If you serve students who are in 6-12th grades, this program is for you!

The Explore.Act.Tell. lessons and project work well in any class/subject area, after school club, homeschool, or community youth group. Lessons will teach young people, through a series of activities, about the issues surrounding hunger and food insecurity and develop skills they will use to create and implement a community service project.

The toolkit supports school board members to understand their role in driving meaningful climate solutions. School board members can collaborate with district, youth, and community leaders to pass resolutions and develop climate action plans for their districts.

The Inflation Reduction Act (IRA) offers unlimited, non-competitive funding that is available to all schools that move towards adopting clean energy technologies. These improvements can bring long-lasting benefits to your district, including improved student health and safety, fewer learning disruptions, and operational cost savings that can be applied to other district priorities.

The Smithsonian Science Education Center is looking for high school students, ages 14-19, to serve on a global Youth Ambassador Team dedicated to working towards a more sustainable future.

The Smithsonian Science Education Center (SSEC) is working with educators and young people to build knowledge and skills around global and local biodiversity issues. This virtual professional development academy will support educators by offering activities around biodiversity concepts, guidance for student-driven investigations on biodiversity in their community, and opportunities to interact with biodiversity experts, all in relation to how biodiversity can help us achieve the UN SDGs. An interactive Moodle course will also be provided to provide educators extra support, resources, and materials for review.

The Smithsonian Science for Global Goals Project provides youth around the world, ages 8-17, with the knowledge and skills to understand the world’s most pressing issues and to become agents for change in their own communities.  Through a series of freely available community research guides, young people use their communities as their laboratory to investigate the science that underlies the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).  

In spring 2023, the Smithsonian Science Education Center contracted with Gallup to conduct a study of U.S. K-12 teachers and school administrators, as well as teachers of students in comparable grade levels in four peer countries: Brazil, Canada, France and India. The goal was to gauge attitudes toward, and demand for, education and resources related to sustainable development. In the United States, educational resources exist within school and district curricula, which must adhere to state standards. Internationally, however, different countries and provinces often have a National Curriculum, typically directed by their Ministries of Education. This study was an outgrowth of the Smithsonian Science Education Center’s Smithsonian Science for Global Goals project, which aims to improve STEM Education for Sustainable Development for youth around the world. Download the report to read the findings.

This report, published by the Center for Green Schools in partnership with the Campaign for Environmental Literacy, examines how state legislation, as one piece of a complex puzzle, can help prepare graduates for a future impacted by the climate crisis. The report provides:

• Detailed talking points with citations for making the case
• Essential elements of climate change education legislation
• Model state bill framework
• Profile examples of legislation that supports climate change education in the formal K-12 education system

The Schoolyard Forest System℠ Resource Library is a set of practical tools for schools and districts working to increase tree canopy on public school grounds to shade and protect pre-K-12 students from extreme heat and rising temperatures due to climate change.

The National Outdoor Learning Library is a free online resource library, developed by Green Schoolyards America and partners, designed to help schools and school districts across the United States green their school grounds and move their classes and programs outside.

Educators can work to advance climate solutions — solutions students can see in their schools. The Educator Advocacy Toolkit, developed in partnership between This Is Planet Ed, The National Education Association, and The American Federation of Teachers, provides educators with the strategies and resources to advance climate action locally in their school districts, including talking points to help build consensus and specific programs to leverage for funding.

“HVAC Choices for Student Health and Learning,” shares big ideas relating to school HVAC technology, offers a framework for evaluating costs and obtaining funding, and provides an overview of the benefits that come with all-electric HVAC systems. Three takeaways from the report: HVAC systems are a cornerstone of healthy and comfortable schools that support student well-being and academic performance. Schools, students & communities benefit from modern HVAC systems that are all electric and high performance. School leaders have a generational opportunity to choose all-electric, high-performance HVAC systems thanks to new funding opportunities, most notably, the Inflation Reduction Act.

This report provides examples of efforts in all three Pillars of the ED-GRS award: 1) reducing environmental impacts; 2) improving health and wellness; and 3) offering effective environmental and sustainability education. Awardees must document progress in all of these Pillars in order to be selected for the federal recognition award.

This national-scale, multi-sector report quantifies projected health effects associated with extreme heat, air quality, changing seasons, flooding, and infectious diseases. Where possible, the analyses consider the extent to which these risks disproportionately fall on children from overburdened populations.

