Education

Legislation to support climate change education enacted in California

California Gov. Gavin Newsom signed Assembly Bill 285, a measure to support climate change education in the Golden State's public schools, into law on October 8, 2023, according to a legislative update from his office.

The new law requires the California course of study for grades 1-6 and grades 7-12 to emphasize the causes and effects of climate change and methods to mitigate and adapt to its effects. Additionally, appropriate coursework including such material is required to be offered as soon as possible, no later than the 2024-2025 school year.

The Problem

Educators strive to find meaningful ways that their students can engage in constructive conversations about equity and environmental justice. It’s a challenge to find authentic programs that engage the students and integrate into the busy school schedule.

Our Solution: Workshops and Curriculum

Our curriculum is designed to address two critical gaps in EJ education: the lack of coherent materials and interactive experiential learning. 

By incorporating real-world case studies, hands-on activities and simulations, our curriculum empowers students to actively address local EJ issues. Teachers can integrate our curriculum seamlessly into their existing lesson plans.

Our Curriculum

Sample Customized Workshops

  • Deep Dive

    “What is environmental injustice?” Assessing negative impacts of climate change affecting low-income and colored communities.

  • Learning about past, present and future

    We look into the history of environmental injustice and what progress our society has made to combat this issue.

  • Systems mapping

    We trace the problem to its source via visual depiction of relationships to understand the origins of the problem.

  • Word clouds

    We ask students to build a word cloud with the most prominent words to visualize problems.

  • Real life case studies

    We look into people’s stories. This part of the workshop is the most meaningful as it shows a more humane and personal side of the problem.

  • Hearing from experts

    We discuss problems and plans from frontline organizations, government officials, and educators.

  • Role and Action

    Understanding our role and taking action. We share information about organizations (like ours!) to get involved and take action.

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