Minnesota Association for Environmental Education
MAEE's Mission
What We Do
Our mission is to support and advance environmental education throughout the state.
MAEE strengthens the role of education as a solution to our environmental and societal challenges. We serve environmental education (EE) professionals, students, K-12 educators, and their allies.
We are:
- a voice for environmental education.
- advocates for environmental education.
- connectors that unite environmental educators with each other.
Founding
Buoyed by large public interest in EE and the ever-changing landscape at the state level...
The Minnesota Association for Environmental Education (MAEE) was born on November 6, 1992 at the State EE conference at Cragun’s Resort near Brainerd, Minnesota. MAEE grew throughout the decade, including becoming a coordinator in the annual state EE conferences, a regular newsletter and consistent membership of around 250 EE professionals.
Click the button to read more about the history behind MAEE.
The History of EE in Minnesota
Minnesota has a long history of outdoor and nature-based education programs, but environmental education (EE) emerged along with widespread concerns about environmental quality raised in the late 1960s. During that time, the federal government initiated formal EE programs that generated some state responses (e.g. monies for the development of state environmental education plans), including in Minnesota.
By the 1970s and early 1980s, the Minnesota Environmental Education Board (MEEB) and its regional councils, the environmental learning centers, Minnesota naturalists and a few others worked quietly to promote environmental awareness. Institutional support for these efforts was limited and fluctuated constantly. Still, these early efforts paid off, building a critical mass of understanding.
During the mid 1980's there was an explosion of environmental education effort in private, non-profit and governmental sectors. Hundreds of organizations and agencies became active in environmental education, but with few common goals and little coordination.
Public interest in the environment and the EE movement continued to grow, including an active Minnesota Earth Day Network that was supported by state agencies and other organizations.
