environmental education projects

School-Based Environmental Service Learning

Find ways to engage students in environmental service learning projects in the classroom or on school grounds.

Biology, Earth Science, Astronomy, English Language Arts, Geography, Human Geography, Physical Geography, Social Studies, Civics

Photograph by Jon T. Schneeberger/National Geographic Creative

How can students connect with the natural environment while in school, in both practical and engaging ways? Find ways students can make difference and learn valuable skills through service learning projects.

Promote Natural Disaster Preparation

Find out what forces of nature could potentially strike your community. Discuss how to prepare for natural disasters and how families could respond to the natural disasters they may face in their community. Create and distribute tip sheets for family and community members’ emergency preparedness. Find helpful resources at Ready.gov .

Calculate Daily Water Use at School

Use this online tool to help start a school-wide campaign encouraging everyone to use less water. Get the word out with persuasive writing via posters or skits. Challenge your fellow students to a video public service announcement (PSA) contest. With drought conditions affecting many states, helping to save water in your community will be a step in the right direction.

Raise Ocean Awareness

Watch videos from An Imbalance in the Ocean to examine ways that human actions can throw a marine ecosystem out of balance and lead to species decline. Discuss the threats as well as actions people can take, considering the stakeholders who stand to gain or lose from the success or failures of these actions. Present the data and findings to local stakeholders in a forum or through local news media. Find teacher resources at Earth Echo, an organization founded by the family of legendary explorer Jacques Cousteau and dedicated to inspiring youth to solve environmental challenges that impact waterways: http://earthecho.org .

Investigate Local Environmental Issues

Investigate the effects of human activities in the local community. Create a scrapbook or slideshow of local environmental issues using newspaper and magazine articles, brochures, and other resources. Identify both the direct and the indirect impacts of human actions, including stories of local environmental stewardship projects or other human actions that have helped or had a negative effect on the local area. Present “Hero Awards” to local citizens and fellow students who are environmental stewards.

Grow a School Garden MakerSpace

MakerSpaces, or areas in schools dedicated to innovative, creative pursuits, can help kids become independent thinkers. See School Makerspaces: Growing Farmers, Gardeners, and Cooks to see how seeds and food have sparked creativity, excitement, and wonder. Students might have a small pantry in addition to their school garden and a kitchen. Parent and community groups might enthusiastically supply other needed supplies. Kids can go from reading a recipe to inventively cooking with whatever is on hand, especially if food service providers and science teachers team together.

Innovating around food, of course, doesn’t have to include cooking. In a non-food-focused Makerspace with wood, nails, and glue, students can design and create gardening tools, container beds, or a solar food dehydrator to store summer’s bounty. For schools with a tech budget, 3-D printers allow students to dream and generate parts for gardens and tools that will help them take care of their space. Try Renovated Learning for more ideas.

Create Recycled Art

Create a work of art made of recycled objects. Using your school or classroom’s recycling bin, collect cans, jars, and other recyclables. Add discarded wood, paper, and twine, and let students create sculptures, mobiles, jewelry, or other work. Write a short narrative of what you used and how you recycled the material. Give artwork away as a gifts to family members or to residents of a nursing home in your community.

Start a School-side Recycling Effort

Work with the school principal and food service workers to get bins for recycling in the lunchroom. Ask the school to buy recycled paper and to recycle printer cartridges. Clean up litter around the school and recycle it! Collect and store plastics, glass, cardboard, and cans until you can have it picked up or taken to a recycling center. Use any money earned to keep the recycling effort going, or donate to an environmental cause. Promote the use of reusable water bottles to reduce harmful plastics in the trash as well as the use of fossil fuels. Create video public service announcements (PSAs) to share lessons learned through this project with other schools and community partners.

Raise Money or Collect Food to Help Those in Need

Start a book or coat, fundraising, or canned goods drive to help people affected by natural disasters such as flooding, hurricanes, or wildfires. Schools may also be relocated or otherwise disrupted by disasters. Collect school supplies and write notes of encouragement for the impacted students.

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October 19, 2023

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Environmental education shows what it means to do ‘green’ STEM

In support of National Environmental Education Week offsite link , we’re highlighting environmental education projects funded by NOAA’s Bay Watershed Education and Training (B-WET) program and the Ocean Guardian School Program .

Two students stand on the shore of an island and cast fishing lines into the water. There’s a beautiful orange and blue sunset over the ocean. (Image credit: Caleb Rodriguez)

In these projects, students gain practical lessons in STEM (science, technology, engineering, and math) while responding to challenges in the natural environment. From the Chesapeake Bay to the Hawaiian Islands, take a look at what these grantees are doing to make a difference in environmental education.

Chicago students support environmental justice, recovery in their own ‘backyard’

The region along the Calumet River in Illinois and Indiana may be industrialized, but that doesn’t mean it can’t provide enriching outdoor STEM experiences for local students. The Calumet Is My Back Yard (CIMBY) program from the Board of Education of the City of Chicago reached over 1,000 high school students from the south side of Chicago during the 2019-2020 school year. With support from the Great Lakes B-WET program, students participated in activities to protect and restore local native ecosystems and explored real-life applications of their classroom science lessons. Additionally, CIMBY provided professional development for 36 teachers to incorporate environmental education lessons into their classrooms. CIMBY works with students in generally underserved communities in Chicago and northwest Indiana, with students from low-income families making up 86% of the student population at CIMBY’s participating Chicago public high schools. 

Throughout the duration of their Great Lakes B-WET grant, CIMBY developed five new service-learning extensions focused on wildlife biodiversity, plant biodiversity, oak ecosystems, water quality testing, and the carbon cycle to complement the year-long Chicago Public School’s biology course. Students completed a range of stewardship activities, such as removing invasive species, testing water quality, and analyzing plant diversity. In a new “Environmental Justice Stories” event hosted by CIMBY, students gained an understanding of how environmental injustice issues transcend local and national scales and learned how community activists confront them. This project will be continuing during the 2021-2022 school year, where it will be expanding to reach a new audience in Burnham Park. 

