With the unanimous passage of the Healthy Schools Act of 2010, the Council of the District of Columbia instituted legislation that prioritized the health and wellness of students throughout the District. This landmark piece of legislation addresses poor nutrition and inadequate physical activity. It also asserts that the environment plays a central role in supporting learning outcomes and maintaining life‐long healthy behaviors. As a result, the Healthy Schools Act calls for an environmental literacy plan for the District – a road map that will lay the foundation for District‐wide implementation and integration of environmental education into the K‐12 curriculum. This initiative facilitates the collaboration between key community stakeholders, including District education agencies, District schools, environmental education providers, health advocates and many others. The DC Environmental Literacy Plan provides a framework to further guide these efforts and ensure that District students will be prepared to make informed decisions concerning the opportunities and challenges of the  21st century.

The District Department of the Environment has led this effort, and has collaborated with District agencies, non‐profit organizations, and other community members to create the DC Environmental Literacy Plan. Furthermore, the plan is the local component for regional and national environmental literacy efforts, such as the Chesapeake Bay Executive Order 13508 (issued on May 12, 2009) Citizen Stewardship mandate and the No Child Left Inside Act of 2011 (introduced into both chambers of Congress on July 14, 2011). These initiatives seek to empower future generations to make effective environmental decisions and become caretakers of our shared community.