Located in Ventura County, the Ojai Raptor Center (ORC) rehabilitates sick, injured, and orphaned birds of prey while educating the public on wildlife conservation. 

While ORC operates locally, raptors are ecological bioindicators whose migratory paths span entire continents. Species treated at ORC travel along the Pacific Flyway, crossing international borders from Alaska down to Central and South America. 

Studying these birds links local wildlife rehabilitation to global biodiversity, international migratory treaties, and cross-border environmental health. 

Classroom Implementation Ideas:

• Use ORC case studies (such as lead poisoning and rodenticide exposure in local hawks) to investigate how environmental toxins move through food webs globally. Students can compare U.S. chemical regulation policies with those in Latin America and Europe to write policy proposals or awareness campaigns.

• Virtual Ambassador Visits & Civic Action: Host an ORC virtual or in-person educator visit featuring ambassador birds. Follow up by having students design a local habitat-restoration or window-strike prevention campaign, reflecting on how localized community action supports global avian populations.

Headquartered in Ventura, Paso Pacifico is a non-profit organization that bridges Southern California with Central America’s Pacific slope. The organization works to protect endangered wildlife, restore tropical dry forests, and safeguard marine habitats in countries like Nicaragua and El Salvador. 

Paso Pacifico exemplifies the intersection of STEM innovation, environmental justice, and international collaboration. It demonstrates to students how local citizens can act as global change-makers and aligns seamlessly with SDG 14 (Life Below Water), SDG 15 (Life on Land), and SDG 17 (Partnerships for the Goals).

Classroom Implementation Ideas:

• STEM & Anti-Poaching Technology Challenge: Introduce students to Paso Pacifico’s award-winning "InvestEGGator", a 3D-printed, GPS-embedded decoy sea turtle egg designed to track illegal wildlife trafficking routes. Students can use the engineering design process to prototype their own conservation technology solutions to address global illegal wildlife trade.

• Community-Based Conservation Case Studies: Have high school social studies or science students analyze Paso Pacifico’s female ranger programs (Guardabosques). Students explore how empowering local women and indigenous communities in Central America leads to sustainable environmental stewardship, fostering discussions on global gender equity and economic development.

Encompassing 1,470 square miles of ocean waters surrounding the Channel Islands, this sanctuary is a world-renowned marine protected area (MPA) located right off the Ventura coast. 

The sanctuary offers interdisciplinary learning opportunities across marine science, climate studies, economics, and history. It enables educators to teach global ocean literacy, marine spatial planning, and climate adaptation strategies using a world-class marine site located in their backyard, aligning with SDG 14 (Life Below Water) and SDG 13 (Climate Action).

Classroom Implementation Ideas:

• Comparative Marine Protected Area (MPA) Study: Have students compare management strategies used in the Channel Islands Sanctuary with international MPAs (such as the Galápagos Marine Reserve in Ecuador or the Great Barrier Reef in Australia). Students evaluate how different nations balance commercial shipping, fisheries, and ecotourism with conservation goals.

• Citizen Science & Global Ocean Data: Involve students in monitoring marine debris or ocean acidification using sanctuary resources and NOAA data sets. Students collect beach marine debris data locally, upload their findings to global databases (ex, Marine Debris Tracker), and collaborate on data analysis with international peer classrooms to propose global marine policy solutions.