The challenges of promoting global environmental stewardship

In the USA, the National Sea Grant College Program has taken its leadership, expertise, and infrastructure over the past several years to develop several national programs to combat scientific illiteracy, to encourage minority participation in the sciences, and to expand the pool of educated, scientifically trained individuals from which future leaders in research, government, business, and industry will be drawn. These two programs are the Global Environmental Change Training the Trainer Programs, and Operation Pathfinder: Oceanography and Coastal Processes for Middle School Teachers. Both these programs are aimed at educators who, in turn, take the training to their individual school or community. Requirements of the training are that they develop educational programs for their peers (fellow teachers) and students. In this way, many more individuals are exposed to the information. This “training the trainer concept” greatly multiplies these efforts