Connecticut Audubon’s Education Director Participates in Climate Change Event at the White House

Christy Goldfuss, managing director of the Council of Environmental Quality, left, and Michelle Eckman, director of education at the Connecticut Audubon Society.

August 24, 2015 – Michelle Eckman, Connecticut Audubon Society’s director of education, was among 150 U.S. educators and students at the White House last week to participate in a Back-to-School Climate Education summit organized by the White House Office of Science and Technology Policy (OSTP). The event was live-streamed and viewed by over 800 people online.

“The event supports the Climate Education and Literacy Initiative, launched in December 2014 to connect students and citizens with the best-available, science-based information about climate change,” the OSTP states.

The event served as both a call-to-action for educators and students and to provide the audience with new and innovative resources designed to increase climate-learning opportunities.

The program consisted of an interactive climate assembly, fireside chats with senior officials from the National Oceanographic and Atmospheric Administration and the Department of Energy. A number of organizations also provided demonstrations of new free online educational resources useful for classroom and non-formal educators.

Christy Goldfuss, managing director of the Council of Environmental Quality who hails from Darien, moderated a panel featuring outstanding student leaders from Nevada, Vermont, Maryland, and California.

Eckman, a Bridgeport resident, was chosen because she was one of 26 recipients of a prestigious international fellowship to develop a climate change curriculum for high school freshmen in New Haven, with a goal of expanding the curriculum to high schools throughout the state. We expect her to be reporting back from the White House later this week.

Founded in 1898, Connecticut Audubon Society is the state’s original and independent Audubon society. The organization uses the charismatic nature of birds to inspire this generation of conservationists, and the next. Based in Fairfield, CAS conserves Connecticut’s environment through science-based education and advocacy focused on the state’s birds and habitats.