In our interview, Craig discussed compelling environmental justice issues around the US, accessibility, “designing at the margins’, engagement, and funding.
Watch the interview below!
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This week’s newsletter looks at youth activism in California and strives to understand youth educational needs as they relate to the environmental literacy movement.
Environmental literacy is understanding the reality of environmental injustice and climate change.
Isha Clarke
This week’s newsletter looks at youth activism in California and strives to understand youth educational needs as they relate to the environmental literacy movement.
This week we speak with Isha Clarke, a founding member of Youth vs. Apocalypse, an environmental justice organization that was created to raise awareness and inspire change around the climate crisis. Isha was exposed to social justice issues early in life through her family and her community in West Oakland, but she got her start in powerful community action in 2016 at the age of 13. She and other youth activists targeted Phil Tagami, a real estate developer, and protested against the development of a coal terminal in West Oakland, a community already heavily impacted by chronic illnesses related to high levels of pollution. She rose to national and global prominence in early 2019 when a video went viral of her challenging Senator Dianne Feinstein to support the Green New Deal. Isha was involved in one of the largest climate strikes last year when she and Youth vs. Apocalypse organized tens of thousands of protesters equipped with a list of targets and demands throughout the Bay Area.
Listen to her take on the climate crisis and what environmental literacy means to her:
Youth activism is by no means a new phenomenon. Youth have led some of the greatest political uprisings and movements of the 20th century such as the Lunch Counter Sit-ins, the Soweto Uprising, the Anti-war Protests, as well as the marches and democracy movement in Tiananmen Square. Nonetheless, it’s evident that we are now seeing an uptick in youth activism, as many activists take leadership roles in movements such as climate change, racial justice, and gender equality.
Youth Vs. Big Oil is a California-based youth activist organization focused on shaping policy and political action around the fossil fuel industry. Their demands are to stop approval of new oil and gas permits, halt all existing oil and gas production, and establish safe distances between communities and fossil fuel sites.
In thier effort to lift the voices of youth, in particular youth of color, and fight for a livable climate and an equitable, sustainable, and just world, Youth Vs. Apocalypse released its first EP in December 2020. Listen to their musical tracks and spoken word on SoundCloud.
Every year the Brower Youth Awards recognizes 6 outstanding, emerging youth leaders, representing accomplishments across the full spectrum of the environmental movement in North America. Check out one of the 2019 award winners, Isha Clarke, and her story.
The Office of African American Male Achievement was launched in 2010 and creates the systems, structures, and spaces that guarantee success for all African American male students in Oakland Unified School District.
Independent non-profit committed to improving the educational and life outcomes of Black boys by working with school districts nationwide on professional development, curriculum adaptation, student leadership opportunities, community engagement, and an overall system change through district collaboration.
A youth-led activist campaign demanding changes to PG&E and California’s energy market. They are especially focused on assisting communities that have been impacted by dirty energy.
A network of more than 65 schools nationwide and around the world committed to student-centered learning with a focus on community engagement and mentorship.
Join school and district leaders from around the globe to share strategies for leading toward greener, healthier, and inspiring schools that engage students in meaningful experiences that drive achievement across the board.
The award recognizes outstanding kindergarten through grade 12 teachers who employ innovative approaches to environmental education and use the environment as a context for learning for their students. Nominations are now open!
Over four years, the Trump administration dismantled major climate policies and rolled back many more rules governing clean air, water, wildlife and toxic chemicals…
As President Joe Biden prepared to rejoin the Paris Agreement to fight climate change Wednesday, a new campaign is underway by environmental activists to add compulsory environmental education to school curriculums worldwide…
The United States helped bring the world into the Paris climate accord, the groundbreaking global agreement reached in 2015 to reduce greenhouse gas emissions in an effort to slow climate change…
With COVID-19 infections and deaths continuing to rise and the entire world feeling the economic impact of the pandemic, getting the coronavirus under control is an immediate priority…
Meet Shreya Ramachandran: This high school senior founded a nonprofit based in California that teaches people how to recycle water in their homes. She’s also shown that the water left after cleaning with soap nuts can be reused to irrigate crops.
Youth activism is by no means a new phenomenon. Youth have led some of the greatest political uprisings and movements of the 20th century such as the Lunch Counter Sit-ins, the Soweto Uprising, the Anti-War Protests, as well as the protests in Tiananmen Square. Nonetheless, it’s evident that we are now seeing an uptick in youth activism, as many activists take leadership roles in movements such as climate change, racial justice, and gender equality.
The question all educators should be asking themselves is: how can we foster the passion that youth are demonstrating through activism in the classroom? How can traditional K-12 education play a role in this process? We may find the answer by taking a deeper look at what is inspiring these youth leaders in the first place.
Isha was only 13 when she got her start in environmental activism. She wasn’t inspired to take action by traditional classroom practices, instead, she was inspired by being exposed to “relevant truths” as she describes them. When she was made aware of the injustices afflicting her community and others, she quickly sought out the knowledge and tools to address those injustices. Couple this with a chance to explore her own interests through project-based learning and an experiential internship program at her high school, MetWest High School in Oakland, CA, a perfect storm of opportunity was presented.
