The Missouri Environmental Education Association’s mission is to help educators connect every Missouri learner to the natural world and
equip them to care, understand, and act for the environment.

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Missouri Environmental Education News: March/April 2025

Welcome to the lastest edition of MEEA's Newsletter
Lesli Moylan Photo

Table of Contents

  • Lesson Resources
  • Annual Conference & Professional Development
  • Featured Events, Grants, Workshops & Webinars
  • JEDIA: Justice, Equity, Diversity, Inclusion, and Accessibility
  • Green Schools Corner
  • Missouri Nature Phenomena This Month
  • News from the Field

Dear MEEA Members,

Welcome to the March / April edition of the MEEA newsletter! We are excited to share the news of our most recent Board of Directors election. It was a little bittersweet, to be honest, because we had five great candidates but spots for only four people. First, let’s welcome Mickaela Barclay (Springfield), Justine Lines (Springfield), Joel McCormick (Maryville), and Erin Wicks (St. Louis) to the Board. It’s so exciting to see our momentum grow in Springfield, wonderful to have an ambassador for MEEA in Northwest Missouri, and fantastic to have a Board member who works in a large urban school district. That just scratches the surface as to what these lovely humans are bringing to the team. If you know them, please thank them for stepping up! If you haven’t already, please check out their bios on the MEEA website. Charles Whitt, a new MEEA member who threw his hat in the ring, is amazing too. I’m so excited that he is going to join us as our first guest speaker when we launch the Young Environmental Leaders quarterly webinars in April. Stay tuned for details on that!

This community brings so much joy and hope to my life. No matter the shape that EE takes in your life, each of you are dedicated to the health of this planet and to future generations. Thank you for nurturing love for and stewardship of Missouri’s ecosystems. What you do is vitally important and you don’t hear that enough. YOU ROCK. Try not to forget that. 

 

Lesli Moylan

MEEA Co-Director

 

Lesson Resources: No Place Like Missouri Project

Northwest Region submissions thanks to:

Wendy Parrott and Pat Whalen, MDC Discovery Center

Kansas City, MO

Missouri Department of Conservation Logo

 

No Place Like Missouri

Access the entire lesson packet:  No Place Like Missouri Project Lesson Plan

 

The Big Rivers Section:

 

Missouri River:

The Big Muddy

Observe and Study

the Unique Wildlife of

Missouri’s Big Rivers

Annual Conference & Professional Development

MEEA Annual Conference 2025

Planning is moving ahead!

What we know so far:

  • Mark Your Calendars…dates are confirmed!  Friday-Saturday October 24-25, 2025 
  • Our conference will be in the Central MO
  • Our conference planning committee is meeting regularly to plan your event.
  • Young Environmental Leaders will once again be super involved!

email us with questions, comments and feedback.

**Interested in what a MEEA Conference might look like?  Feel free to take a look back at the 2024 conference we hosted in Springfield.  It was EPIC!

Professional Development

Coming up Soon: Teaching & Learning Outdoors

Online eeCourse

Registration opens April 1st…Stay Tuned!

Teaching & Learning Outdoors

This course is designed to equip educators with the knowledge, skills, tools and resources to take environmental education learning outdoors. 

See what previous particiants have to say:

“This course was a great review of the importance of environmental education and it allowed me to dig in to what is current in the field. It also guided me through the process of developing outdoor education goals. It answered what is it, why is it important and how can I get involved.”

“The scope and sequence of the course flowed in a way that was meaningful and made sense. Each module provided new learning and reflection while connecting to previous modules. The instructor was so helpful – giving consistent and personal feedback, and offering suggestions and support.”

“I think I got a lot from the course and it gave me a lot to think about. I think the prompts, questions, and assignments were thoughtful and sparked inspiration.”

“I really enjoyed the learning aspects and project produced. It made me take a closer look into my own school and teaching practices.”

