Without question, the extent to which we will achieve environmental literacy and environmental sustainability will be the extent to which local level EE programs are developed and institutionalized. Comprehensive EE programs at the local level are as varied as villages, towns, cities, counties, and regions themselves. In the early 1990 s Ruskey and Wilke researched the success factors that led to a nearly complete or full incorporation of EE into K-12 schools and nonformal institutions in five local communities. Through extensive interviews with EE leaders, Ruskey and Wilke found a combination of the following elements to be in place in each of these five communities. Through strategic planning processes, groups of local education, civic, business, environmental, and other leaders will be able to best determine which components are possible and needed in their communities.
Many programs working to develop local EE capacity are in place.
A handful of states have also begun to create outreach networks. However, a systematic approach nationally to link these programs and leverage resources in order to develop Comprehensive Local-Level EE Programs is just beginning. The national and state EE capacity building networks are ready. For the past 10 years the field of EE has focused in part on the need to become more organized and strategic at the national and state levels. With help from the US Environmental Protection Agency, the EE and Training Partnership supported the development of leaders and organizations at the state level.