Spearheaded by their co-leaders, Timothy Lee and Trinity Ly, Summit Shasta‘s Environment Club conducted a four-day waste-sorting audit (seeing what waste could have been recycled or composted rather than thrown into the trash) to educate the school community on the importance of recycling and composting. Their resulting campaign was announced a winner of the of SEI's Earth Day Challenge.
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SEI is proud to share about the incredible and inspiring sustainability leaders who serve on our board. Today we are shining the spotlight on Elaine Ikeda, Executive Director of LEAD California. With her 30+ years of experience in higher education, Elaine is serving the public good and building a more just and equitable democracy for all. Elaine K. Ikeda has led LEAD California (formerly California Campus Compact) since 2000. She has 30+ years of experience in higher education — conducting research on volunteerism, service-learning, and community service, and designing retreats, workshops, and learning communities for college faculty, administrators, staff, and students. She has co-authored several journal articles and book chapters on service-learning, community engagement, and student development. She holds a Master of Public Health from CSU, Long Beach, and a master's degree and doctoral degree in Higher Education from UCLA. When I met Sam Huang, a senior at Rosemead High School in Rosemead, CA, their passion for encouraging climate action shone through immediately. Though just a few days from graduation, Sam was thinking about how to support their garden club with summer volunteer work before heading off to college to study education. Sam and I spoke soon after they were announced as the Southern California winner of Energize Schools' Earth Day Challenge for their social media campaign urging their school community to improve their local and global environments through small changes to their daily habits.
By Juan Miranda, Climate Corps Fellow Juan Miranda is an Energy and Sustainability Associate Fellow for San Timoteo Energy Associates. 1. Reduce Your Carbon Footprint
Commercial and residential buildings account for approximately 30% of greenhouse gas emissions in the United States. Depending on your organization, buildings could represent the majority or close to the entirety of its carbon footprint. Therefore, decarbonizing your buildings may be the most important step you can take to contribute to global efforts to address climate change and build a better world for future generations. The campus of Terra Linda High School (San Rafael, CA) was buzzing with excitement on the evening of April 25. Students, families, and friends flocked to the student commons, where the Marin School of Environmental Leadership (MarinSEL) was hosting its annual Green Business Leader’s event. The event is an opportunity for MarinSEL students from the junior class to showcase their sustainability-focused businesses to the local community. This year, student products ranged from eco-friendly surf wax, to tea with biodegradable bags and recyclable packaging, to tote bags composed of repurposed clothing. The display of sustainable enterprises left family, friends, and fellow students in awe.
By Nancy MacFarlane, Climate Corps Fellow Nancy MacFarlane is a Energy and Sustainability Associate at Santa Rosa Junior College. When you think about ways to mitigate climate change, do beavers and beaver dams come to mind? Maybe not, but have you ever seen a beaver in action or their dams? If so, you probably saw a lush surrounding landscape. Why might that be? Well, the water in the stream or creek slowly backs up behind the dams and covers the land, which then creates a wetland teeming with life.
by Matilda Peck February morning began cold and dreary, and SEI's Climate Corps team shivered together on the stairs of the California Academy of Sciences. However, with each Fellow arriving for the annual Climate Corps Fellow Retreat the weather seemed to improve. By the time Naomi Lichtenstein arrived, a Program Associate at Earth Team, the sky was almost as sunny as their outlook. “I was really excited to meet the other Fellows,” said Lichtenstein. “I hope to learn more about their fellowship experiences and what they hope to do afterward.”
By Matilda Peck
By Emily Mallen In SEI’s Climate Corps Education Outside Program (CCEO), we plant the seeds of science and ecoliteracy to grow environmental leaders in two big ways — with the students we teach and with the cohort of 31 early-career, environmental educators we place in outdoor classrooms on school campuses in the San Francisco Bay Area. To support our educators as they enter the field of environmental education, we provide a rigorous training and professional development program. This semester, our educators have already participated in 88 hours of training! As we prepare them for their work in schools, we offer instruction on a wide range of topics from lesson planning, equitable teaching practices and best practices in the outdoor classroom, veggie gardening, community engagement, and more.
Join us as we take a look at some of the highlights from this semester of the CCEO training program! By Alaitz Aritza SEI staff presents on air quality mapping at virtual teacher training While conducting outreach for SEI’s Air Quality Education Program, I met with Dawn Castillo, a teacher on a special assignment focused on building science curriculum in the Sweetwater Union School District. Dawn asked if she could hold on to one of SEI’s air quality testing kits, with the hope that she might be able to interest one or two teachers at her district in participating in SEI’s air quality education program down the line.
The curriculum Dawn requested focuses on air quality and environmental justice. Our team’s goal is to share this curriculum with teachers, free of charge, and give them the necessary resources to implement the curriculum in their classrooms. In particular, we hoped to share our air quality curriculum with teachers and students who are disproportionately impacted by poor air quality, so we were thrilled to have Dawn on board to help us recruit teachers from the Sweetwater District. In addition to curriculum, we also supply teachers with air quality testing kits and professional guidance for troubleshooting the equipment. During air quality lessons, students engage with an online mapping application to track local and regional air quality before developing an action plan to address these issues in their communities. |
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