Community and Culture

Resources for Student and Educator Led Environmental and Climate Solutionary Initiatives

The resources  below support student and educators to lead robust environmental and climate themed solutionary initiatives that focus on one or more environmental/climate focus areas:  

• Student-Led Environmental and Climate Solutionary Initiative Overview and Resources: This document includes an overview to what a student-led environmental and climate solutionary initiative is, and provides resources such as project exexmplars and planning templates.  

• Educator-Led Environmental and Climate Solutionary Initiative Overview and Resources: This document includes an overview to what an educator-led environmental and climate solutionary initiative is, and provides resources such as project exexmplars and planning templates.  

Resources for Sustainability Committees and Green Teams

1) The Sustainability Committee and Green Team Overview document supports leaders in understanding the characteristics, considerations, and successful models for running effective district-wide sustainability committees. 

2) Additional Resources for Student Green Clubs are below: 

• Zero Waste Green Club Initiatives

• Garden Green Club Initiatives

3) Key Constituents and Groups To Engage or Influence Environmental and Climate Action in K-12 Schools: This document highlights different key constituents and groups in K-12 Education that students (or changemakers) can engage or influence for environmental and climate action. 

Sustainable and Climate Mitigation Focus Area Resources Toolkit for Changemakers

The Sustainable and Climate Mitigation Focus Area Resources Toolkit page provides access to resources  for different campus related environmental and climate action focus areas (i.e. energy, waste, water, food, land-based ecosystems, etc.). On each focus area page find the following resources:

• Goals, Strategies, and Mandates for each focus area

• Campus initiative Project management resources, and Curriculum resources by focus area 

• Solutionary examples from districts and schools

Resources for Policy Related Advocacy Campaigns and Climate Activism

• Visit the Policy Action Page to find resources for declaring a Climate Emergency and/or passing a board policy actions (Board Policies (BP), Administrative Regulations (AR), and Resolutions (R),  in support of climate action and environmental sustainability. Multiple cities, counties, and school districts across the United States have already done this!

• The Climate Movement and Youth Climate Movement page includes resources for exploring and participating in the broader Climate Movement, including information about annual climate action weeks and United Nations Conferences of Parties (COPs). The page also includes resources for the Youth Climate Movement.

Resources for Earth Awareness Days and Environmental Competitions

• Visit the Earth Awareness Days page to learn more about important earth awareness days such as: Earth Day/Week/Month, Earth Overshoot Day, Earth Hour, and check out the full annual calendar of environmental and social justice awareness days. 

• Visit the Environmental Competitions, Challenges, and Collective Action page to learn more about competitions, challenges, collective action and service-learning opportunities that students and adults can participate in to be part of the larger environmental and climate movement. 

Background Knowledge Resources for Systems Thinking and Change Theory

The resources  below support leaders in any role (student, teacher, administrator, parent, community based partner, etc.) to integrate systems thinking and change theory into their changemaking efforts. 

• Introduction to Systems Thinking and How to Utilize Systems Thinking to Enact Change: Systems Thinking is a holistic thinking style that focuses on identifying ways that a system's parts interrelate, and how systems work over time and within the context of larger systems. The resources in the Systems Thinking WebQuest help changemakers  understanding systems thinking and utilize systems thinking for driving change. 

• Introduction to Change Theory and How to Utilize Change Theory to Enact Change : This document provides changemakers with an assortment of change theories that can be leveraged when thinking about bringing change to a community: I) Evaluating the Readiness for Change, and II) Preparing, Planning, and Designing Change Initiatives, III) Managing Change, IV) Disruptive Change. The document can be used to help changemakers understand the dynamics of change, and to be able to apply change theory to their own context.