Create

A BETTER FUTURE

EDUCATION

In order to find solutions to complex, multifaceted problems related to our society living sustainably, today's students must be exposed to techniques of teaching that directly involve them in diverse, interdisciplinary collaboration, the creative process, advanced technology, cross-cultural communication, economic development, and environmental ethics and values, to name a few. Complex economic/environmental problems and the understanding of specific nature-society issues demand the combined teaching talents from various disciplines, capable of effectively crossing disciplinary boundaries. Students must be trained to not only reason in terms of traditional disciplines, but must also be provided the ability to use this training in creative thinking and problem-solving that in most instances tends to merge understanding from a number of different perspectives.

National Wildlife Federation Campus Ecology program - For more than a decade, NWF's Campus Ecology program has been helping transform the nation's college campuses into living models of an ecologically sustainable society, and training a new generation of environmental leaders. Campus Ecology supports and promotes positive and practical conservation projects on campus and beyond.

Sustainable Development Distance Learning– Five E’s Unlimited has designed a distance-learning program on sustainable development that combined interdisciplinary curriculum content meeting State Teaching Standards with the technology of video-conferencing and web-based learning modules. Through this program students are given the opportunity to understand what sustainability means with regards to an economically, environmentally, and aesthetically healthy world; they also become aware of the obstacles to a sustainable future for our global society. And in particular, students are informed of and provided detailed information on the state of developing countries that are of significant need for sustainable development applications on a global scale to establish equity among the northern and southern hemispheres of the world.

Student Environmental Action Coalition (SEAC) - SEAC, pronounced "seek," is a student and youth run national network of progressive organizations and individuals whose aim is to uproot environmental injustices through action and education. We define the environment to include the physical, economic, political and cultural conditions in which we live. By challenging the power structure which threatens these environmental conditions, SEAC works to create progressive social change on both the local and global levels.

North American Alliance for Green Education - The North American Alliance for Green Education is a non-profit consortium founded by students. NAAGE is comprised of educational institutions and organizations with a commitment to environmental studies programs, located in diverse bioregions. Our mission is to combine strengths to maximize educational opportunities for students and faculty.

Environmental Issues Education - Site devoted to education on environmental issues including global warming, acid rain, and overpopulation.

Environmental Impacts - Links, articles, and information on overpopulation, energy usage, climate change, and other environmental issues.

My Community, Our Earth - Geographic learning for sustainable development. My Community, Our Earth (MyCOE) wants to help YOU make a difference in your own community! Create sustainable development solutions using the tools and concepts of geography. Youth from middle school, secondary school, or university levels are invited to work as individuals or teams to learn more about the topic of sustainable development and explore how young people can get involved all around the globe.

Sierra Youth Coalition - The Sustainable Campuses project aims to support, document and spread the efforts of Canadian post-secondary students at creating and implementing sustainable initiatives for their educational institutions. This is the only Canadian network of post-secondary students, which has had over 60 campuses participating and collaborating in their efforts at "campus greening".

C-Beyond Youth Empowerment Center - C-Beyond exists to develop youth leaders who realize their individual and collective power to organize and create unity for the good of all people. We educate youth of color, low-income youth, young women, disabled youth, and lgbtq youth in Concord and Bay Point/Pittsburg, California. We believe that oppression affects everyone, we dedicate ourselves to fighting it in all forms, and we continue to struggle with respect and in unity for the liberation of all people.

One Earth Home (ECO) - ECO’s mission is to use the power of communication to improve the global environment. Has many facts on world sustainability problems.

Global Simulation Workshop - We Can Afford to Solve the World’s Problems - The World Game Institute and its game provides strategies for confronting the major systemic problems confronting humanity. Developed by our team of experienced educators and researchers over the past three decades, the game has been played by more than 350,000 people from around the world. More than 2,500 educational institutions, organizations, and corporations from 35 countries have used the game to teach their participants about how the world works, and how to make it work better.

The Global Community - The information gateway empowering the movement for the protection of the global life-support systems with search engine, links to sites and news, press releases, action alert, educational and training programs, scientific evaluations, business assesments and support, workshops and global dialogues and more!

University of Texas Environmental Center - The Center is a resource for UT students interested in the environment. It works to help students learn about and get involved in environmental issues, to serve as a resource for student environmental organizations, and to reduce the University's environmental impact.

