Strengthening the Public’s and/or K-12 Students’ Environmental Literacy for Community Resilience to Extreme Weather Events and Environmental Changes

The goal of this Federal Funding Opportunity (FFO) is to strengthen the public’s and/or K-12 students environmental literacy to enable informed decision-making necessary for community resilience to extreme weather events and environmental changes. Many U.S. communities face significant environmental changes, natural disasters, or economic disruptions (U.S Department of Commerce FY2014-FY2018 Strategic Plan). Projected future environmental changes include increased global temperatures, more frequent heat waves, rising sea levels, increased frequency of extreme precipitation events, acidification of the ocean, modifications of growing seasons, changes in storm frequency and intensity, alterations in species ranges and migration patterns, earlier snowmelt, increased drought, and altered river flow volumes (NOAA’s Next Generation Strategic Plan, 2010; The Third National Climate Assessment, 2014). Communities must increase their resilience now and build a long-term foundation for resilience in the future. Projects should build the environmental literacy necessary for community resilience by focusing on geographic awareness and an understanding of Earth systems and the threats and vulnerabilities that are associated with a community’s location.