Greenfox Schools is committed to highlighting excellent resources for sustainability education. The following list includes organizations listed in alphabetical order that provide useful tools for schools going green.
The Cloud Institute is a non-profit based in New York City that works nationally and internationally to promote sustainability education. The Cloud Institute’s approach to sustainability directly engages young people to work with their communities. Cloud’s model for sustainability begins with its mission: to ensure the viability of sustainable communities by leveraging changes in K-12 school systems to prepare young people for the shift toward a sustainable future. During the first phase of work, Cloud facilitators develop an awareness and shared understanding for Education for Sustainability (EfS) among staff, faculty, and administrators at a given school. They work with the whole school system to collect baseline data, and assess the extent to which the school is teaching for sustainability. Teachers work with the Cloud Institute to design EfS outcomes and indicators and to develop a pilot EfS unit. Over time, facilitators work with the school to collectively develop an EfS Scope and Sequence that is mapped across the entire school curriculum. This process allows teachers to collaborate and build on one another and to integrate the broader school community, and beyond, into their classrooms. These outcomes are achieved by differentiating professional development, coaching, and capacity building with participating faculty and administrators, trustees, parents, community partners, and students.
Facing the Future is a non-profit based in Seattle, Washington, that supports teachers by providing resources that teach students about complex global issues, the linkage between local and global communities, and environmental sustainability. Facing the Future delivers curriculum workshops to middle and high school teachers, and maintains an online database of teaching material related to service learning projects of local and international interest. Serving public and independent schools, Facing the Future develops curriculum across all subjects, including math, science, history, geography, language arts, and more.
The Sustainable Schools Project (SSP) is sponsored by Shelburne Farms, and is a partnership with Vermont Education for Sustainability. A dynamic new model for school improvement and civic engagement, the program helps schools use sustainability as an integrating context for curriculum, community partnerships, and campus practices. The SSP aims to improve communities economically, environmentally, and socially for current and future generations by facilitating curriculum and campus projects, offering professional development, and identifying funding sources for schools.
Roots & Shoots is a program of the Jane Goodall Institute, and seeks to initiate positive change for communities, animals and the environment. With tens of thousands of young people in almost 100 countries, the Roots & Shoots network connects youth of all ages who share a desire to create a better world. Young people identify problems in their communities and take action. Through service projects, youth-led campaigns and an interactive website, Roots & Shoots members make a difference across the globe. Here is Dr. Jane Goodall’s inspiring vision for Roots & Shoots: “Roots creep underground everywhere and make a firm foundation. Shoots seem very weak, but to reach the light, they can break open brick walls. Imagine that the brick walls are all the problems we have inflicted on our planet. Hundreds of thousands of roots & shoots, hundreds of thousands of young people around the world, can break through these walls. We CAN change the world.”
The U.S. Partnership for Education for Sustainable Development unites leaders in education, environment, and business to promote sustainability education and government policy. The U.S. Partnership was established to fulfill the goals of the United Nations declaration of a Decade of Education for Sustainable Development (2005-2014), a declaration that was established to promote the local and global acceptance of principles of “sustainable development.”
The K-12 Sector page provides a variety of resources from useful links to actual national K-12 sustainability education standards developed by the U.S. Partnership. The U.S. Partnership has launched the first national listserv for K-12 educators focused specifically on the topic of education for sustainability. Educators involved in teaching students in any subject in the K-12 arena are encouraged to join. The goal of the Sustaink12 listserv is for educators to communicate and collaborate on strategies to integrate education for sustainability into the teaching and operations of K-12 schools.
