Environmental Education

More than 1,000 environmental educators from around the world are in San Diego for the 44th annual North American Association for Environmental Education conference. Nicole Ardoin, a board director for the North American Association for Environmental Education, said everyone can be an environmental educator — not just classroom teachers. Read more

If outdoor learning were a religion, Erika Zavaleta would be among its foremost acolytes. An online ecology course, she realized, could attract students who would never consider taking a class requiring live field trips. By bringing field biology to a broader range of people, Zavaleta hopes the course will help broaden racial, ethnic, and socioeconomic diversity in ecology and environmental studies. “I’m interested in making more ways for people to have an entry point to get interested in conservation, an internship at a reserve, or taking a class with a field component.”

This project launched at the end of September with a live story-based performance during the two-hour train ride to Sacramento, and discussion sessions on the return trip to Oakland. These stories will be made available as podcasts that can be accessed via smart phone app or computer by travelers and others interested in the past, present, and future of California and regional history. Read more

Fellow Judith Rubin wrote this article in 2003, but it still holds today. Feel free to use the "Writing a Gift Letter" sidebar at the bottom of the article to encourage your own relatives and friends to rethink their giving habits.

As we enter the holiday season, Fellow Alicia Daniel offers a checklist for Earth-friendly toy buying.

For many low-income children in Connecticut, summer isn't a time filled with fun trips to the beach or chances to learn. This often leads to something called "summer slide," as they kids lose some of the gains they made while in school. Two years ago, Stamford Public Schools partnered with SoundWaters to develop a summer camp that could address this problem.

20 years ago, when Regan Brooks was in high school, a teacher gave them each an assignment — tell a story about yourself. Brooks can’t recall what she wrote about. What she really remembers is a story a classmate told. “She shared a story in front of our whole class that,” Brooks pauses, thinking of the best explanation. “Abolished all my assumptions about her. And really made me realize there’s this person there haven’t ever bothered to get to know that I wanted to get to know more.”