Though we have resources for teachers throughout the site, I wanted to round up the latest sources. The first section is for general environmental education and progressive teaching resources, the second section is for curriculum plans and lesson ideas, and the third section is for climate news and newsletters.
Environmental Education
EPA – Environmental Education Resources for Teachers and Students
“These resources were developed in partnership between the U.S. EPA, the Lloyd Center for the Environment, the New Bedford Public Schools’ Sea Lab, the Massachusetts Department of Environmental Protection and area educators.”
“Learning for Justice seeks to uphold the mission of the Southern Poverty Law Center: to be a catalyst for racial justice in the South and beyond, working in partnership with communities to dismantle white supremacy, strengthen intersectional movements and advance the human rights of all people. We support this mission by focusing our work with educators, students, caregivers and communities in these areas: Culture and Climate, Curriculum and Instruction, Leadership, and Family and Community Engagement. Since our founding as Teaching Tolerance in 1991, we have had a strong foundation of providing educational resources, and we are building on that foundation with expanded engagement opportunities for communities, especially in the South. Our free educational resources—articles, guides, lessons, films, webinars, frameworks and more—help foster shared learning and reflection for educators, young people, caregivers and all community members. Our engagement opportunities – conferences, workshops, and school and community partnerships – provide space where people can harness collective power and take action.”
“Rethinking Schools is a nonprofit publisher and advocacy organization dedicated to sustaining and strengthening public education through social justice teaching and education activism. Our magazine, books, and other resources promote equity and racial justice in the classroom. We encourage grassroots efforts in our schools and communities to enhance the learning and well-being of our children and to build a broad democratic movement for social and environmental justice. Our Zinn Education Project — coordinated with Teaching for Change — has more than 100,000 educators who have registered to access our “people’s history” materials.”
“Teaching for Change provides teachers and parents with the tools to create schools where students learn to read, write, and change the world. By drawing direct connections to real world issues, Teaching for Change encourages teachers and students to question and re-think the world inside and outside their classrooms, build a more equitable, multicultural society, and become active global citizens. Our professional development, publications, and parent organizing programs serve teachers, other school staff, and parents. Our main focus is national and we have dedicated programs in the Washington, D.C. metropolitan area. Teaching for Change offers professional development, develops lessons, and curates resources to help classroom teachers supplement pre-K–12 curriculum.”
“The Zinn Education Project promotes and supports the teaching of people’s history in classrooms across the country. For more than ten years, the Zinn Education Project has introduced students to a more accurate, complex, and engaging understanding of history than is found in traditional textbooks and curricula. With more than 130,000 people registered, and growing by more than 10,000 new registrants every year, the Zinn Education Project has become a leading resource for teachers and teacher educators. Our website offers free, downloadable lessons and articles organized by theme, time period, and grade level. Based on the approach to history highlighted in Howard Zinn’s best-selling book A People’s History of the United States, our teaching materials emphasize the role of working people, women, people of color, and organized social movements in shaping history.”
Lesson Plans / Curriculum Resources
Association for Science Teacher Education – Environmental Education Resources
Resources available – curricular projects, databases, energy education resources, Environmental Education Frameworks and Data Instrument Resources
Description of organization – “The Association for Science Teacher Education (ASTE) promotes leadership and support for professionals involved in the education and development of teachers of science at all levels. ASTE advances practice and policy through scholarship, collaboration, and innovation in science teacher education.”
Environmental Education and Training Partnership
Resources available – links to further resources, teacher development, ideas for student discussions of environmental issues
Description of organization – “The Environmental Education and Training Partnership is an organization that aims at training environmental educators in the U.S. to meet approved standards and attain accredetation. We provide online..online courses as well as learning material and other resources to distribute the more widely and train additional educators and leaders to use the guidelines. Our standards for the Initial Preparation of Environmental Educators were adopted nationwide and until today we continue to assist authorities with the development of new certification programs.”
National Environmental Education Foundation (NEEF)
Resources available – environmental literacy resources, connecting environmental education to Common Core goals, group games and activities
Description of organization – “The National Environmental Education Foundation (NEEF) is the nation’s leading organization in lifelong environmental learning, creating opportunities for people to experience and learn about the environment in ways that improve their lives and the health of the planet. Congressionally chartered in 1990 as a 501c3 nonprofit to complement the work of the US Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), NEEF is a non-partisan, non-advocacy organization working to make the environment more accessible, relatable, relevant, and connected to people’s daily lives.” The link takes you to the curriculum and lesson plan section of their sites.”
The North American Association for Environmental Education
Resources available – resources for teacher development (online learning modules, webinars, discussions), resources for classroom use (state environmental literacy plans, early childhood education)
Description of organization – “For more than four decades, NAAEE has promoted excellence in environmental education throughout North America and the world. We are dedicated to strengthening the field of environmental education and increasing the visibility and efficacy of the profession.”