“This course would be excellent for educators with no outdoor education experience, and the material and assignments seemed to assume that. I did appreciate the way the assignments made the work feel relevant to my current work and useful in moving my own projects forward.”

Featured…

Events

Featured Event:

CFM Conservation Day at the Capitol

April 2 @ 7:30 am – 1:00 pm

Join us on April 2nd in Jefferson City for Conservation Day at the Capitol! Come meet with your state legislators to let them know why conservation matters, meet with CFM affiliates, and get your picture taken with a live Bald Eagle from World Bird Sanctuary! Learn more at www.confedmo.org/capitol-conservation-day/

See More Events

Grants

Featured Grant:

2025 Spring MEEA Environmental Educator Grant

 

This grant is open to any Professional MEEA member, whether a formal or nonformal educator. MEEA will award up to three grants of $250 each to purchase materials or supplies for advancing outdoor, nature, environmental, or sustainability education. 

  • Deadline to apply: April 15, 2025
    Notification: May 15, 2025
    Funds Available: Upon notification

Apply Here

See More Grants

Workshops & Webinars

Featured Workshops:

MDC Discover Nature Schools Teacher Workshops Statewide

Multiple workshops coming up in April!

education.mdc.mo.gov/resources/teacher-workshops

 

See More Workshops

JEDIA: Justice, Equity, Diversity, Inclusion and Accessibility

Women’s Rights are Human Rights

 

 

The Relevance of Women’s History Month

Remember that Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion includes women too.

DEI’s Impact on Women

By: Celina Stewart, League of Women Voters

Read the entire article from the League of Women Voters here

 

Across both colleges and the professional spheres, women have majorly benefitted from DEI.  The following are just a few ways DEI has improved women’s opportunities and quality of life:

  • Opening admission and increasing opportunities at universities and corporations nationwide;
  • Creating mentorship opportunities, leadership trainings, scholarships, investment programs, and more that grow women’s success;
  • Getting us closer to equal pay and workplace representation;
  • Encouraging everyone from medical researchers to film producers to pay attention to women’s needs and perspectives;
  • Creating safer workplaces through anti-harassment programs and anti-discrimination policies;
  • Promoting pregnancy and parental leave and benefits;
  • In some cases, imposing quotas so schools and workplaces entrenched in patriarchy were forced to open their doors to qualified women.

In 1997, it was estimated that at least 6 million women held positions they wouldn’t otherwise hold because of affirmative action. Notably, while opponents to DEI claim that Black women and other women of color benefit the most from DEI, most of the women who obtained these positions were white.

Three young people studying

Studies suggest that white women have disproportionately benefited from corporate DEI efforts. While all women, including white women, are still underrepresented in the workplace, white women are often the first to benefit from DEI and affirmative action programs. For example, white women hold 19% of all C-Suite positions, whereas women of color hold just 4%. Of course, both are well below women’s status as 50% of the population.

Because of white women’s disproportionate gains, McKinsey estimates that it would take 22 years for white women to achieve gender parity but 48 for women of color. Yet without DEI, it’s unlikely parity would be gained for any group.

 

Young Environmental Leaders-Membership for the Future

Who are MEEA Young Environmental Leaders?

Our newest and fastest-growing membership group!

Some of our very first YEL membership friends

Description (a note from Co-Director Jamin Bray):

A couple of years ago, both Lesli and I started the process of creating a membership focus on Missouri’s youth. We both have GenZ kids, and understand their desire to have a voice about the future: their Planet, their health, their freedom, and their ability to thrive.  That’s how the Young Environmental Leaders (AKA “YELers”) membership was born.  Since then we have recruited bright and energetic youth, ages 16-26, to not only empower them to support our Mission, but also voice their brilliant ideas for how to take action.  We expanded the reach statewide with support from the NAAEE and ee360 in the past year, and since MEEA launched the YEL membership, this cohort has grown to more than 40 members.