Charting the Seas of Ocean Education - The Centers for Ocean Sciences Education Excellence (COSEE) is a network of seven regional centers that act locally and regionally, as well as dream, think and act nationally. The goals of COSEE are to: promote the development of effective partnerships between research scientists and educators; to disseminate effective ocean sciences programs and the best practices that do not duplicate but rather build on existing resources; and to promote a vision of ocean education as a charismatic, interdisciplinary vehicle for creating a more scientifically literate workforce and citizenry.

North American Association for Environmental Education - NAAEE is a network of professionals and students working throughout north America and 55 countries around the world The North American Association for Environmental Education - promoting a healthy, sustainable environment through education. NAAEE provides support for environmental education and educators through a variety of programs and activities.

University Leaders for a Sustainable Future – University Leaders for a Sustainable Future (ULSF) assists colleges and universities in making sustainability an integral part of curriculum, research, operations and outreach. ULSF is also the secretariat for signatories of the Talloires Declaration (1990), which has been signed by more than 300 university presidents and chancellors around the world.

UNESCO Teaching and Learning for a Sustainable Future - Teaching and Learning for a Sustainable Future is a multi-media professional development program for educators prepared by the UNESCO program on Educating for a Sustainable Future.

Center for a Sustainable Future - The Education for a Sustainable Future project provides a vision and goals to guide secondary education into technology for the future.

Energy 101 - This link provides a background on energy. The Union of Concerned Scientists takes a brief look at energy use today and through history, describe how various energy sources are harnessed and used, and examine the serious side effects from our country's heavy dependence on fossil fuels.

Sustainability Education Center - The Sustainability Education Center (SEC) was created in 1995 in response to the growing need for educational materials and professional development focused on sustainability. The goal of sustainability education is to ensure that present and future generations: attain a high degree of economic security and social equity; create and ensure democratic participation in their communities and globally; and maintain the health of the ecological systems upon which all life and all production depend.

On-line Sustainability Education Handbook – This Handbook has been created to help K-12 teachers understand sustainability concepts and incorporate them into their classroom. In the course of writing this Handbook, the Michigan State Framework Standards and Benchmarks have been evaluated comprehensively for opportunities to integrate sustainability concepts into your existing curriculum. Every sample activity provided in the Handbook correlates to particular state standards and benchmarks.

Digital Library for Earth System Education - The Digital Library for Earth System Education (DLESE) is a grassroots community effort involving educators, students, and scientists working together to improve the quality, quantity, and efficiency of teaching and learning about the Earth system at all levels.

Izaak Walton League of America Sustainability Education Project - Since 1993 the Sustainability Education Project has work to spread the word about sustainability. The organization promotes tried and true approaches to creating a sustainable world – energy efficiency, reduced resource consumption, preservation of open space, and voluntary family planning.

The World Bank Development Challenge: Innovate - http://www.worldbank.org/challenge/html/innovate.html
Use your imagination to build a sustainable world! Take these fun quizzes and fill in a square for each right answer.

Sustainability Student Action Kit - The Sustainability Student Action Kit is an educational package of thirteen 12-minute films, a 240-page book, a DVD, and a website linking to youth-led sustainable development projects around the world.

The Climate Campaign - The Climate Campaign is a collaborative effort of the Northeast's student environmental networks to make our schools and our states lead the way in the fight against global warming.

The World Bank Development Challenge: Build It - Building a sustainable world means meeting some big social, economic, and environmental challenges. Limited resources keep us from doing everything at once, so we have to make choices. At this site, you decide where to start acting on social, economic, and environmental challenges. At the same time, you can find out about projects that are making the world a better place.

Project NatureConnect - An educational way to honor planet earth; a way that makes a difference - Earth Day Learning for the Therapy, Healing, and Education Community.

Care2 - Over 2 million members who care2 make a difference. See topics on environment, health, human welfare, animals, education, women and more.

Rainforest Relief - Rainforest Relief works to end the loss of the world’s tropical and temperate rainforests and protect their human and non-human inhabitants by reducing demand for the products of rainforest logging, mining and agricultural conversion, through education, advocacy, research and action.

International Institute for Humane Education - Humane education examines the challenges facing our planet, from human oppression and animal exploitation to materialism and ecological degradation. It explores how we might live with compassion and respect for everyone: not just our friends and neighbors, but all people; not just our own dogs and cats, but all animals; not just our own homes, but also the earth itself, our ultimate home. Humane educators inspire people to live examined, intentional lives so that what they do today helps the planet, animals and all people tomorrow.