‘Classroom without walls’ fosters traditional, sustainable environmental practices in Hawaii 

In Hawaiian, the phrase “ Ka Papa Kai ” has two meanings: it can translate into both “the seaside class” and “the reef of the sea.” The Ka Papa Kai offsite link project from Malama Pupukea-Waimea invokes the kaona (hidden meaning) of the phrase: learning about the sea while being at the sea. From November 2019 to October 2020, with funding from Hawaii B-WET , Malama Pupukea-Waimea taught marine science through hands-on lessons and activities to 268 students in fourth through 12th grade on Oahu's North Shore at Sharks Cove. Middle and high school students participated in the second year of the Pono Fishing curricula and service learning focused on sustainable traditional Hawaiian fishing practices. The project goal was to steward NOAA resources, increase community-based support for marine management, and develop environmentally minded citizens from a young age who will be inspired to use their education and meaningful watershed educational experiences to care for marine resources. One parent shared, “After just receiving the material, [my children] were intrigued, and as class started, they were happy to be a part of it … There are going to be two more respectful anglers out there.” 

Oakland students take the lead to reduce waste in their school

Since 2009, over 900 students at Joaquin Miller (JM) Elementary, an Ocean Guardian School in Oakland, California, have been engaged in a variety of hands-on watershed and ocean stewardship activities. During the 2019-2020 school year, students continued to reduce waste on their campus and educate their community about how actions on land affect the health of our blue planet. With support from the student Green Team, Trash Patrol, and Food Waste Monitors, tangible changes continue to take place at JM. For example, students replaced single-use plastic water bottles with reusable bottles at the school’s hydration station, 18 classrooms received reusable party kits, and 1,171 kilograms of food waste were diverted from the landfill. 

Ocean Guardian schools are helping kids understand important environmental issues and take the lead on environmental solutions. In October 2020 at an Oakland Unified School Board Meeting, a third grade JM Green Team member shared, "The Earth is my home, and climate change is destroying it. We throw plastic out into the world. Think about all that trash that ends up in a landfill."  JM’s Ocean Guardian lead teacher confirmed, “The Ocean Guardian project allows students of all grade levels to work together … In addition, they are making connections between environmental stewardship at their school, home, and in the community. This is the most important impact if lasting behavioral change is going to happen.”

Blandy Experimental Farm brings field investigations to students learning at home

The education team at Blandy Experimental Farm, part of the University of Virginia, has developed a robust partnership with Clarke County Public Schools, enabling the development and implementation of scaffolded environmental literacy curricula across elementary, middle, and high school. This year, fourth graders had the opportunity to raise and monitor brook trout in aquariums at each elementary school as they learned about the life history and human impacts on the habitat that the fish rely on. 

Despite the challenges of going virtual during the 2020-21 school year, the program quickly adapted. As project director Candace Lutzow-Felling said, “If students can’t go on field investigations, bring field investigations to the students!” In place of students going out to a stream site together, Blandy staff created virtual field experiences using videos and a 360° virtual watershed tour. Students picked up their own simple kits and engaged in the process of testing water quality parameters from their own home. Based on their investigations, students designed actions to improve and protect brook trout habitat. “As students progress from elementary to middle to high school, they gain expertise in recognizing and analyzing local and regional environmental issues and develop competency to engage in community discussions, decisions, and actions about environmental management and policies relevant to their life experiences,” said Lutzow-Felling. 

For more information

The NOAA  Bay Watershed Education and Training (B-WET)  program brings thousands of K-12 teachers and students around the country outside for hands-on environmental education opportunities every year. The core component of B-WET-funded projects is the Meaningful Watershed Educational Experience (MWEE), learner-centered experiences that focus on investigations into local environmental issues that lead to informed stewardship actions.

The NOAA Ocean Guardian School program is a grant program that supports hands-on ocean stewardship projects in K-12 public, private, and charter schools. Ocean Guardian schools are awarded annually to fund school- or community-based conservation projects. Ocean Guardian activities align with the B-WET MWEE framework by supporting student stewardship action projects. The program is managed by the NOAA Office of National Marine Sanctuaries in coordination with the National Marine Sanctuary Foundation, with support from the B-WET program.

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Introduction to Environmental Education

• Open Access
• First Online: 30 September 2022

Cite this chapter

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• Wei-Ta Fang   ORCID: orcid.org/0000-0002-4460-0652 4 ,
• Arba’at Hassan 5 &
• Ben A. LePage   ORCID: orcid.org/0000-0003-3155-7373 4 , 6  

Part of the book series: Sustainable Development Goals Series ((SDGS))

3 Citations

The concept of education is changing and that of the environment is also becoming different. Is environmental education: (1) a type of education to improve the environment; (2) education to improve the environment of education; or (3) a type of education to improve the education of people? In this chapter we focus on the ontology of the environment. In epistemology, we try to understand the nature and identity of the world around us and what environmental education is about. The purpose of environmental education is to cultivate citizens that: (1) have a working knowledge of environmental systems; (2) have concerns about environmental problems; and (3) have the capabilities to solve and actively participate in implementing solutions. Environmental problems must be solved through a root cause process, and environmental educators need to change the public’s mind on environmental issues using realistic and attainable education targets to establish environmentally friendly behaviors. Through outdoor, classroom, and nature-centered education programs, our goal is to establish important curriculum goals and novel learning methods for environmental education. Our goal is to have stakeholders consider environmental issues with open minds, understand the needs of other stakeholders, take a leadership role recognizing the existing and emerging environmental issues, and internalize them into specific environmental protective action plans.

All education is environmental education. By what is included or excluded, we teach students that they are part of or apart from the natural world. To teach economics, for example, without reference to the laws of thermodynamics or those of ecology is to teach a fundamentally important ecological lesson──that physics and ecology have nothing to do with the economy. That just happens to be dead wrong. The same is true throughout the curriculum. David W. Orr, What is Education for? 1991:52.

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Environmental Education

Learning Environments in Higher Education

1 introduction.

There are many definitions of education, but for education theory, Albert Einstein, who was a leader in pioneering educational reform point, had a unique point of view. He said: education is what remains after one has forgotten what one has learned in school (Fig.  1.1 ). Before the nineteenth century, education was the process of remembering or memorization. The  San Zi Jing  (Three-character Sutras) 《三字經》 that had been passed down to the people since the Southern Song Dynasty in China-proposed:

Education is what remains after one has forgotten what one has learned in school (Einstein 1879–1955) (Cheng-Jun Fang at the Busan National Science Museum, Busan, Republic of Korea, 2019) (Photo by Wei-Ta Fang)

Recite them with the mouth, and ponder over them in your hearts. Do this in the morning; do this in the evening.

