Education for Sustainability: An Agenda for Action
“This work is vital to support the growth of green jobsand for the growth of the economy as a whole…. But our commitment has to be about even more than career pathways. It also has to prepare all students with the knowledge they need to be green citizens.”
U.S. Secretary of Education, Arne Duncan, speaking at the Sustainability Summit, September 21, 2010.

Policy Recommendation 1
The green agenda for action began 16 years ago in the Clinton administration. The “National Forum on Partnerships Supporting Education about the Environment”1 was published in 1994, a report formulated at the Presidio summit in California. Action I pressed for environmental education (EE) awareness in pre-service and in-service development activities for educators, societies, state governments, business and non-profits (pg. 12). A set of environmental learning standards was already on the drawing board, sketched by the North American Association for Environmental Education, the EPA and the World Resources Institute. Fourth, eighth and twelfth grade students were slated to receive instruction in “global education, economic education, cultural diversity and environmental protection and improvement” (pg. 20) Students in the future would be entering “exemplary models of ‘green campuses” (pg. 14).

‘Ecodemia’ was released by the National Wildlife Federation in 1995, listing exemplar models for ‘the greening of American’ schools. The ‘GreenU Intiative’ was a “landmark public-private partnership’ between George Washington University and the Environmental Protection Agency to put our tax dollars in building greener relationships. The ‘Model Links Program’ in the State of Washington created a predictive step model for ingraining green improvement efforts. More than 1200 teachers in Wisconsin had earned CEUs in environmental education before Agenda for Action began locally. The Center for Environmental Education, an NGO2 published a ‘Blue Print for a Green School’ which details how a school should operate, while adding more greenery to the curriculum. Today the Center for Ecoliteracy claims “there is no blueprint” for being a green school. They must have mushroomed a plan on their own merits,

Globally, the Peace Corps has green troupes on the ground as far as Gabon, in Africa. The “Education for Development philosophy is simple: Infuse environment themes into traditional subjects as mathematics, science and English. This type of teacher training is a component of Peace Corps education projects throughout the world.”(pg. 19) Benchmarks in the global vision for sustainability are credited to the Belgrade and Tbilisi conferences, headed by Dr. William Stapp from the University of Michigan. As the first director of environmental education for UNESCO, EE expanded to the inclusion of “the relationship of humanity with nature and people with each other . . . focusing on environmental justice.” (pg. 9) Stapp’s centerpiece is the Global Rivers Environmental Education Network (GREEN) providing windows to the world of nations.

Policy Recommendation 2
Americans are predisposed to thinking that ‘education’ begins and ends in schooling, but concede that ‘learning’ can extend beyond formal schooling. Progression along the lines of creating a Lifelong Learning Society is not typical in American’s vision or prerogative, however. The policy described in section 2 deems sustainability as a prerequisite for society to progress. A Sustainable Development Extension Network provided the pathway for “charging communities with formulating action plans to move toward a sustainable future” (pg. 29) The National Council of Mayors and the National Association of Counties received “Agenda for Action” guidebooks and clearinghouses to plant the seeds of reform in their respective “Communities (i.e. population center, a coalition of communities in a region, watershed or ecoregion)”. Action 7 contains a comprehensive workforce agenda, which needs more room than this article permits.

Policy Recommendation 3
Setting aside the spider web of associations and councils that were assigned various duties during the 90’s, the states consorting with the ‘EE 2000’ project, linked the globalist’s vision, addressed in Agenda 21, to local communities. Chapter 36 is specifically geared to education, and the best illustration of its intent can be gained by studying the “Sustainability Indicators Project, spearheaded by Rescue Mission: Plant Earth, an organization with affiliates throughout the world” (pg. 26). Rescue Mission: Planet Earth was propagated by Peace Child International, a child’s version of Agenda 21. Indicators are the red flags of environmental injustice; air and water pollution, endangered species, poverty, climate change, consumerism, biodiversity, racism, a wealth of controversial issues for the young to monitor and analyze.

Moving forward to April 2011, the US Department of Education established a green ribbon award to schools that attain “high achievement in the three ED-GRS Pillars and 9 Elements” Pillars are: 1.Reducing environmental impact and costs, 2. Improve health and wellness, and 3. Effective environmental and sustainable education. The varied descriptions of the first four elements are friendly, reasonable and do cut costs in operating a school and the fifth can hardly be argued for safety’s sake. The sixth on nutrition, relying on locally produced food or a school garden’s harvest hardly seems realistic as most schools are out for the summer. The seventh is a sign of systems thinking, “the interdisciplinary learning about key relationships between dynamic environment, energy and human systems. (see Cloud Institute indicators) Below are a few of the GRS objectives and resources for each.

1. From the ‘White House Educate to Innovate’ and the ‘GLOBE’, environmental education emphasizes scientific practices, such as asking questions, developing and using models, planning and carrying out investigations, analyzing and interpreting data, using mathematics and computational thinking, constructing explanations, and engaging in argument from evidence.
2. Professional development opportunities in environmental and sustainability education are available to all teachers. The US Partnership for Education for Sustainable Development, the Green Education Foundation Sustainability Education Clearinghouse and Facing the Future Curriculum and Lesson Finder are listed.
3. The curriculum connects classroom content to college and career readiness, particularly post-secondary options that focus on environmental and sustainable studies and/or careers. ‘USDA Agriculture in the Classroom’ can assist here.
4. Students are required to conduct an age-appropriate community engagement project around a self-selected environmental or sustainability topic at every grade level. The EPA will help a child ‘Adopt a Watershed’.
   http://www2.ed.gov/programs/green-ribbon-schools/resources.doc

A green ribbon school is a politically correct school, if it meets the standards set forth by government authority. A green citizen is schooled in environmental studies, but is sustained in their thinking as the environmental (NAAEE) and the Sustainable Standards (US Partnership) are aligned with the Common Core State Standards. The Common Core provides the generic skills and the NAAEE and the Partnership provide the content to be studied. Part III will examine the later. (http://www2.ed.gov/programs/green-ribbon-schools/eligibility.html)

Education must equip students with knowledge, skills, understanding, attitudes and values compatible with a sustainable society. It goes beyond the “green” agenda to raise awareness of the complexity and dynamism of issues. It builds capacity for collaboration and creativity in problem-solving, critical reflection and systemic and futures thinking, a trans-disciplinary orientation, and motivates action for environmental sustainability. (eelinked.naaee.net/…/Aligning…the-Common-Core-Standards)


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1 United Nations Conference on Environment and Development (UNCED), Agenda 21: Programme of Action for Sustainable Development (New York: United Nations, 1992 foot noted in Introduction to Education for Sustainability: An Agenda for Action (pg. VII)

2 NGO Non-governmental organization, associated with the United Nations.