Environmental Education. It’s a term that is constantly thrown a lot by policy makers, students, teachers, and other stakeholders. But what exactly is environmental education? UN Environment defines it as teaching students:

“that the environment is understood to encompass the natural and built environment, socioecological and economic aspects of environmental issues, and political dimension of environmental protection. In this context, environmental education and training includes aspects related to a wide variety of environment and development issues that affect and are affected by human activities and natural phenomena.”

In other words, environmental education is meant to teach students how the environment is integrated within our daily lives, and how to act responsibly towards the environment since an Environmental impact can have significant social and economic impacts.

Environmental education is not just a new development, but it is becoming more of a demand since the new generations want to feel empowered in bringing about environmental change. As the world faces the catastrophic risk of climate change, it is the responsibility of educators to teach students to be capable leaders, decision makers, critical thinkers, compassionate, and other characteristics needed to fix these issues.

To address this gap, I have created a barebones framework for schools around the globe to incorporate environmental education. In light of different communities having varying situations, I have incorporated a short term solution, long term solutions and an optimal solution for each of the following issues: plastics, awareness, design and curriculum. The overall purpose of the framework is to provide various comprehensive solutions that can be adapted and modified to fit your school’s needs.

In addition, the document includes various examples of programs and resources that can help your school become more environmentally friendly. This includes speakers, community programs, and organizations. While many of the provided sources are Canadian focused, equivalents are found all over the world, and many can be adapted to fit your school’s needs.

The Environmental Education Framework for Schools is a great way to teach a whole new generation to be socially responsible. If you have any other ideas, please comment, and if you would like to share your story about your school going green, please comment and message me.