how far some States South Carolina, for example programs in environmental education. The New Jersey plan, for example, calls for: the establishment of a State advisory committee on environmental education to advise the State Commissioner of Education on the implementation of a State-wide program; strengthening the network of State environmental education centers (they currently have four centers); and new legislation for the support of environmental education throughout the educational continum. South Carolina is probably farthest advanced in its efforts to develop a State-wide curriculum. The State Department of Education, in cooperation with the University of South Carolina, has just completed a six-year conservation curriculum improvement project. This project produced eight teacher's guides for grades 1-12, in science, social studies, home economics, and outdoor education. A testing program has been set up to evaluate the effectiveness of the program. Although we did not have much latitude with FY 1970 funds, we have redirected moneys wherever possible into projects in support of environmental education. The research training program initiated a new effort to design innovative training programs for educational researchers, developers, disseminators, and evaluators to work on high priority educational programs. We have sent out requests for proposals which encourage the design and implementation of training programs in a number of substantive areas, including environmental education. We anticipate that a few such proposals will be funded in FY 70 and that others will be funded for operation in FY 71. |