Additional Lesson Plans & Curriculum Resources
Committed to Climate and Energy Education
Edutopia – Environmental Education
Learning for a Sustainable Future
Open Educational Resources Commons
Share My Lesson – Climate Change Education
Climate Change & Environmental News
General News Sources
New York Times – Climate and Environment
Climate & Environment Specific News Sources
“Carbon Brief is a UK-based website covering the latest developments in climate science, climate policy and energy policy. We specialize in clear, data-driven articles and graphics to help improve the understanding of climate change, both in terms of the science and the policy response. We publish a wide range of content, including science explainers, interviews, analysis and factchecks, as well as daily and weekly email summaries of newspaper and online coverage.”
“An independent organization of leading scientists and journalists researching and reporting the facts about our changing climate and its impact on the public.Climate Central surveys and conducts scientific research on climate change and informs the public of key findings. Our scientists publish and our journalists report on climate science, energy, sea level rise. Members of the Climate Central staff and board are among the most respected leaders in climate science. Staff members are authorities in communicating climate and weather links, sea level rise, climate modeling, engineering assessments, graphic representations of climate data, and other climate science areas. Our journalists have extensive experience in mainstream print, television, digital and social media.”
“EcoWatch is a long-time leader in environmental news. Founded in 2005 as an Ohio-based environmental newspaper, today we are a digital platform still dedicated to publishing quality, science-based content on environmental issues, causes, and solutions. While we’ve grown from a grassroots newspaper of 80,000 print copies to a site with a digital audience of more than two million monthly readers, we are still committed to our founding principle: creating a sustainable future. Our goal is to empower readers to make informed, environmentally-conscious decisions that support a sustainable future for everyone. Through trustworthy environmental news, solution-based guides, and responsible product reviews, we want to help both the newly-concerned citizen and the veteran environmental activist be part of the solution every single day. Our hope is that we can help everyone become engaged, adopt sustainable practices, and support environmental policies.”
“E&E News’ five daily publications deliver original and compelling journalism on energy and environment issues that keeps top decisionmakers in government, business, NGOs and academia informed and ahead of the curve.”
“Our mission is to inform, educate, enable and create a platform for global environmental action. As a result, our readers are top environmental leaders from government, business and educators, as well as a broad spectrum of “intellectually curious” citizens. While in the past we were mainly aggregators of environmental news, ENN has become more than just a collection of content. It is rapidly becoming a collection of resources, teachers, experts and tools that provide objective information and knowledge about the increasingly complex field of environmental science.”
“Founded in 2007, Inside Climate News is a Pulitzer Prize-winning, nonprofit, nonpartisan news organization that provides essential reporting and analysis on climate change, energy and the environment, for the public and for decision makers. We serve as watchdogs of government, industry and advocacy groups and hold them accountable for their policies and actions… We have earned national recognition for our work and many of the most prestigious awards in journalism, including the Pulitzer. Already one of the largest dedicated environmental newsrooms in the country, ICN, through its local reporting networks, is committed to training the next generation of journalists, and to strengthening the practice of environmental journalism.”
The Conversation – Climate Change
“The Conversation is a nonprofit, independent news organization dedicated to unlocking the knowledge of experts for the public good. We publish trustworthy and informative articles written by academic experts for the general public and edited by our team of journalists.”
Newsletters
Grist – Newsletter Subscription
“The only newsroom focused on exploring solutions at the intersection of climate and justice.” Different newsletters include The Beacon, The Daily, The Weekly, Looking Forward, Ask Umbra, and Shift Happens.
“It is not your fault that the planet is burning. Your air conditioner, your hamburger, your gas-powered car—these aren’t the reasons we only have about a decade to prevent irreversible climate catastrophe. No; the majority of the blame for the climate emergency lies at the foot of the greedy; the cowardly; the power-hungry; the apathetic. And that’s why I created this newsletter: to expose and explain the forces behind past and present inaction on the most existential threat of our time. If you sign up, you’ll get original reporting and analysis on the climate crisis at the top of your inbox every week. News on this emergency deserves to be at the top of your inbox. It should arm you with the knowledge you need to effectively fight this crisis.”
Inside Climate News – Newsletters
“Pulitzer Prize-winning, nonpartisan reporting on the biggest crisis facing our planet. Inside Climate News provides you with several free emails, right to your inbox. Choose the email list [ICN Weekly, Today’s Climate, Breaking News, and Inside Clean Energy] that is right for you or choose them all. You can update your preferences at any time. “
The New York Times – The Climate Crisis Newsletter
Written by Bill McKibben. “Coverage of environmental news and the climate crisis from a leading voice in the movement.”
The Sierra Club – Needles Newsletter
“The Sierra Club is the most enduring and influential grassroots environmental organization in the United States. We amplify the power of our millions of members and supporters to defend everyone’s right to a healthy world. Needles is published bi-monthly. Submissions must be received by the 8th day of the month preceding publication.”