What You Missed: Open For Questions on the America's Great Outdoors Initiative

Yesterday, White House Council on Environmental Quality Chair Nancy Sutley and U.S. Environmental Protection Agency Administrator Lisa Jackson, hosted a live chat to answer your questions about the America's Great Outdoors initiative.  The initiative seeks to reinvigorate our approach to conservation and reconnect Americans, especially young people, with the lands and waters that are used for farming and ranching, hunting and fishing, and for families to spend quality time together.  They took questions from YouTube videos and Facebook participants from across the country on ways to develop a conservation and recreation agenda that makes sense for the 21st century.

Check out the full video below or skip to the questions you're interested in by using the links below:

• Opening Remarks - CEQ Chair Nancy Sutley
• Opening Remarks - EPA Administrator Lisa Jackson
• How does the Administration plan to encourage students to actively participate in reconnecting with the outdoors? What programs can connect government officials with students to discuss leadership opportunities in the outdoors?
• What are your plans for programs that target special needs youth and adults?
• Do you see the 21st Century Service Corps as harnessing existing youth corps across the country, or a new hiring initiative?
• Is there a way to collaborate with the Department of Education to require more environmental education experiences, both lessons and trips, in all classrooms?
• How can EPA use its role in improving water quality to provide more public access to waterfronts?
• How do we plan on using the ecological restoration projects to enhance and assist the advancement of rehabilitation of family and social problems, even new intriguing educational curriculums?
• All schools should have a program to give kids the opportunity to explore, understand, and love the natural world around them. Are there any, or could there be any, programs in the works to get this type of idea off the ground?
• How will you measure the successes of the Great Outdoors initiative?
• How do high school students or young people stay connected and look for opportunities in their community, on a weekly basis or a monthly basis, to keep connected? How do young adults move into careers to keep them involved?
• I work for a small nature center and we struggle with getting urban youth involved. How will you help?

Sahar Wali is the Communications Director at the White House Council on Environmental Quality