Throughout the United States, teachers who entered the field of K-12 education as a career in the mid-1960's, are now reaching retirement age. Many of these educators, besides surviving decades in the classroom, have attained advanced degrees and considerable hours of professional development. Some of the teachers of science have developed special interests and skills in the fields of atmospheric and marine sciences, as well as related topics of study. It is these active and involved pre-college classroom teachers that could be valuable in the process of designing and distributing the fine information and materials being developed by the college professors, scientists and the various programs. It is a time of rapid and outstanding discoveries that need to be made available to the teachers and students in the nation's schools. This excitement can spark the students to become interested in the sciences for college studies and careers.

Many retired classroom teachers don't want to actually leave education, but wish to be semi-retired by working with new teachers and other teachers who are looking to pursue an area of interest. It is this retired group that can be more active as consultants in producing materials, workshops, and courses since they are no longer constrained by classroom responsibilities. At a time when the Earth Sciences and Earth System Science is changing and growing dramatically, semi-retired science teachers could be a valuable new group of educators for those persons and organizations involved with teacher, agencies, and general public training programs.