Sun Zhu (孫洙) (1711–1778) of the Qing Dynasty once said:

After reading three hundred Tang poems, you can at least in tone poems even if you can’t write them.

It has always been the case that students learn as much as possible until they become familiar. However, there are other theories that have always been disgusted with learning. Einstein believed that real learning is the process of internalizing information. Wang Yangming (王陽明) (1472–1529) of the Ming Dynasty stated in the Book of Instructions for Practical Living and Other Neo-Confucian Writings 《傳習錄》 that the most important things reading requires is self-mindedness, understanding second, and finally memorization. A friend once asked him, “How can I read a book but I can’t remember,” Yangming’s response was:

As long as you know, how do you remember? To know that it is the second meaning, you need to know your own self-ontology. If you want to remember, you do not know; if you want to know, you don’t see your own identity in your mind.

In other words, the more a human learns, the more they have yet to learn. If the purpose of learning information is because of a test requirement, then the information stored in our short-term memory serves the purpose of taking the examination, but recalling the information is often not possible because the information is not true memory. As students we’ve all experienced memorizing an amazingly large amount of information for an exam and flushing these data from our minds as soon as the exam was over. However, there are instances where information can be recalled for no apparent reason. These remnants of information that we internalized is what was really learned. Therefore, education and learning were intended to convey human thought through books; however, history shows that we’ve endured at least seventeen global pandemics since the 1300’s (Piret and Boivin 2021 ) and two world wars in the twentieth century. Since then, all established education methods are constantly being recast. Recitation no longer has a place in the original meaning of education. Yuval N. Harari (1976–), the author of Sapiens : A Brief History of Humankind (2011), and Homo Deus: A Brief History of Tomorrow (2016), argued in 21 Lessons for the 21st Century (2018) that the existing education system should use critical thinking, problem solving, effective communication, collaboration, and creativity to replace the current emphasis on intellectual indoctrination (Harari 2018 ).

If the concept of education is changing, then the definition of the environment is also changing. David W. Orr (1944–), a professor of environmental and political studies at Oberlin College, once said: All education is environmental education (Fig.  1.2 ; Orr 1991 :52).

All education is environmental education (Cheng-Shun Fang at Fulong, New Taipei City, Taiwan, 2020) (Photo by Wei-Ta Fang)

When we teach environmental education, we often ask our students and ourselves: Is environmental education , the process to improve the environment , to improve the educational environment , or to improve the education of people? We need to understand the own body of human beings and to enhance the thinking from the original human engraved thinking. In the process of interpretation, we understand epistemology to understand the nature of matter and understand what the environment is.

1.1 The Environment is a Concept

The environment refers to the space in which human beings can perceive their surroundings. In space, you can perceive all things that change in structure and function over time. In other words, the true nature of all things must be in a certain environment, even a vacuum is regarded as an environment (Baggini and Fosl 2003 ). Therefore, the environment is a concept that is bounded by space. However, in phenomenology, the environment incorporates the concept of time. The Austrian philosopher Edmund Husserl (1859–1938) believes that the human impression of the environment and the world will not gradually disappear due to the evolution of time, and because of the memory function of the brain, the human impression of the deceased. Therefore, the existence of the deceased can persist in perpetuity in the world as long as the living still remembers those that came before because they are stored in the brain as a living impression. These existing memory phenomena gradually change the human imagination of the dead over time. The concept of the environment means different things to different people because every person has their own interpretation or understanding of their environment, which is based on the spatial and temporal elements that they’ve experienced. In an ideal world, the definition of environment would mean the same to everybody, but inevitably, each person’s view of the environment is different.

For phenomenon scholars, existence is a base on self-awareness of all phenomena. Therefore, the person’s environment is the perceptual medium of a living being to an external stimulus, including the systemic sum of space and time of the instinctive response to the external stimulus (Crowther and Cumhaill 2018 ). What a living organism understands about its environment includes the perception of elapsed time and distance in its space. Therefore, to understand the nature of things, we must also recognize or be cognizant of the changes in our environment through space and time (Baggini and Fosl 2003 ).

The definition of environment varies with context and discipline. For biological/ecological systems, the natural environment refers to the sunlight, climate, soil, hydrology, and other ecosystems in which animals and plants coexist and within which we live. The social environment refers to the constitutive state formed by the social, psychological, and cultural conditions associated with human life and culture. From the perspective of environmental protection, the environment refers to the earth on which human beings depend. Therefore, the effectiveness of achieved protection is a critical indicator for revealing environmental quality in a region (Huang et al. 2014 ). In addition, we also need to understand the definition of environment in terms of regulations.

1.2 Lost in Translation

As it turns out the words environment and education were originally considered nouns and verbs and later translated and adopted into Asian cultures about one hundred years after appearing in English culture. We began to think about the concept of environmental education after World War II. In their 1947 book Communitas , the Goodman brothers talked about the planning of urban space where they discussed the idea of establishing green belts around cities and the design of industrial spaces, which at the time were utopian concepts (Goodman and Goodman 1947 ). They believed that a large part of the environmental education of the children would be based on technology; whereas a child brought up in a modern suburb or city might not even know what work papa does at the office . They also criticized the idea of environmental education because they felt environmental education was very close to the construction education of a built environment. In fact, it was far from the concept of environmental education.

From 1965 to 1970, US industrial production grew at a rate of 18% and at the same time, it boosted the economies of its World War II allies. However, the over-emphasis on development led to increased environmental pollution and since the 1960s, environmental problems arising from industrial development continue to emerge (e.g., love canal, Fowlkes and Miller 1987 ). The green agricultural revolution widely used chemical fertilizers and pesticides and among them, Dichloro-Diphenyl-Trichloroethane (DDT) hindered the reproductive ability of birds and reduced biodiversity. The book, published by Rachel Carson’s book, Silent Spring ( 1962 ) pointed out the consequences associated with the use/abuse of pesticides, which become incorporated into food chains and webs, negatively impacting natural ecosystems and human health. Carson believed that human beings should treat the surrounding environment and animals with a life-loving vision. She said: The public must decide whether it wishes to continue on the present road, and it can do so only when in full possession of the facts (Carson 1962 :30). In the post 1960s, the slogan of environmental protection rang through the sky and the concept of the environmental protection movement gradually espoused the definition of environmental education in conservation.

