Ten Strands CEO Karen Cowe reflects on her first ten years at Ten Strands. She has been pivotal in leading the organization and the state to ensure that students across California are equipped with the knowledge necessary to create healthy communities.
A few months ago, I was speaking to my friend Julian Agyeman from Tufts University. I mentioned to him that I was newly retired from my full-time job but that I was still active in numerous environmental literacy initiatives related to centering equity. Julian kindly stated that I was not retired but repurposed. Yes, indeed! […]
This interview between California Association of Science Educators (CASE) and Karen Cowe, Ten Strands CEO and California Environmental Literacy Initiative project director, originally appeared on the CASE website and was republished with permission. Tell us about Ten Strands and the work of the California Environmental Literacy Initiative. Ten Strands was founded eight years ago by […]
Note: Since the time this article was written, the world has focused on facing the COVID-19 global pandemic. As governments and citizens shift rapidly to save lives, we can see opportunities to build connections and innovate solutions that will also serve us in addressing climate change. Scientific and environmental literacy are more important than ever, […]
In September 2007, I enrolled my son in kindergarten at our local elementary school. I have a clear memory of a parent-teacher association meeting where I spontaneously asked about the potential for installing a garden on school grounds. “We don’t have a hose bib,” they answered, “so it won’t work.” End of story. By my […]
The term confluence typically relates to the coming together of two or more streams or rivers. In California’s ever-evolving educational landscape, we can apply it to the coming together and weaving of instructional strategies and priorities that represent an unprecedented opportunity to expand the development of environmental literacy for all California students. This was not […]
“The students of today will be the architects of future climate strategies and our champions for achieving greenhouse gas reduction targets.” ~State Superintendent of Public Instruction Tom Torlakson 2015 was a big year for environmental and sustainability education, and a critical pivot point. Superintendent Torlakson’s Environmental Literacy Task Force had spent all of 2014 putting […]
The first weekend of December marked a high-point in my work as a California Regional Environmental Education Community (CREEC) coordinator. Thanks to the support of Ten Strands and the Leonardo DiCaprio Foundation, I attended my first CREEC Professional Learning Conference at San Luis Obispo’s Rancho El Chorro Conference & Retreat Center. During the time we […]