Simple Living Institute - The Institute's mission is to scientifically research and develop working organic farms with effective soil, water, and wildlife conservation; to publish findings for the scientific and general community; and to provide cooperative education experiences empowering individuals and organizations as responsible stewards of their well-being and the environment.

Libraries Build Sustainable Communities - People today are hungry for community. Since libraries of all types are often at the geographic center of the communities they serve, they are naturally positioned to be community gathering places. Couple this advantage with the other usual librarian talents—tolerance for diversity of opinion, facilitation skills, familiarity and comfort with new technology—and you have an organization poised to be integral to every community decision. Librarians need to take the next step and act as a catalyst to get people to the table when community decisions are made.

Teachers Without Borders - Teachers Without Borders is a non-profit 501(c)3, non-denominational, international NGO founded in 2000, devoted to closing the education divide through teacher professional development and community education. We work primarily, but not exclusively, in developing countries, in order to build self-reliance, health, and capacity. Teachers are the largest single group of trained professionals in the world AND the key to our children's future. However, teacher training is often uneven, protracted, or unsupported. Teachers need our assistance; otherwise, we are left with poverty, lack of development, and a gaping digital, educational, and economic divide. If the key to economic development and our young people's future is education, then teachers should have resources, tools, and access to the Internet, as well as each other.

An International Center for Ecological Studies - Schumacher College is an international centre for ecological studies based in the beautiful Devonshire countryside of south-west England. The College welcomes participants aged 20 to 80 from all over the world. Schumacher College was founded in 1991 on the conviction that a new vision is needed for society, its values and its relationship to the earth. Over the last decade the College has become a centre of excellence with an international reputation for the inspiration, quality and breadth of its teaching.

Education for Sustainable Development Toolkit - The Education for Sustainable Development Toolkit is an easy-to-use manual for individuals and organizations from both the education and community sectors. This resource addresses the potentially powerful alliance of school systems and communities working together to reach local sustainability goals. Together they can reorient existing curriculums to create locally relevant and culturally appropriate education.

Second Nature - Since 1993, Second Nature has been dedicated to accelerating a process of transformation in higher education. We chose to assist colleges and universities in their quest to integrate sustainability as a core component of all education and practice, and to help expand their efforts to make human activity sustainable.

National Environmental Education Training Foundation - Chartered by Congress in 1990, The National Environmental Education & Training Foundation (NEETF) is a private non-profit organization dedicated to advancing environmental education in its many forms. Since it was established, the Foundation has become a leader in the development of new policies, grant-making approaches, and direct programming to advance environmental literacy in America. We link environmental education (EE) to many of society's core goals such as: better health, improved education, environmentally sound and profitable business, and volunteerism in local communities. Each of our programs also focuses on the needs of under-resourced people in American society. NEETF's mission is to achieve a stronger future through environmental learning-Improved health, education, business, and ecological protection through innovative environmental learning.

Green Map System - From its beginning in 1995, the Green Map System was inspired by a desire to: help urban dwellers of all ages represent and share the ecological and cultural resources in their cities; promote good greening efforts underway in communities across the globe, build inclusive networks that extend community capacity and expedite progress toward sustainability, employ the info-web in service of the web-of-life celebrate and learn from the beauty, brilliance and diversity of Nature, and together, make our hometowns better, healthier places. are locally created maps that chart the natural and cultural environment. Using adaptable tools and a shared visual language of Green Map Icons to highlight green living resources, Green Maps cultivate citizen participation and community sustainability.

Environmental Protection Agency Teacher Resources - Need activity ideas for your unit on water quality? Interested in teaching pollution prevention concepts? At this site you will find curricula and activities on a variety of environmental topics. Explore the links and find creative ways to teach your students about the environment.

UN CyberSchoolBus - The United Nations Cyberschoolbus was created in 1996 as the online education component of the Global Teaching and Learning Project, whose mission is to promote education about international issues and the United Nations. The Global Teaching and Learning Project produces high quality teaching materials and activities designed for educational use (at primary, intermediate and secondary school levels) and for training teachers. The vision of this Project is to provide exceptional educational resources (both online and in print) to students growing up in a world undergoing increased globalization.