• * 1. What is the value of environmental fiction?
• * 2. What websites focus on environmental fiction?
• * 3. What organizations provide resources for environmental education?

THE VALUE OF ENVIRONMENTAL FICTION:
Storytelling is a powerful way to ignite the imagination while entertaining, informing, and empowering listeners/readers to take action that can make a difference for the greater good of humanity and the wellbeing of the Earth.

In the not-too-distant future, the children in our neighborhoods and schools will have joined the workforce. Some will find themselves working for corporations, sitting behind desks, standing on podiums, running for office, in positions of influence, making decisions that will, for better or worse, affect the ecological health of our planet. My mission in writing an ecological mystery series, The Adventures of The Sizzling Six, is to nurture the seeds of environmental responsibility, giving today’s students an abiding appreciation for nature and an intelligent understanding of ecological principles and issues before the future arrives.


WEBSITES THAT FOCUS ON ENVIRONMENTAL FICTION
Eco-fiction.com This site freely promotes environmental authors’ works via book posts, interviews, reader-submitted reviews, bookshelves and a database, guest posts, author spotlights, and also Green Reads (where authors may submit excerpts of their novels, prose, or nonfiction).
http://ecolitbooks.com/
https://www.asle.org The Association for the Study of Literature and Environment (ASLE)
www.mediamint.net Free Teacher Handout—Cross Curricula unit, “Discover and Solve an Ecological Mystery.”
Birmingham Audubon Society
National Audubon Society


ORGANIZATION THAT PROVIDE RESOURCES FOR ENVIRONMENTAL EDUCTORS

EPA Environmental Protection Agency
Environmental Education Association of Alabama
Aldo Leopold Education Project
Camp McDowell
ALABAMA ALIVE! A STATE ENVIRONMENTAL LITERACY PLAN:
Project Learning Tree
Alabama Wildlife Federation

SELECTIVE NOVEL LIST (grades 4-8)
Ali Benjamin The Thing About Jellyfish
Claire Datnow The Adventures of The Sizzling Six (eco mystery series.) Through my stories I hope to inspire young people to experience wonder and curiosity about the natural world, and then feel empowered to become wise stewards of our natural heritage.
Jean Craighead George still ranks with the best of eco mystery writers.
Ellen Klages Green Glass Sea
Susan Cooper Green Boy
Diane Hayes Flight of Fight
Carl Hiaason Hoot, Flush, and Scat.
Will Hobbs writes outdoor stories that appeal to both boys and girls. Hobbs has readers discovering wild places.  
Gary Paulson writes survival stories.




Additional links: Environmental fiction blogs
Environmental Fiction 3-8th grade


READING FOR ENVIRONMENTAL EDUCATORS
Jordan Fisher Smith Engineering Eden: The True Story of a Violent Death, A Trail and the Fight over Controlling Nature
National Council on Economic Education. Economics and the Environment (Eco Detectives)
Andrea Wulf. The Invention Of Nature: Alexander Von Humbolt”s New World
Michael L. Rosenzweig Win-Win Ecology How The Earth’s Species Can Survive in the Midst of Human Enterprise
Janisse Ray The Ecology of a Cracker Childhood
Kenneth M. Wills & L.J. Davenport Exploring Wild Alabama: A Guide to the State's Publicly Accessible Natural Areas
This blog is written in appreciation for the vital work that conservations and environmental educators, are doing to conserve our natural resources and to inspire future generations to become wise protectors of the Earth on which our very existence depends.

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