More than 1,000 environmental educators from around the world are in San Diego for the 44th annual North American Association for Environmental Education conference.
Nicole Ardoin, a board director for the North American Association for Environmental Education, said everyone can be an environmental educator — not just classroom teachers.
“You can work in a school, which is considered a formal setting. To an informal setting, which would be something like a zoo, or a museum, or an aquarium,” Ardoin said.
These educators are focused on teaching awareness — not how to become an environmental activist, Ardoin said.
“We don’t necessarily promote a particular environmental behavior,” Ardoin said. “So it’s often that we teach people about how to think not what to think.”
Organizers said the conference is the largest gathering of environmental educators. The conference officially begins Thursday morning and runs through Sunday.