2 Definition of Environmental Education

The term environmental education appeared in 1947. So, when did the earliest definition of environmental education come into being? The concept of environmental education in terms of modern pedagogy and its evolutionary history feels closely tied to our understanding and development of human psychology, sociology, and how humans learn. In this context, environmental education is a relatively recent field of study and predicated on the acceptance of our hypotheses by a small community of scholars.

If we look further back in time at the development of human cultures at a time when formal education systems did not exist, our ancestors then need to be recognized. In many/most indigenous cultures, the people learned about the environment within which they lived and passed their knowledge and skills to future generations, otherwise, they all died.

We, therefore, also need to identify several elements in indigenous cultures that are related to their knowledge base and resource management systems that could be of value to western science, but the semantic issues associated with Traditional Ecological Knowledge (TEK) and Traditional Ecological Management (TEM) can be overwhelming (Song et al. 2021 ). We may regard that TEK and TEM should be considered to be an element of the environment associated with indigenous cultures that is defined by their relationship and interactions with the environment, including all of the other biotic, abiotic elements present in their habitats. So, let’s take the definition way back and show how we used TEK and TEM to develop our knowledge systems relative to western science.

2.1 Initial Definition of Environmental Education

In 1962, Carson explained the importance of environmental protection and hoped to learn the ecological balance of nature through human awakening would achieve the purpose of harmonious coexistence between human and nature. In 1965 at an education seminar at the University of Keele environmental education was proposed as a theme, becoming the first conference in the UK to use the term environmental education (Palmer 1998 ). The meeting participants agreed that environmental education should become an essential part of all citizens , not only because of the importance of understanding aspects of their environment , but because of its immense educational potential in assisting the emergence of a scientifically literate nation . The meeting emphasized that teachers’ participation in basic education research should be strengthened to accurately determine the teaching methods and content of environmental education that are most suitable for modern needs. Therefore, the United Kingdom held a Council for Environmental Education in 1968.

In 1969, William Stapp (1929–2001), a professor at the University of Michigan, School of Natural Resources and Environment (SNRE), first defined environmental education as a process producing a citizenry that is knowledgeable concerning the biophysical environment and its associated problems , aware of how to help solve these problems , and motivated to work toward their solution (Stapp et al. 1969 :30–31). According to Stapp, the purpose of environmental education was to cultivate citizens who had environmental knowledge, were concerned about environmental problems, and had the ability to solve and actively participate in the resolving the issues. Environmental problems should be resolved using root cause analyses and environmental educators should change the minds of the existing education targets and establish environmentally friendly behaviors.

Stapp is considered the father of environmental education in the United States of America (USA). He helped plan the first Earth Day in 1970, drafted the National Environmental Education Act, served as the first director of United Nations Education, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO), the first director of the Environmental Education at UNESCO, and promoted the first inter-governmental meeting of 146 countries and territories in Tbilisi, the former Soviet Union, in 1978. In 1984, Stapp assisted students to investigate cases of hepatitis infections from the Huron River, identify the cause of the problem, and worked with the local government to find a solution. In view of the importance of river surveys, he founded the Global Rivers Environmental Education Network (GREEN) in 1989. He cooperated with elementary schools in Ann Arbor, Michigan, USA and conducted many field trips with local elementary students and they investigated and taught students about problems in the natural environment and how to interact with them. He cared about academic research and more about social services, and led college students to promote environmental monitoring programs and successfully rehabilitate the Rouge River. In western science, the roots of environmental education can be traced back 1960s as early as the eighteenth century when Jean-Jacques Rousseau stressed the importance of an education that focuses on the environment (Rousseau and Bloom 1979 ).

2.2 The Extended Definition of Environmental Education

Stapp and his colleagues promoted the definition of environmental education, which was based on American pragmatism. They believed that emphasizing environmental knowledge could change reality through the power of action. Therefore, practical experience in environmental education was considered important because it emphasized taking knowledge and using that knowledge and/or experience to solve problems on natural resource management (Disinger 1985 ; 1990 ). Thus, environmental action or doing was better than dogma, and environmental experience was better than rigid principles. Therefore, the concept of environmental education had evolved to become a critical and creative clarification for research questions and value clarification (Harari 2018 ), interpreting environmental knowledge as a process of assessing the real environment, and scientific exploration (Fig.  1.3 ). The spirit of humanity, the standard of conduct was then incorporated into the real environment of human beings.

Academic institutions need to provide environmental education-related courses such as basic environmental research and environmental science such as a study camp, Taipei, Taiwan, 2019 (Photo by Yi-Te Chiang)

To promote environmental protection, academic institutions needed to provide environmental education-related courses such as basic environmental research, science, planning, management, economics, society, culture, and engineering. At the grade school level, the students should be taught the history of environmental protection and environmental protection measures. The aforementioned courses are meant to be broad because the environment and the associated issues are complicated. The environment and its associated ecosystems are not one size fits all. Not only are ecosystems different from one another the variation within each is vast. As such, Wals et al. ( 2014 ) considered the learning content of environmental education to be multi-disciplinary, based on environmental problem assessment, critical thinking, morality, creativity, and make judgments on environmental issues. The process of environmental education helps observation and problem-solving, with the opportunity for individuals to promote environmental improvement actions to ensure positive environmental behaviors (Fig.  1.4 ). Therefore, environmental education includes the social, abiotic, and biological aspects, of the environment including natural resource conservation, environmental management, ecological principles, environmental interactions and ethics, and sustainability (Fig.  1.5 ).

