Sustainable Literacy in all U.S. Public Schools : A National Goal for 2040
Sustainable literacy should become part of every student’s education in all schools.
That was the message behind a major national effort launched by education, business and environmental leaders. The goal was ambitious: make sustainability literacy accessible to every public-school student in the United States by 2040.
The Center for Green Schools at the U.S. Green Building Council joined Houghton Mifflin Harcourt to develop the National Action Plan for Educating for Sustainability. The Sustainable literacy in schools initiative called on all 50 states to adopt comprehensive green-school policies. Moreover, the sustainable literacy in schools plan envisioned sustainability literacy becoming part of graduation requirements.
Preparing Students for a Changing World
Sustainable literacy in schools goes far beyond learning about recycling.
Students increasingly need to understand energy, climate, natural resources, food systems, transportation and the relationship between economic growth and environmental protection.
Therefore, sustainable literacy in schools through education can help prepare students for college, careers and civic life.
It can also strengthen traditional academic subjects. Science, technology, engineering and mathematics all connect naturally with sustainability challenges. In addition, students can apply those subjects to real problems in their communities.
That makes sustainability education practical rather than theoretical.
A National Sustainability Education Strategy: Sustainable Literacy in Schools
The National Action Plan identified 11 major areas that schools, governments and education leaders needed to address.
Those areas included collaboration, curriculum development, leadership, public policy, teacher preparation, professional development, research, student assessment and public awareness.
The strategy also recognized something important: schools cannot make this transition alone.
Businesses, nonprofit organizations, policymakers, teachers and curriculum developers all have roles to play. Consequently, the plan brought together leaders from education, corporations and environmental organizations.
Sustainability Can Increase Student Engagement
Sustainability also gives students a reason to connect classroom learning with the world around them.
For example, schools can turn energy efficiency, renewable energy, water conservation or waste reduction into hands-on learning opportunities.
Students can study electricity use inside their own school. They can examine recycling programs. They can measure water consumption. Meanwhile, science and engineering lessons can explore renewable energy technologies and cleaner transportation.
As a result, sustainability becomes something students experience rather than simply read about.
Teachers Are Essential
However, a sustainability curriculum only works when teachers have the resources to teach it effectively.
That means teacher training becomes essential.
Future educators need sustainability concepts integrated into their preparation programs. Existing teachers also need professional development, lesson plans and classroom tools.
Likewise, school districts need clear standards so sustainability education does not become another optional program that disappears when budgets tighten.
Education Can Drive Long-Term Environmental Change
Technology will continue changing rapidly. Renewable energy will expand. Electric transportation will grow. Buildings will become more efficient. Meanwhile, communities will continue confronting climate risks, water challenges and resource constraints.
Students will eventually manage those systems.
Therefore, teaching sustainability is also workforce development.
Today’s students could become tomorrow’s engineers, architects, scientists, electricians, policymakers, entrepreneurs and clean-energy leaders.
Yet sustainability literacy matters even for students who never enter environmental careers.
Everyone makes decisions involving energy, transportation, food, housing and consumption. Understanding the environmental consequences of those choices helps people make better decisions.
The Green Living Guy Take
Environmental education should not sit on the sidelines of American education.
It should become part of the foundation.
Students already learn mathematics, science, history and economics because those subjects help them understand the world. Sustainability connects all of them.
Moreover, the transition toward cleaner energy and more efficient communities creates enormous opportunities.
Schools should prepare students for that future.
Universal sustainability literacy may have sounded ambitious when education leaders proposed the 2040 goal. However, the underlying idea remains simple.
Give every student the knowledge needed to understand the planet they depend on.
Then give them the tools to help protect it.
For more information and to download the National Action Plan for Educating for Sustainability, please visit centerforgreenschools.org/nationalactionplan.