We are so grateful to the first group of YELers who joined us in person and virtually to create a strategy for a group with a solid purpose. So now it’s your urn! No matter your passion or skills, you all have a say in the future to Care, Understand, and Act for the environment. 

So now, we are ready to dive in, expand and move forward with even more experiences!  We would love to get you onboard as a member!

 

How to get involved:
Want to become a “YELer?”

Join as an individual: MEEA Individual Membership options

Join as a Group (for example Science or other school club): MEEA Non-profit Organizational Membership options

Opportunities & Resources for YELers

Opportunities to Care, Understrand & Act for the Environment

  • Quarterly Meetings on Zoom! Including inspiring guest speakers
    • Each month will feature:
      • Guest speaker(s) on a particular topic relevant to Missouri’s Youth, with green career advisement included as much as we are able
      • Information on MEEA projects we need your help with and can provide some funding compensation for
      • YELers’ iNaturalist Collection — shoutouts and prizes each month!
    • Register here for the first meeting this year!
              • **Join us on Thursday, April 24 from 7:00 – 8:30 PM for the first quarterly webinar for Young Environmental Leaders (YELers) in Missouri!For this first YEL webinar, which will be recorded, the topic is Resume-Building and Utilizing LinkedIn. Our Guest Speaker is Charles Whitt, who has a passion for the environment and a background in Communications & Marketing. He’s a Board Member for the Missouri Gateway Green Building Council, has served as a mentor for the Green School Quest for 4 years, and leads the development and marketing for Open Space STL (which has been instrumental in restoring and protecting the Meramec River watershed). 

                Zoom link will be sent upon registration. 

  • Direct Communications with YELers about how to participate in upcoming statewide events

Resources

  • Support for job seekers: 
    • Green 2.0 recently launched a LinkedIn group for job seekers to network and support one another in the environmental sector. This is a space to connect, share job opportunities, and exchange resources. Join the group HERE.

 

Green Schools Corner

Annual Green Schools Event

see website link at: mogreenbuildings.org/event/annual-green-schools-event

 April 16, 5:30-7:30 pm

Join us for the 18th annual celebration event for all of our Show-Me Green Schools program participants at the Missouri History Museum! All students, staff, mentors, and families of participants in the Green Schools Quest, Missouri Green Schools, and US Department of Education Green Ribbon Award programs are invited to attend.

**Please note: this is a HYBRID event – you can come in person to the Missouri History Museum, or join online via Zoom. Please register at the correct link! Email Deborah Rogers Curtis with questions at drogers@mobot.org. 

For in-person attendees: Please see below for our in-person agenda, and make sure you register for the in-person event so that we have enough food & beverage for all.

Info and Registration Link (in-person OR virtual!)

Nature Phenomena This Month

mdc.mo.gov/discover-nature/field-guide

News from the Field

Regional News

 

PEEPs analysis of Environmental Education in 6 states

(MO, KS, IA, WY, NE, and CO) 

A few key findings from EE providers in our region:

  • Most EE providers are nonprofits and almost 25% are working with a budget of less than $250,000 and the Median # of Staff is 4. The median starting salary for eeProviders in the region is $18.64/hour, which falls below the living wage. Less than 25% of the eeProviders surveyed have staff who identify as Black, Indigenous or other people of color. Data suggests that the majority of students served by eeProviders are in the upper elementary grades–indicating gaps in preschool/early elementary and middle and high school programming.

A few key findings from schools:

  • One-third of teachers surveyed indicated they had no professional development on outdoor and environmental education. Of those who had professional learning for outdoor and environmental education, they ranked those experience that were hands on and field based as being the most effective. Nearly 60% of respondents indicated that outdoor and environmental education takes place in science, underscoring work to be done to demonstrate the interdisciplinary nature of EE. Resources needed to include outdoor learning in instruction included access to green space and materials for outdoor learning and professional development, including best practices for teaching and learning outdoors. 

View the recordings to learn more.