Isha jumped on this opportunity and became one of the founding members of Youth vs. Apocalypse. She understands the importance of giving students agency over their own learning and how important relevance is when it comes to inspiring young people. She believes “the person that you’re learning from matters” and that educators need to go through a similar process of being exposed to and understanding the same “relevant truths” that she did.
“Students are underestimated,” Isha states, and too often “we’re given lessons and information that we don’t care about.” However, Isha goes on to explain that when given the opportunity to make connections between the environment and the direct impact on their lives, students are often the best agents of change.
“Around the world, we are seeing children and youth engage as social, political, and economic actors, demonstrating their capacity to help make social change,” says author Jessica Taft.
Taft is the author of Rebel Girls and The Kids Are in Charge: Activism and Power in Peru’s Movement of Working Children. She has spent more than a decade studying children’s rights and intergenerational activism.
“Youth, given the opportunity to work alongside adults who are willing to manage their own power, can lead activist communities and organizations,” she said. “To not include them is anti-democratic. They deserve to be listened to, to be seen as collaborators and treated as equals.”
In relation to climate change and environmental justice, we are seeing youth leaders emerge where education has been insufficient, slow, and irrelevant. Listening to Isha explain how environmental literacy can advance “collective liberation from systems of oppression” by helping people see the interdependence between natural and human systems is inspirational. It also highlights that, while educators may understand the importance of the learning about environment, the environment is core to the identity of many youth today. Using the environment as a multi-disciplinary lens to highlight and provide context around injustices facing students’ communities will reach students and inspire action.
Isha may be exceptional but she’s not alone, there are many other youth activists and organizations inciting meaningful change in their local communities. In addition to Youth vs. Apocalypse, there is Youth Climate Action Coalition (YCAC) based in Loomis, CA. YCAC started as an environmental club at Del Oro High School and has now reached over 1 million students worldwide, helping to improve sustainability in hundreds of schools. Future Coalition, a national network of youth-led organizations and youth organizers who work on a variety of issues including the climate crisis, gun violence prevention, and gender equity is another example of students taking action. Their spokesperson, Dillon Bernard, states “We believe that young people have the ideas and passion to make extraordinary change in their local communities and across this country.”
One major challenge in bridging activism and education is that school leaders tend to view activists as disrupters and shy away from engaging with them. On their part, activists need to develop tools that can channel their passion into constructive learning projects.
Outdoor learning projects and community programs are ideal focal points for bringing together activists and educators. With support from the environmental literacy community, we can create new learning experiences for students that are inspired by youth leaders.
Isha implores all the educators to reach out to community-based partners and activists like YVA to provide a new lens and to “Give [students] the opportunity to do something that matters to us.”
Youth Vs. Big Oil is a California-based youth activist organization focused on shaping policy and political action around the fossil fuel industry. Their demands are to stop approval of new oil and gas permits, halt all existing oil and gas production, and establish safe distances between communities and fossil fuel sites.
In thier effort to lift the voices of youth, in particular youth of color, and fight for a livable climate and an equitable, sustainable, and just world, Youth Vs. Apocalypse released its first EP in December 2020. Listen to their musical tracks and spoken word on SoundCloud.
Every year, the Brower Youth Awards recognizes 6 outstanding emerging youth leaders, representing accomplishments across the full spectrum of the environmental movement in North America. Check out one of the 2019 award winners, Isha Clarke, and her story.
The Office of African American Male Achievement was launched in 2010 and creates the systems, structures, and spaces that guarantee success for all African American male students in Oakland Unified School District.
Independent non-profit committed to improving the educational and life outcomes of Black boys by working with school districts nationwide on professional development, curriculum adaptation, student leadership opportunities, community engagement, and an overall system change through district collaboration.
A youth-led activist campaign demanding changes to PG&E and California’s energy market. They are especially focused on assisting communities that have been impacted by dirty energy.
A network of more than 65 schools nationwide and around the world committed to student-centered learning with a focus on community engagement and mentorship.
We had the opportunity to chat with Isha Clarke, a founding member of Youth vs. Apocalypse, an environmental justice organization that was created to raise awareness and inspire change around the climate crisis. Isha talks about what led her to become an environmental activist, how she views environmental literacy, and how to promote environmental literacy in schools and beyond.
Want to get connected with Isha and Youth vs. Apocalypse? Reach out to them through their social media channels.
This week’s newsletter looks at the K-12 environmental literacy movement in California. Environmental literacy involves understanding a wide range of concepts and issues so one may act as an environmentally responsible person.
“There’s a demand, there’s an interest, and I encourage all teachers to explore and look for ways they can help their students live in the world as adults by improving their environmental literacy.”
