Sustainability Education Week

We do not need to invent sustainable human communities. We can learn from societies that have lived sustainably for centuries. We can also model communities after nature's ecosystems, which are sustainable communities of plants, animals, and microorganisms. Since the outstanding characteristic of the biosphere is its inherent ability to sustain life, a sustainable human community must be designed in such a manner that its technologies and social institutions honor, support, and cooperate with nature's inherent ability to sustain life. - Fritjof Capra, cofounder of Center for Ecoliteracy.

This week (Nov. 9-13) is sustainability education week which promotes the growing movement to teach children in K-12 schools about sustainable living.

The Center for Ecoliteracy (CEL)—a nonprofit organization based in Berkeley, Calif. dedicated to sustainability education—is celebrating the occasion with the launch of an informative new website, and the release of an inspiring new book.

CEL’s website provides a multitude of resources for educators interested in incorporating sustainability into their curriculum, as well as a forum for like-minded schools to share their experiences. One of the highlights of the website is a 102-page Food, Inc. Discussion Guide geared for students in grades 9-12 which can now be downloaded for free and used by high school teachers as a thought-provoking companion to the recent documentary Food, Inc.

The Center for Ecoliteracy's newly released book is called Smart by Nature: Schooling for Sustainability (click here to read an excerpt). It profiles this exciting education movement whose increasing popularity is evidenced by several promising nationwide trends:  planting school gardens; designing green school buildings; participating in farm-to-school programs; revamping school lunch programs to focus on healthier alternatives; and teaching children about sustainability by actually taking them outside and engaging them in explorations of the natural world. (For examples of how experiential place-based education can boost academic achievement and test scores, as well as promote pro-social behavior and the development of complex problem solving skills, I recommend checking out Lisa Bennett’s essay about the River Crossing Environmental Charter School as well as learning more about Expeditionary Learning Schools Outward Bound.)

To end this post, and put you in a sustainability sort of mood, I’d like to direct your attention to this clip of First Lady Michelle Obama planting a vegetable garden on Sesame Street (which, incidentally, is celebrating its 40th anniversary today!!!)

(Photo courtesy of Jimee, Jackie, Tom & Asha's photostream/Creative Commons)