About Will
Will Parish is a credentialed public high school science educator with a 30-year record of innovative accomplishments in the environmental and educational fields. He taught Environmental Science at Gateway High School in San Francisco, and now serves on the board. He served on the California State Board of Education’s Curriculum Commission and then founded Ten Strands as a nonprofit organization to support California’s efforts to bring environmental literacy to all K–12 students in the state.
Public Education System Historical Context The K–12 public school system is where students are given an opportunity to gain knowledge and skills for a successful life. It’s important for children from all communities to receive a high-quality education to thrive as individuals and become contributing members of society. Beginning in the mid-1900s, in the US, […]
On November 29, Will Parish, Founder and President of Ten Strands, was a keynote speaker at the Green California Schools and Community College Summit and Exposition. Prior to his speech, Will was interviewed by Carl Smith, President of Green Technology, organizer of the Summit. The following is an excerpt from that interview. What made you […]
It’s almost the end of the year—and what an exciting one it has been for Ten Strands and our partners! Teachers are embracing environmental literacy in thousands of schools throughout California, and the momentum continues. Environmental literacy is being infused into the core subjects of science, history-social science, and English language arts. Students taught these […]
Today my team at Ten Strands and I were pondering the bubble we live in here in the Bay Area. In general, everyone we talk to and work with seems to understand that climate change is a pressing issue that impacts us now and will impact future generations even more severely. It got me wondering […]
The holidays are upon us once again, and as we prepare to celebrate the season of giving I’m feeling hopeful about the coming year. There are so many good things happening out there! If you’re looking for some presents to put under the tree or alongside the menorah this holiday season, you’re in luck, because […]
Are we experiencing a “Goldilocks Moment” for Ten Strands’ efforts to be successful in environmental education? In The Big History Project by David Christian, he describes the reason the earth began supporting life to be that conditions were just right: not too hot and not too cold, but just right. I think the same can […]
Humanity is experiencing a moment in history where converging circumstances are directing us toward a new path. The use of technology in education, an increase in the scientific understanding of how human activity is harming our environmental health, and the possibility of using public schools to attain an unprecedented level of environmental literacy are all […]
We humans have a big problem facing our fragile species: our climate is changing more quickly than we can adapt. The only time the climate has changed as fast as it is changing now is when an asteroid hit the earth 60 million years ago—the Cretaceous–Paleogene extinction event—causing a mass extinction of some three-quarters of […]