– Dr. Gerald Lieberman
This week’s newsletter looks at the K-12 environmental literacy movement in California. Environmental literacy involves understanding a wide range of concepts and issues so one may act as an environmentally responsible person. The growing environmental challenges facing California, and indeed the world, require an educated citizenry with the skills to understand, analyze, and take part in complex decision-making leading to a sustainable planet.
California is a pioneer in advancing environmental literacy in the K-12 education context. Its environmental literacy rollout for K-12 education is groundbreaking in three major respects. First, the state has placed environmental literacy squarely on the K-12 education agenda. Second, environmental literacy has been introduced not as a siloed individual subject but as a “horizontal” domain ideal for an interdisciplinary teaching approach. Third, environmental literacy has been promoted as a hands-on, activity-based subject centered around classroom projects, community partner programs, and outdoor learning opportunities that emphasize student leadership and choice.
As a 21st century entrant to the K-12 education agenda, environmental literacy promises to establish a paradigm for 21st century student-led, multi-disciplinary, project-based learning.
To learn more about the integration of environmental literacy in the California K-12 curriculum, we met with Dr. Gerald Lieberman, a leader in this area. Dr. Lieberman is the Director of the State Education and Environment Roundtable (SEER) and a member of the California Environmental Literacy Initiative (CAELI). He has been instrumental in developing California’s most important initiatives around environment-based education and played a leading role in designing the Environmental Principles and Concepts (EP&Cs) and the Education and the Environment Initiative (EEI) Curriculum. Also, in partnership with California nonprofit Ten Strands, Dr. Lieberman led an effort to integrate California’s EP&Cs into the state’s frameworks for science, history-social science, health, and the arts. He is currently working on the mathematics framework.
According to Dr. Lieberman, in his book Education and the Environment (2014), “The major educational and environmental challenges that our society is currently facing are inextricably connected to the ways humans interact with the world around them… changing the way teachers teach and students learn is the only way to develop an educated citizenry capable of resolving these challenges.”
Have a look at the work Dr. Lieberman is doing with SEER in advancing environmental literacy and promoting their EIC Model ™ (Environment as an Integrating Context for improving student learning).
What was the process of developing the EEI curriculum? Who were the key supporters? What are the concepts? This document answers these questions and more.
CAELI works with school districts and county offices of education throughout California, building the capacity for all K-12 students to become environmentally literate.
California students can now earn a State Seal of Civic Engagement. The award, announced by the State Board of Education on Sept. 10, is aimed at encouraging active and ongoing citizenship.
The idea of using the environment to drive science instruction is a daunting task at the classroom level but once you get started you pick up strong tailwinds from students, who tend to be passionate about environmental causes. Get tips from these leading teachers.
The Environmental Education Grant Program (EEGP) is awarding grants up to $120,000 each to support programs that will result in long-term educational benefits to California educators and students. Learn more and apply before February 12, 2021.
Attend a multi-day event filled with networking and skill-building as you interact with environmental educators throughout Riverside and San Bernardino.
Classroom Challenge is a project-based, environmentally-focused competition for classrooms, grades 4-6. It offers a unique opportunity for upper elementary teachers to facilitate their students’ learning of standards-based content, while developing the core understanding of environmental principles necessary to becoming science-literate citizens.
Growing up in North Richmond, California, Denny Khamphanthong didn’t think much of the siren that wailed once a month at 11 a.m. every first Wednesday…
When California passed its landmark cap-and-trade law in 2006, supporters were hopeful that the program would provide the template for other states—and eventually the federal government—to solve the climate crisis…
Schools are adapting to address the challenges presented by COVID-19. Learn about the benefits of outdoor learning and how it can ease some of the inequities COVID has exacerbated.
Take a moment to go outside and inhale a whopping breath of air. Do you take in a breath of fresh air or do you in fact take in a breath of fresh pollution? The answer to this question lies in where you are taking in this precious air.
We are here with Dr. Gerald Lieberman from the State Education and Environment Roundtable, known more commonly as SEER. Dr. Lieberman certainly lives up to that acronym as he has been a true knowledge leader in the environmental literacy space for over 40 years. Dr. Lieberman has been instrumental in the development of California’s most important initiatives around environment-based education (EBE).
As the Director of SEER, Dr. Lieberman developed a strategy for implementing EBE called the EIC Model ™ or Environment as an Integrating Context for learning which focuses on developing localized instructional programs at the school or district level. Dr. Lieberman is a member of the California Environmental Literacy Initiative (CAELI). He led the development of the Environmental Principles and Concepts (EP&Cs) as well as the Education and the Environment Initiative Curriculum. He is the author of multiple publications including Closing the Achievement Gap: Using the Environment as an Integrating Context for Learning as well as Education and the Environment: Creating Standards-Based Programs in Schools and Districts. We are honored and grateful to speak with him today and for him to share a small piece of his knowledge with us.
Our Environmental Education and Research Manager, Yin Ling Tan, spoke with Dr. Lieberman to learn more about the environmental literacy rollout in California over the last two decades.
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