Environmental education helps develop observation and problem-solving skills and provides opportunities for individuals to promote environmental improvement actions to ensure positive environmental behaviors (Audubon Nature Center, Rhode Island, USA, 2015) (Photo by Wei-Ta Fang)

The target of environmental education should include a continuum from primary school to the university and include theoretical, practical, indoor, and outdoor experiences. This is a group of people enjoying nature in a Swiss environmental education program in 2009 (Matterhorn, Great north faces of the Alps, Valais, Switzerland) (Photo by Wei-Ta Fang)

Environmental Education is defined in many ways, but each definition considers it to be a discipline or process that teaches us how to behave in a manner that promotes the responsible management of our environment and resources. This then helps the environment function in a more natural way, rather than healing anthropogenic wounds. We detected the Environmental Education Act in Taiwan (Republic of China), there is. …as a discipline that enhance the environmental awareness , environmental ethics , and responsibility of the nation taking as a whole, so as to safeguard the ecological balance of the environment , respect lives, promote social justice , and cultivate environmental citizens and environmental learning communities (The Environmental Education Act) (Ministry of Justice 2017 ). Therefore, in terms of education content, environmental education was intended to integrate aspects of biology, chemistry, physics, ecology, earth science, atmospheric science, mathematics, and geography as an integrated discipline toward an education for sustainability (EfS) (Evans 2020 ). Methods of educational research include the applied social sciences such as psychology, sociology, culture, history, anthropology, economics, political science, and information science.

The First International Working Meeting on Environmental Education in the School Curriculum was organized by the UNESCO, and the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) in Nevada, USA in 1970. A participant resolution developed the statement that the elements of environmental education are not completely combined by any single discipline. It is the product of partnerships built on sound science, public awareness, environmental issues, and outdoor educational methods (Fig.  1.6 ). UNESCO specifically stated that environmental education programs taught students a respect for the nature and natural environments and raised citizens' environmental awareness (UNESCO 1970 ). Therefore, the organization emphasized the importance of environmental education in protecting the society’s quality of life in the future by protecting the environment, eradicating poverty, minimizing inequality, and ensuring sustainable development. Cerovsky ( 1971 , p. 4) defined environmental education as.

…a process of recognizing values and clarifying concepts in order to develop skills and attitudes necessary to understand and to appreciate the interrelatedness among man, his culture, and his biophysical surroundings. Environmental education is also entailed practice in decision-making and self-formulation of code behavior about issues concerning environmental quality.

Environmental education also includes the dissemination of environmental education with outdoor media (Wei-Ta Fang, Ben A. LePage, and their students at Dagouxi Riverside Park, Neihu, Taipei, Taiwan, 2021) (Photo by Yi-Te Chiang)

The target of environmental education includes education in the school system, and education from primary, middle, vocational, and technical schools, universities, and research institutes. However, environmental education also includes the dissemination of environmental education, including print, books, websites, and other media. In addition, aquaria, zoos, parks, and nature centers in social environmental education should all provide ways to teach citizens about the environment (Fig.  1.6 ) (see Box 1.1 ).

Box 1.1: The Legal Definition of Environmental Education, Republic of China (ROC)

The Article 3 of Republic of China’s Environmental Education Act stated as Environmental education : Referring to the adaptation of educational means by which to culminate the citizens to understand their ethnical relationship to the environment , enhance the citizens ’ environmental protection awareness, skills, attitudes and values , and steer the citizens to emphasize the environment and adopt actions to achieve a civility education process that harbors sustainable development .

2.3 The Goals of Environmental Education

The attendees of the Tbilisi Conference in 1977 endorsed goals for environmental education into five categories (UNESCO 1977 ). They are:

Awareness: to help social groups and individuals acquire an awareness of and sensitivity to the total environment and its allied problems;

Knowledge : to help social groups and individuals gain a variety of experiences in and acquire a basic understanding of the environment and its associated problems;

Attitudes : to help social groups and individuals acquire a set of values and feelings of concern for the environment and the motivations for actively participating in environmental improvement and protection;

Skills: to help social groups and individuals acquire the skills for identifying and solving environmental problems; and

Participation: to provide social groups and individuals with the opportunities to be actively involved at all levels in working toward resolving environmental problems (UNESCO 1977 , p. 71).

Hungerford et al. ( 1980 ) organized and suggested that these goals should be operationalized within the school curriculum and categorized into four (4) levels (Table 1.1 and Figs. 1.7 , 1.8 and 1.9 ).

Goals of environmental education (adapted and modified after Hungerford et al. ( 1980 ) and revised by Wei-Ta Fang)

Harold Hungerford (left), Trudi Volk (middle), Arba’at Hassan (right) (Photo by Arba’at Hassan)

Harold Hungerford (left), mentor and advisor of Arba’at Hassan (right) (Photo by Arba’at Hassan)

3 Approaches to Environmental Education

In this section we discuss various methods/pedagogies used in the field of environmental education. Environmental education, like science education, is interdisciplinary and offers a variety of learning strategies, which are determined by learning resources, learning time, learning space, learning curriculum, and student attributes. These differences all affect education approaches in some way. We briefly describe outdoor education, classroom education, and nature-centered education. We include the following seven methods, including: school environmental education, school nature education, place-based education, and projects curricula; and nature center education in social and environmental education, science and environmental education in zoos and museums (Falk 2009 ; Falk and Dierking 2014 , 2018 ; Ardoin et al. 2016 ) or environmental education using surveys, assessments and actions on environmental issues (Hsu et al. 2018), and science-technology-society (STS) (Winther et al. 2010 ). Each approach addresses important curriculum goals and novel learning methods for environmental education. Therefore, environmental educators should choose and apply the most effective methods for their students and environment. We also explore sustainable development education from the perspective of environmental education. We also understand that a well-rounded curriculum aims to strengthen environmental awareness and environmental sensitivity, environmental knowledge, environmental ethics and values, environmental action skills, and environmental action experience. We explore values, topics, and learning in the context of Bamberg and Moeser ( 2007 ), Winther et al. ( 2010 ) and Dillion and Wals ( 2006 ).

3.1 Outdoor Education

Outdoor education is based on a place-based education and project curricula in the United States that include: the Project Learning Tree, Project WILD, and Project WET. In addition, surveys, assessments, and actions on environmental issues, as well as environmental education in STS that can be used for exploration, included the following methods (Braus and Wood 1993 ; Engleson and Yockers 1994 ).

3.1.1 Uses of the Senses

Let the learners use their senses to experience nature directly using their eyes, ears, nose, tongue, and body to feel the environment over the four seasons (Fig.  1.10 ).

Use of the senses (Photos by Arba’at Hassan)

3.1.2 Physical Exercises and Explanations

By using real examples, objects that can be obtained, and through practical methods, the natural or scientific phenomena contained in the environment are directly explained by practical performance, allowing learners to observe directly or actual experience (Fig.  1.11 ).

