More than a year ago, the COVID-19 pandemic forced the closure of traditional schools, residential outdoor science schools, and many other environmental education programs. After the initial shock of having to shut down the outdoor science programs that I managed, I asked myself, “With decades of experience teaching outdoors, how can I help traditional classroom […]
California’s Hub for Environmental Learning and Action (CHELA) is a new website resource for inquiry- and place-based learning on topics related to environmental literacy and environmental justice. It is designed to leverage the power of geospatial technologies to accelerate environmental learning, connect to students’ lived experiences, and support them in pursuing their interests in confronting […]
Even before 2020, our young people experienced skyrocketing rates of anxiety, stress, trauma, and suicide. This generation of students faces the fear of school or neighborhood shootings, concern over police brutality and systemic racism, and eco-anxiety. More than any generation before them, they see, hear, and feel local and global injustices in real time through […]
Launched in spring 2020, the Climate Champions pilot project, based at the University of California, San Diego, models K–12, university, and community collaboration for climate action and climate justice. It was inspired and informed by the Environmental and Climate Change Literacy Project and Summit (ECCLPS) and its report that the University of California (UC), California […]
“What do you want to be when you grow up?” is one of the most common questions we ask our children. Their answers are bound only by their imagination and experiences. But we adults don’t ask that question with any real expectation that children will actually pursue the careers that they share or just because […]
Creative writing, poetry, and placemaking are all ways to connect complex scientific ideas and to explore relationships to the environment. Writing, and the various ways in which humans share ideas and stories, is also part of a longer tradition of storytelling. For thousands of years, humans have expanded the confines of language to define and […]
I am writing about the Current Context: A Focus on the Environment series, an environment-based current events classroom resource, at an exciting time. The series began in 2017, and all 18 issues were published during Trump’s presidency, when there was a clear disconnect between the science and observation regarding climate change and what the president […]
Greetings from Humboldt County! We are located 300 miles north of San Francisco and serve nearly 18,000 students across 4,000 square miles of beautiful redwoods, isolated beaches, and the Northern Coast Ranges. Our isolated rural county is a land of scenic beauty that encompasses many unique cultural and geographic communities. The Humboldt County Office of […]