“LEEAP IN! Linking Environmental Education and Play in Nature,” is the theme of the 2008 PA Association of Environmental Education Conference set for February 28 to March 2 in Antiochian Village Camp and Conference Center near Ligonier, Pa.

The deadline for early-bird registrations is January 15.

Conference tracks include Human Health and the Environment, Best Practices in the Field, Outdoor Family Fun, and EE in the Classroom.

A full complement of workshops, on-site field studies, and off-site field experiences will be offered throughout the weekend, along with exhibits, entertainers, great food, and conference fun!

The 2008 conference committee is pleased to announce that Rick Flood and Joseph Cornell are confirmed as 2008 conference keynote speakers.

Rick Flood is a sustainability expert with 15 years executive leadership in the environmental education field. His expertise lies in sustainable systems for energy, buildings, water conservation, waste assimilation, and food systems.

Mr. Flood’s presentation, Environmental Education’s Future: Birds, Bugs, and Bogs?, will kick-off the 2008 conference weekend, as he invites us to consider environmental education in the context of climate change, species extinction, and global consumption and to ask ourselves, “Is it our job to foster generations of nature-lovers, or should we be creating people devoted to sustainability?”

Rick will help us to explore themes that are at the core of what we do and why, and challenge and inspire us to imagine what might be.

Joseph Cornell is one the most inspiring nature educators in the world today. His first book, Sharing Nature with Children, sparked a worldwide revolution in nature education and became a classic.

His six Sharing Nature Books have been translated into twenty languages. In 1978, Mr. Cornell founded Sharing Nature Worldwide, a popular and highly acclaimed nature awareness program. He is the honorary president of the Japan Nature Game Association, an organization of 11,000 leaders who use and promote his nature education philosophy and methods in Japan and Southeast Asia.

Mr. Cornell will present Balancing Science with Love, at the PAEE Annual Banquet on Saturday, March 1, 2008. Joseph will discuss the unique role that calm feeling, or intuition, plays in our understanding, empathy, and desire to act and will provide many innovative techniques for encouraging love and care for the Earth.

Prior to his keynote presentation, Joseph is facilitating an on-site field study entitled Sharing Nature, an opportunity to experience many nature awareness games from Joseph Cornell’s Sharing Nature books. Participants will also experience Flow Learning-- a powerful tool to lead people from their present level of awareness into closer contact with nature.

For more information and to register, visit the LEEAP IN! Linking Environmental Education and Play in Nature webpage.

1/11/2008