This report provides insights from a national survey on the financial costs and benefits of hiring PK-12 sustainability and environmental health staff to drive better working and learning conditions within schools. The publication highlights professionals from 49 school districts across the country serving 4.1 million students.

This toolkit, provides key resources for champions of sustainable schools to advocate for the hiring of sustainability staff at their school or school district. The toolkit includes facts and tips, general sustainability skills and job responsibilities, job description templates, links to over a dozen actual job descriptions, as well as examples of school system organizational reporting structures to support sustainability staff/teams.

This position is responsible for planning, monitoring, promoting, coordinating, and providing technical assistance to municipal recycling programs within the county to ensure compliance with legislated environmental objectives of the State of New Jersey.

*Job descriptions on Green Strides are provided as examples for other schools/districts to learn about how sustainability-related jobs can be designed and advertised. 

This position will perform a variety of skilled duties involved in the maintenance, operation and programming of central irrigation control systems and equipment. The position will utilize, manage and maintain central irrigation control system to maximize irrigation efficiency; work with District Irrigation personnel to identify system issues and initiate repair work orders; and support sustainability staff in water use management and reduction projects.

*Job descriptions on Green Strides are provided as examples for other schools/districts to learn about how sustainability-related jobs can be designed and advertised. 

This position serves as a key advisor in energy management, sustainability, and related issues through planning and implementation of School Division programs. This position is responsible for establishing energy optimization protocols and facilitating energy awareness within an 11,000,000 square-foot, multi-facility environment.

*Job descriptions on Green Strides are provided as examples for other schools/districts to learn about how sustainability-related jobs can be designed and advertised. 

The Program Manager of Sustainability develops, supervises, and executes District-wide sustainability programs and utility elements of all facilities related programs to control energy usage and utility costs, reduce pollution, and improve resource conservation. Develop and execute sustainability strategies to address construction facilities operational issues. Oversee the management and analysis of the District’s energy usage patterns, utility rate schedules, and the cost impact of inflation and rate increases.

*Job descriptions on Green Strides are provided as examples for other schools/districts to learn about how sustainability-related jobs can be designed and advertised. 

The Outdoor Learning Specialist provides District leadership for green schoolyards and outdoor learning while establishing AISD as a national leader and innovator in outdoor learning.

*Job descriptions on Green Strides are provided as examples for other schools/districts to learn about how sustainability-related jobs can be designed and advertised. 

The purpose of this position is to establish accountability for energy consumption at every level in the district and develop and monitor the district’s energy management program in accordance with board policy and superintendent’s guidelines for the purpose of reducing utility consumption.

*Job descriptions on Green Strides are provided as examples for other schools/districts to learn about how sustainability-related jobs can be designed and advertised. 

The Director will develop the overall strategy of continuous improvement for environmental and health initiatives and lead the efforts of the Environmental Compliance team responsible for the development of the strategy, policies, goals and objectives for various environmental programs.

*Job descriptions on Green Strides are provided as examples for other schools/districts to learn about how sustainability-related jobs can be designed and advertised. 

The Sustainability, Energy, and Environment Program Director at Boston Public Schools is responsible for working across BPS departments and functions to lead the District in this work and ultimately build a culture of sustainability throughout the organization.

*Job descriptions on Green Strides are provided as examples for other schools/districts to learn about how sustainability-related jobs can be designed and advertised. 

The OTLC will be responsible for working across the districts' schools and departments, in collaboration with Friends of the Boston Schoolyards, to lead the district in outdoor teaching and learning, and the creation and maintenance of schoolyards and their outdoor education spaces with particular attention to the challenges of COVID-19.

*Job descriptions on Green Strides are provided as examples for other schools/districts to learn about how sustainability-related jobs can be designed and advertised. 

The Climate Resiliency Program Manager will develop, implement, and evaluate aspects of district-wide climate resiliency and carbon reduction strategies as outlined in Portland Public Schools’ forthcoming Climate Crisis Response Policy. This position will also manage District-wide sustainability efforts related to energy and carbon reduction, including energy use and carbon emissions tracking and reporting.

*Job descriptions on Green Strides are provided as examples for other schools/districts to learn about how sustainability-related jobs can be designed and advertised.