Environmental Literacy

Ecosystem science and the systems ecology paradigm co-evolved starting in the late 1960s within the milieu of substantial research funding from the US National Science Foundation-supported US International Biological Program (IBP). Nationally, educational programs focusing on ecosystem structure and functioning, and mathematical modeling, were slow to develop except at Colorado State University (CSU). There, leaders in the Natural Resource Ecology Laboratory (NREL) and the Department of Range Science (DRS) established internationally recognized interdisciplinary programs and outreach in basic and applied ecosystem science and systems ecology. Operating from the sound research base within a major Land Grant University (CSU), the NREL, with IBP funding, supported many graduate students housed in the academic DRS. As the systems ecology approach expanded, other ecosystem-focused research programs developed, and graduate students entered other academic departments. Outgrowths from the early diffused educational training were innovative cross-departmental and cross-college programs addressing the systems ecology paradigm. Recently, a new Department of Ecosystem Science and Sustainability was established housing both graduate and undergraduate programs. As formal academic training developed on-campus, environmental literacy efforts were developed, including: training programs for K-12 students and teachers; online distance education programs; Citizen Science training; and numerous institutes, short courses, and workshops.