Physical exercises and explanations (Photos by Arba’at Hassan)

3.1.3 Surveys and Experiments

Let learners think about environmental issues and environmental phenomena through the steps of generating a hypothesis, survey, data collection, experiments, data collection, analysis, writing of small papers, briefings, etc., and actually discuss what happens behind various environmental phenomena problem.

3.1.4 Attractions Travel

Let learners go to various attractions and actually visit forests, mountains, seashores, wetlands and other areas to observe and obtain first-hand tourism and observation experiences (Fig.  1.12 ). Each observation and survey is a purposeful activity, and learners can learn about certain topics in advance through books, the Internet, and scenic spot information.

Outdoor education is based on a place-based education and project. The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (U.S. EPA), North American for Environmental Education (NAAEE), and Environmental Protection Administration of the Executive Yuan, Republic of China (Taiwan EPA) are the key to promote environmental education as partnerships. They jointly launched the Global Environmental Education Partnership (GEEP) in 2014, with the vision of creating a sustainable future where people and the environment prosper together through the power of education. The GEEP established the Asia–Pacific Regional Center (APRC) in Taiwan as a network center for environmental education in Southeast Asia in 2019 (Toucheng Leisure Farm, Ilan, Taiwan, 2021; please see https://geepaprc.org/en ) (Photo by Wei-Ta Fang)

3.1.5 Research Questionnaires and Interviews

An issue questionnaire is performed through research methods for small papers. Through this approach, learners can obtain relevant environmental information. The perceptions and ideas of different interviewers, in addition to quantified research data, are to conduct interviews to understand qualitative information and to make more environmental issues for an in-depth discussion (Fig.  1.13 ).

Research questionnaire and interview (Photo by Arba’at Hassan)

3.1.6 Outdoor Observation of Nearby Places

Using the method of place-based education, selecting nearby places, conducting environmental surveys or observation activities, actually guiding learners to study in outdoor environments, and helping learners to understand the natural exploration, experience, and awareness (Fig.  1.14 ).

Outdoor observation at nearby mangrove places (Photos by Wei-Ta Fang)

3.1.7 Data Collection and Interviews

Let learners collect the data on specific environmental issues so that they can have a deeper understanding of related environmental issues or areas of study, through the library, Internet, photographs, and interview specific people to help clarify questions when facing environmental problems if more information is needed (Figs. 1.15 ).

Assembly photos. Left side: People need to help clarify questions when facing environmental problems (Yongchunpi Wetland Park, Taipei, Taiwan, 2021) (Photo by Yi-Te Chiang); Right side: Data collection and interview on the charcoal making from mangrove trees, 2008 (Photos by Arba’at Hassan)

3.2 Classroom Education

Classroom education in environmental education includes campus environmental education, which can develop place-based education, project curricula, and STS (Winther et al. 2010 ). During the learning process, teachers are encouraged to participate in professional learning sessions, and fully understand the learner’s learning role, that include:

3.2.1 Reading and Writing

In the classroom, students read environmental issues and events and write their thoughts and feelings in notebooks. Younger students can draw their thoughts and ideas (Fig.  1.16 ).

Reading and writing in the classroom (Photo by Arba’at Hassan)

3.2.2 Case Study

Let learners directly collect and integrate data on environmental issues or discuss and assess the environmental impact of related issues on our day-to-day lives and to think about how to deal with environmental damage (Fig.  1.17 ).

A case study of urban park (Photo by Wei-Ta Fang)

3.2.3 Value Clarification

Let learners use each other’s relationships between value and morality for discussion and communication. During the discussion, through mutual discussions, establish conclusions that everyone can accept to assist learners to establish correct environmental attitudes and values. That is, set up some ground rules so the environment remains safe.

3.2.4 Treemap and Brainstorming

Through brainstorming or treemap thinking, help learners connect different relationships, situations, ideas, and processes to understand the relationship of events (Figs. 1.18 and 1.19 ).

Value clarification (Photo by Arba’at Hassan)

Treemap and Brainstorming session (Photo by Arba’at Hassan)

3.2.5 Debate

Through debate activities, learners can learn from different topics facing the environment, and learn to use data collection, communication, and critical thinking skills (Fig.  1.20 ).

Debate on an environmental issue (Photo by Arba’at Hassan)

3.2.6 Group Learning

Through the process of group learning, in addition to being able to face environmental issues more effectively and conduct more in-depth discussions, learners can learn to establish team tacit understanding, self-social ethics norms, and know the thoughts deep inside themselves. This illustrates the importance of diversity and inclusion in the program (Fig.  1.21 ).

The group learning activity (Photo by Arba’at Hassan)

3.2.7 Environmental Arrangement

Through the environmental arrangement activities of the beginning of school, festivals, or parent-teacher talks, let learners participate in the creation and arrangement of teaching space. In addition, to help learners have a complete learning space, they can also learn to judge the overall environmental learning.

3.2.8 Comprehensive Discussions

Scout courses covering aspects of integrated geography, mathematics, nature, health and hygiene, or Chinese language learning areas, and in-depth research and discussion on environmental issues and issues (Fig.  1.22 ).

All students take part in comprehensive discussions (Photo by Arba’at Hassan)

3.2.9 Activity Workshop

Let learners guide the demonstration and teaching of personnel, learn to operate, or produce a kind of labor course that requires hands-on work, and use hands-on operations. The process of the drill included working experience in farming, forestry, fishing, insect hotel building, animal husbandry, and the creation of handicrafts (Figs.  1.23 and 1.24 ).

An activity workshop (Photo by Arba’at Hassan)

We are just another bug on this planet (Ben LePage at Taiwan Insect Hall, Taipei, Taiwan, 2022) (Photo by Swing Chan)

3.2.10 Game Learning

Game learning is different at different levels. This is important because it brings to mind what today’s youth think is important and fun. For example, we think memorization is boring and old school, what will the younger generation of student’s think about these new approaches in 50 years? 100 years? How do we keep our learning methods current in the face of rapidly changing technologies, norms, and values? In game learning, open-ended play is adopted. The rich teaching materials of games are the basis of learning. In modeled-play, learn using simulated creatures and playing with pets (Fig.  1.25 ). In purpose-framed play, games are used for experience and teacher-student interaction is used (Cutter-Mackenzie et al. 2014 ).

