Is Green Education Blue or Red? State-Level Environmental Education Program Development Through the Lens of Red- and Blue-State Politics

Environmental educators have long dealt with the charge that the practice of teaching about environmental issues is an attempt to introduce a liberal agenda into the classroom curriculum. However, traditionally Republican states and traditionally Democratic states are both among the nation's leaders and laggards in institutionalizing environmental education (EE) programs at the state level. Because of the political power of the charge of liberal bias in EE politics, it is important for researchers to try to determine the veracity of this charge in some meaningful way. The authors applied quantitative statistical methods to this issue and found that, in general, there were not significant differences among the degrees of state-level EE program activity between Democratic states and Republican states. In short, the political party affiliation of a given state is not a reliable predictor of that state's EE program activities. Thus, the evidence does not support the claim that EE is solely a liberal undertaking.