Co-chaired by Elizabeth Babcock of the California Academy of Sciences and Craig Strang of the Lawrence Hall of Science, the entire team included a diverse group of formal and informal educators, staff of my own Department of Education, and other stakeholders from across the state.To achieve the goals outlined here, we will need the support and collaboration of a broad cross-section of the state, including educators and administrators from the formal education system; informal educators at organizations large and small; parents and community members who understand the needs of their students and their community; leaders from higher education; leaders from key state organizations, and resources from government, philanthropy, and the private sector.Strategy 1: Integrate Environmental Literacy Into Existing and Future Education Initiatives Strategy 2: Strengthen Partnership and Collaboration Amongst Key Stakeholders Strategy 3: Mobilize the Public and Leverage the State Superintendent of Public Instruction’s (SSPI) Influence Strategy 4: Implement Select Changes to Relevant State Law and Policy Strategy 5: Ensure Implementation through Capacity Building and Continuous Improvement Strategy 6: Develop a Sustainable Funding Strategy Conclusion Acknowledgments Appendices Appendix 1: Task Force Work Team Summaries Appendix 2: California Regional Environmental Education Community (CREEC) Network Endnotes Fellow Californians: The critical environmental concerns that face California demand that we think deeply about how to build a future that is sustainable, healthy, prosperous, and equitable.For this reason, I convened the Environmental Literacy Task Force to develop recommendations for strengthening the environmental literacy of all California students.©2015 by the Californians Dedicated to Education Foundation. Except for the statutes, regulations, and court decisions that are referenced herein, the document is exemplary, and compliance with it is not mandatory.(See Education Code Section 33308.5) Superintendent’s Message Executive Summary A Blueprint for Environmental Literacy: At a Glance Environmental Literacy Task Force Introduction Overview Guiding Principles Environmental Literacy Background and Context Defining Environmental Literacy The Importance of Environmental Literacy for California Overview of the Environmental Literacy Landscape in California Blueprint for the Future: Environmental Literacy for Every California Student A Strategic Framework for a New Environmental Literacy System Current Opportunities and Alignment: A Time for Bold Action!
The Bay Guardian archive currently contains online text versions of most articles and blog posts published after 2005, and also contains a growing number of searchable flip-through PDF editions beginning in 1966. We must do so for the future of our students and for California’s prosperity, equity, and resource sustainability.Sincerely, /s/ Tom Torlakson State Superintendent of Public Instruction A future prosperous, healthy, and safe California rests upon residents making wise environmental choices essential to our quality of life. established the nation’s most ambitious California greenhouse gas reduction target, he noted, “climate change poses an ever-growing threat to the well being, public health, natural resources, economy, and the environment of California, including loss of snowpack, drought, sea level rise, more frequent and intense wildfires, heat waves, more severe smog, and harm to natural and working lands, and these effects are already being felt in the state.” Developing and implementing solutions to these challenges requires an environmentally literate populace that has the skills to understand, analyze, think critically about, and address existing and future environmental issues.While some students regularly participate in systematic, ongoing environmental literacy experiences, many more receive only a limited introduction to environmental content and some have no access at all. Under the leadership of State Superintendent of Public Instruction (SSPI) Tom Torlakson, the Governor, and State Board of Education, and with the support of California voters and legislators, California public education is undergoing a historic transformation.Now is the moment to elevate environmental literacy as an essential element of a 21st century education in California, and to establish the leadership, collaboration, strategic partnerships, and necessary funding to ensure environmental literacy for all California students.