About the Millennial Trains Project (MTP)
The Millennial Trains Project (MTP) is an award-winning 501(c)3 nonprofit organization that hosts one or two annual cross-country train rides for young, innovative entrepreneurs. In order to get on board one of the two trains this August, I created a program to advance in each of the five cities along the journey and needed to be among the first 50 people to crowdfund $5,000. Thanks to the support of many generous individuals in this venture, I will be embarking on the MTP this year!
Overview of My Project
My project, United We Stand: Saving Our Environment, aims to create a more environmentally educated public that feels morally driven to fight climate change and save our environment. This program will examine the obstacles hindering environmental action, restricting the implementation of environmental education, and beckoning Americans to remain indoors, as well as explore potential solutions to these challenges.
The Problem
We are experiencing progressively volatile weather, higher sea levels, and melting ice caps. In the midst of a warming climate, the National Environmental Education & Training Foundation estimates that only 1 or 2 percent of Americans are environmentally literate—or the state of possessing the knowledge and understanding of environmental issues required to think about how their daily actions affect the environment.[1] Furthermore, American children and many adults spend increasingly less time outdoors and more time indoors, thus losing a connection with and appreciation for nature—a consequence that Richard Louv coined as nature-deficit disorder in his book, The Last Child in the Woods.[2] A Nature Conservancy poll revealed that only 10 percent of American teenagers spend time outdoors daily, and researchers at the Harvard School of Public Health discovered that American adults spend less than 5 percent of their day in their vehicles and even less time outdoors.[3]
Although both Democrats and Republicans share some concern for our natural world, the environment has become a polarizing subject in an atmosphere dominated by party-politics. Thus, Congress has taken very little environmental action over the last several years. Although most states have adopted an environmental literacy plan, Millennials 18-34 years old—the people who benefited from these plans in school—possess lower rates of environmental literacy than do adults 35-64 years old.[4] Generally, children especially know and care little about the environment, although they do value wildlife and nature.[5] Additionally, women tend to support environmental initiatives and causes over economic ones (while the opposite is true of men), but men are far more environmentally literate than are women. Thus, a disconnection exists between environmental literacy and willingness to support environmental causes actively.[6]
Although both Democrats and Republicans share some concern for our natural world, the environment has become a polarizing subject in an atmosphere dominated by party-politics. Thus, Congress has taken very little environmental action over the last several years. Although most states have adopted an environmental literacy plan, Millennials 18-34 years old—the people who benefited from these plans in school—possess lower rates of environmental literacy than do adults 35-64 years old.[4] Generally, children especially know and care little about the environment, although they do value wildlife and nature.[5] Additionally, women tend to support environmental initiatives and causes over economic ones (while the opposite is true of men), but men are far more environmentally literate than are women. Thus, a disconnection exists between environmental literacy and willingness to support environmental causes actively.[6]
My Plan
My project proposes that, in order to establish a public united in the battle to save our environment, we need to connect environmental literacy, nature-deficit disorder, and a method of imparting moral value to the environment, whether through targeted political messages[7] or some other method. We also need to address the reason for the gender and age gaps in environmental literacy and environmental action. After completing the MTP, I hope to create my own organization, with my MTP program as its central focus. Thus, the MTP will help me formulate, explore, and refine a blueprint for the organization and career that I wish to create.
The MTP Journey
I will be on board the second MTP train, the MTP Unity, from August 10-19. In each city, I will visit people working in organizations accomplishing goals similar to that of my project—to create an environmentally literate public that feels morally compelled to conserve our environment—and will explore their successes, their challenges, and what they believe are the most critical, unaddressed obstacles to achieving my program’s purpose.
I hope to visit some of the following organizations at each stop:
Los Angeles: Global Green, USA / Sustainable Works
San Francisco: EarthTeam / NatureBridge
Denver: Thorne Nature Experience / EarthLinks
Milwaukee: Urban Ecology Center
Detroit: Voices for Earth Justice / Southwest Detroit Environmental Vision
In each city, I will take photographs and blog about the reception of and reactions to my project, as well as what I learn. You can follow my journey in the Photos and Blog tabs of this website.
I hope to visit some of the following organizations at each stop:
Los Angeles: Global Green, USA / Sustainable Works
San Francisco: EarthTeam / NatureBridge
Denver: Thorne Nature Experience / EarthLinks
Milwaukee: Urban Ecology Center
Detroit: Voices for Earth Justice / Southwest Detroit Environmental Vision
In each city, I will take photographs and blog about the reception of and reactions to my project, as well as what I learn. You can follow my journey in the Photos and Blog tabs of this website.
[1] Coyle, K. (2005, September). Environmental literacy in America: What ten years of NEETF/Roper Research and related studies say about environmental literacy in the U.S. Washington, D.C.: The National Environmental Education & Training Foundation [NEETF], p. xv.
[2] Howard, B. (2013, June 30). Connecting with nature boosts creativity and health. National Geographic. Retrieved from http://news.nationalgeographic.com/news/2013/06/130628-richard-louv-nature-deficit-disorder-health-environment/
[3] Williams, F. (2016, January). This is your brain on nature. National Geographic, 229(1), 48-67. Paraphrased from p. 58.
[4] Coyle, 2005, p. 8.
[5] NEETF, & Roper Starch Worldwide. (2001). Lessons from the environment: The ninth annual national report card on environmental attitudes, knowledge, and behavior (2000 NEETF/Roper Report Card). Washington, D.C.: NEETF. In Coyle, 2005, pp. 8-9.
[6] Coyle, 2005. pp. 6-7.
[7] Professors Matthew Feinberg and Robb Willer reworded environmental messages to appeal to conservative rather than liberal moral standards and found that, after reading these altered messages, conservatives reported greater support for environmental legislation (Willer, R. (2015, February 27). Is the environment a moral cause? The New York Times. Retrieved from http://www.nytimes.com/2015/03/01/opinion/sunday/is-the-environment-a-moral-cause.html?emc=eta1&_r=1).
[2] Howard, B. (2013, June 30). Connecting with nature boosts creativity and health. National Geographic. Retrieved from http://news.nationalgeographic.com/news/2013/06/130628-richard-louv-nature-deficit-disorder-health-environment/
[3] Williams, F. (2016, January). This is your brain on nature. National Geographic, 229(1), 48-67. Paraphrased from p. 58.
[4] Coyle, 2005, p. 8.
[5] NEETF, & Roper Starch Worldwide. (2001). Lessons from the environment: The ninth annual national report card on environmental attitudes, knowledge, and behavior (2000 NEETF/Roper Report Card). Washington, D.C.: NEETF. In Coyle, 2005, pp. 8-9.
[6] Coyle, 2005. pp. 6-7.
[7] Professors Matthew Feinberg and Robb Willer reworded environmental messages to appeal to conservative rather than liberal moral standards and found that, after reading these altered messages, conservatives reported greater support for environmental legislation (Willer, R. (2015, February 27). Is the environment a moral cause? The New York Times. Retrieved from http://www.nytimes.com/2015/03/01/opinion/sunday/is-the-environment-a-moral-cause.html?emc=eta1&_r=1).
© 2016. All photos used on this website are the sole property of Sarah R. K. Bloom, the photographer and website creator.