The outdoor game learning (Velsen Otte and the cat “Noodle”) (Photo by Wei-Ta Fang)

3.2.11 Environmental Action

Use STS learning methods to allow learners to participate in practical environmental actions such as ecological management, persuasion, consumerism, political action, and legal action, and work together to improve environmental issues (Fig.  1.26 ).

The Environmental action on wetland (Keita Furukawa, front person, and Jung-Chen Huang at Taijiang National Park, Tainan, Taiwan) (Photo by Wei-Ta Fang)

4 Development of Environmental Education

The implementation of environmental education is to adopt an infusion method and conduct integrated curriculum across learning areas to connect the relationship between the surrounding their environment. Environmental education professionals generally believe that the environmental education be integrated into the school curriculum of each school year, from kindergarten to grade 12 (K-12). However, discipline integration of environmental education has not occurred in countries around the world. How to integrate environmental education into the subject in the school curriculum requires the use of teaching materials and methods (Fig.  1.27 ). This may be related to the type of teaching in each subject (Simmons 1989 ). If the core of environmental education is to incorporate the behavioral decisions of governments, enterprises, families, and individuals into the education process, then the development of environmental education from kindergarten to grade 12 (K-12) needs to be considered and economic development, a parallel trend of environmental development that takes into account social development.

We have developed environmental education programs from kindergarten to grade 12 (K-12) from the supports of Ramsar Regional Center–East Asia and National Geographic Society during 2018 (Taipei, Taiwan, 2018) (Photo by Yi-Te Chiang)

The teaching model of traditional environmental education is centered on environmental issues. However, this kind of teaching method only focuses on knowledge transfer. It does not consider social emotional learning. At the same time, it does not consider the formation of environmental attitudes, and it is difficult to cultivate responsibility—environmental behavior students. Furthermore, environmental education places too much emphasis on analysis of issues, so that students learn learned helpless. It has a sense of despair and helplessness about the future development of the global environment. It is impossible to learn through a position of control—motivation and perseverance to change the world. In addition, emotional changes in environmental education are not easy to change through indoor courses, students are easily frustrated in the classroom, and it is difficult to learn the true meaning of pro-environmental behavior. If we say that the past education focused on one-way narrative transmission, we should then look at environmental issues with a healthy mindset. By caring about environmental protection issues, based on teachers’ pedagogical content knowledge and domain knowledge (Shulman 1986a , b ; 1987a , b ; Fig.  1.28 ), supporting the idea of ​​a sustainable worldview, strengthening the content of various disciplines in a common learning approach, and internalizing it into specific environmental protection actions.

The content of teaching content is a kind of comprehensive knowledge. It is the knowledge that teachers can use in teaching after integrating various kinds of knowledge (Illustrated by Wei-Ta Fang)

The so-called pedagogical content knowledge model, the content includes the teacher’s understanding of specific subject content, the teacher’s grasp and use of specific subject content representation, and the teachers ‘learning and learners’ understanding. The content of teaching content knowledge includes the content of subject knowledge and general teaching knowledge, and goes beyond the teaching material knowledge itself. The teaching content knowledge was proposed by an American educational psychologist, named Lee Shulman (1938–). He believes that the subject teaching knowledge goes beyond the scope of subject expertise and is subject matter expertise at the teaching level. Shulman pointed out that teachers’ knowledge can be divided into three categories, namely, pedagogical knowledge, subject matter knowledge, and pedagogical content knowledge (Shulman 1986a , b ; 1987a , b ). Teaching knowledge emphasizes the principles, methods, and strategies of teaching. Disciplinary content knowledge emphasized teachers’ knowledge on the facts, concepts, principles of the subject areas, and how they are organized. In addition, teaching content knowledge emphasizes that when teaching, teachers know how to use a systematic statement of their subject content knowledge, make it easy for students to understand the subject content through the most effective teaching method, and teachers can understand students’ previous concepts of the subject content, Reasons for learning difficulties and strategies for remedial teaching.

Shulman said: Teaching content knowledge means that teachers must be able to express what they are teaching. In the category of teaching content knowledge, teachers include the most taught topics and the most effective forms of expression in the subject.

They are the most powerful analogies, examples, illustrations, demonstrations, and clarifications. That is, teachers regroup in special subjects of the subject and behave in an appropriate way to promote students to understand the content of the teaching. Knowledge of teaching content also includes teachers understanding what factors make it difficult or easy for students to learn about specific concepts when learning, and to understand the concepts and prerequisite concepts held by students of different ages and backgrounds when studying these topics. (Shulman 1986b :9).

Communication environmental and educational concepts, goals, methods, and strategies are based on the concept of immersive environmental education. Explore the in-depth fields of environmental education according to the different cultural and social backgrounds of teachers (Fig.  1.29 ). Therefore, based on the critical analysis of the problem, the process of learning is more important than the outcome. Moreover, the limitations of environmental, social, and economic issues, are understood, thus the teaching content can be linked to the real world.

Exploring the in-depth fields of environmental education is crucial according to the different cultural and social backgrounds of teachers (Photo by Wei-Ta Fang)

Environmental education is not only about providing tools and technology but also necessary to cultivate students’ environmental literacy. Therefore, the teaching of environmental education, in addition to teaching knowledge, also needs to inspire students’ social responsibility. Therefore, environmental education needs to put forward values and strengthen the thinking of sustainable development in the curriculum. The main core lies in the fundamental values of “sustainable development education.” UNESCO defined the core according to the following topics:

Respect the dignity and human rights of all human beings worldwide and commit to social and economic justice for all;

Respect the human rights of future generations and promise intergenerational responsibilities (Kaplan et al. 2005 ; Liu and Kaplan 2006 );

Respect and care about the diversity of life in large communities, including the protection and restoration of the earth's ecosystem; and

Respecting cultural diversity and promising to build tolerance, non-violence, and a culture of peace locally and globally.

4.2 Exploration Topics

4.2.1 environmental orientation.

Environmentally oriented education needs to include attention on natural resources (like water, energy, agriculture, forestry, mining, air, waste disposal, toxic chemical treatment, and biodiversity), climate change, rural development, and sustainability. The purpose of mitigation and adaptation in the cities, disaster prevention, and mitigation are to strengthen the understanding of the fragility of resources and the natural environment, strengthen the understanding of the negative impact of human activities and decision-making on the environment, and include environmental factors. These factors must be considered in formulating socio-economic policies.

