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TME3 Regional Summit Held June 1
Dave Workman, Director of Communication and Education at the Department of Ecology, said, “It’s encouraging to see so many people who want to make a difference for their communities. This is a great time—the right time—to secure the quality of life for our children and their children, by taking care of the unsurpassed environment of Washington.”
The Thurston-Mason E3 Washington (TME3) Regional Summit is the third of its kind developing around Washington State. The purpose of this exciting summit—ultimately 18 statewide—is to engage local communities in a collaborative effort to create a comprehensive plan for environmental education by May 2008. The participants from Thurston and Mason Counties gathered to share visions and ideas that will help ensure that the people of Washington have healthy, vibrant, and livable communities tomorrow and forever.
The participants represented a variety of interests including education, business, media, government, faith communities, non-profits, and the community at large.
Opening the summit was Jean MacGregor, Director of the Washington Center and an educator at TESC, with remarks on the progress of environmentalism in the nation. She acknowledged that environmental literacy is not just something for environmental activists but also should be the standard for all citizens.
Les Purce, President of TESC, also spoke about the many sustainability programs on TESC campus. He proudly proclaimed that 20 percent of the food served on campus comes from within a 150-mile radius of the school.
Another fabulous speaker was Steve Robinson, Policy Analyst from the Northwest Indian Fisheries Commission, who said, “We embrace the E3 program because it provides an exceptional opportunity to build understanding and cooperation between tribal and non-tribal environmental education. We need to work together to more fully inform students and the public about environmental challenges and solutions, if we are to leave a healthy world for our children.”
The keynote speaker was Gifford Pinchot III, the grandson of the first Forest Service chief. Pinchot spoke about his 
current job as President of the Bainbridge Graduate Institute. Throughout every master’s degree course that is offered, the institute instills the concept of sustainability in the environment. The idea is to send graduates into the corporate world to fight for change in the environment.
There were four breakout sessions during the summit:
The first was designed to envision a healthy environment for everyone asking, “So what would that look like?” Exhilarating discussions began to transpire as participants gathered in small groups to brainstorm what environmental education could look like in the future.
The second breakout session was to define the characteristics of an environmentally literate resident. Conversation fired up immediately. Everyone had a model resident in mind; residents who use their heads, hands, and hearts when living, learning, working, or playing in Washington State.
The third session was to reflect on the current state of environmental education. People were buzzing around, creating solutions to the many environmental challenges that we face today. Folks were creating thriving environments for schools, communities, and businesses.
The fourth and final breakout session was to create goals that are institutionally and politically powerful for our community. The participants were involved in an action-oriented strategy session identifying ways on how environmental education will meet the unique needs of students, schools, communities and businesses throughout the region.
The next steps for E3 Washington are to organize the information gathered from all regional summits and to create a comprehensive environmental education plan for our state by May 2008. The local and regional plans will be used now and in the future to set goals, priorities and actions to be taken to create lifelong learners, environmentally literate citizens, and healthy, vibrant communities.
Karen Janowitz, TME3 Coordinator, wrapped up the day by sharing her closing thoughts on this very successful and stimulating summit. Not wanting to let go of this incredibly inspiring day, attendees lingered to chat with one another and share ideas about their own region’s plans.
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The following is a sample of comments expressed throughout the event:
Ed Galligan, Executive Director of the Port of Olympia, said, “The Port is cleaning up the last one hundred years of environmental mistakes. I’m very excited to participate in this summit, hoping to work with the environmental groups for solutions. We will be hiring a new position, Senior Analyst of Environmental Programs, to work on environmental policy for the port.”
Jennifer Hooper, a TESC freshman, said, “I think it is important for adults from different fields in a region to get together and discuss what they would like to see in their communities in the future, especially with sustainability and the environment as a focus.”
Dr. Sue Haskin from the Tumwater School District commented, “This conference gave participants the opportunity to engage in a meaningful discussion with members of our local community as we envisioned and planned for a positive future.”
Contributed by Janet Pearce
Community Outreach and Environmental Education
WA State Dept. of Natural Resources, Olympia
(360) 902-1122