4.2.2 Economic Orientation

The Economic Oriented Education needs to focus on the issues of poverty eradication, strengthening the social responsibility of enterprises and universities, and strengthening the efficiency of the market economy. The purposes are to understand limitation, potential on an economic growth, and how they could affect the society, environment, and culture. The impact of environmental protection, culture, and social justice on the correct assessment of individual and social consumption behavior is consistent with the goal of sustainable development.

4.2.3 Social Orientation

Socially Oriented Education needs to include concerns about human rights, peace and human security, freedom, gender equality, cultural diversity, and cross-cultural understanding, as well as emphasis on social and personal health, and strengthening government management and people’s governance. Its purpose is to understand the role of social systems and environmental change in development and to strengthen models and institutions of democratic participation. The democratic participation system provides opportunities to express opinions, adjust conflicts, decentralize government, build consensus, and resolve differences. In addition, cultural assessments in society need to be strengthened to protect the values , practices, languages, and knowledge systems (Arenas et al. 2009 ). At the same time, the cultural foundations of social, environmental, economic, and the sustainable development, are seen as inter-connected. In other words, sustainable development emphasizes interrelationship through culture. In the process of sustainable development education, it is particularly necessary to pay attention to the diversity of culture and ethnic groups, and each ethnic group tolerates, respects, and understands each other in order to shape the values of equality and dignity.

We can know that the exploration of sustainable development education to embedding sustainability from environmental education can be an overlapping circle model, which is an intersecting system (Purvis et al. 2019 ). This model recognizes the intersection of economic, environmental, and social factors. Based on our research, we resized the circles to show that one factor has advantages over the other two. In the eyes of economists, economy is better than society and society is better than environment. This model means that economy can exist independently of society and environment. Therefore, we use the next more accurate system model for illustration (Fig.  1.30 ).

The environment-oriented, economic-oriented, and social-oriented rendezvous system (Illustrated by Wei-Ta Fang)

Because human beings cannot survive outside of their environment, they do not have an environment. It is just like a fish without water, which makes it difficult for them to survive. If we ask all the fishermen in the sea if overfishing the fisheries is a social disaster or an economic disaster, they will then say that it is all the above. Therefore, the nested dependency model reflects the reality of this common dependency. In other words, human society is a wholly owned subsidiary of the environment. An economic society, without food, clean water, fresh air, fertile soil, and other natural resources, we are “cooked.”

Environmental Education in the twenty-first century and Education for Sustainable Development have also regarded as the key to reconstructing ecologically responsible citizens to embrace a pedagogy grounded in ecosocialism (Arenas 2021 ). With the adoption of the 2030 Global Education Agenda, United Nations Educational Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) is now using the United Nation’s recently developed Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) to strengthen the Global Action Follow-up Program on Education for Sustainable Development (i.e., GAP 2030). In general, the purpose of environmental education is to cultivate citizens who understand the biophysical environment and related issues, how to help solve problems, and actively understand the ways to solve problems (Stapp et al. 1969 ). Currently, we provided a wider range of services, strengthened appreciation of the multicultural and environmental systems around humanity, and ensure the sustainable development of human society. Shin Wang (1945–), the emeritus professor of the Department of Geographical Environmental Resources, National Taiwan University, once said: “Hometown is the beginning of learning. You need to be based on Taiwan to look at the world.” The transformation of social environment and silent environmental changes to the environmental protection of the aboriginal people has produced their own views of environmental redemption (Fang et al. 2016 ).

At the beginning of the writing of this book, we always told ourselves in the heart: “The environment and ecology are extremely vulnerable, and only those of us who are not fame and fortune environmentalists will help the speechless environment.”

In light of today’s social consumerism, inequality has occurred in three areas: environmental, social, and economic. We strengthen our creativity sharing our experiences within the education system with others to develop a shared social imagination. We communicate the concepts of the environment and education based on the concept of immersive environmental education. Therefore, the environmental education concepts, implementation processes, and education policies listed in this chapter have achieved the feasibility of environmental education in various fields through teaching, research, and practice. Environmental education is not just about providing tools and technologies, it is important to cultivate a learners’ environmental literacy. Therefore, the teaching of environmental education, in addition to teaching knowledge, also needs to inspire students’ social responsibility.

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Fang, WT., Hassan, A., LePage, B.A. (2023). Introduction to Environmental Education. In: The Living Environmental Education. Sustainable Development Goals Series. Springer, Singapore. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-981-19-4234-1_1

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Pennsylvania DEP Awards Nearly $1 Million in Environmental Education Grants

HARRISBURG, PA — The Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Protection (DEP) has announced the awarding of $980,256 in Environmental Education Grants to 56 projects aimed at promoting environmental education and stewardship throughout the state. Most of these projects will benefit environmental justice communities—areas more vulnerable to climate change, air pollution, and water contamination.

“These projects help connect people to the ways we can protect the air we breathe and the water we drink,” said DEP Acting Secretary Jessica Shirley. “Nearly every grant we are awarding will support people in environmental justice communities to improve educational opportunities and people’s connections to their environment.”

The Environmental Education Grants program focuses on engaging youth and adults who live, work, or study in these heavily impacted areas. This year, 48 of the funded projects (97 percent) will provide educational activities specifically designed for these communities.

The projects funded for 2024 will offer a broad array of environmental learning experiences. These include immersive field trips for youth, practical climate mitigation projects for community residents, and support for school districts developing new curriculum standards based on the Science, Technology, Engineering, Environment, and Literacy Skills ( STEELS ).

Meaningful environmental education programs are essential for fostering informed decision-making that leads to sustainable communities and a healthier environment. Participants in these programs gain the knowledge and skills necessary to make choices that positively impact their surroundings.

Grant recipients come from various sectors, including schools and colleges, environmental and community-based organizations, county conservation districts, and eligible businesses. The diversity of applicants reflects the widespread interest and commitment to environmental education across the state.

The DEP’s Environmental Education Grants Program was established by the Environmental Education Act of 1993. This act requires that five percent of the pollution fines and penalties collected annually by the DEP be allocated to environmental education initiatives. Since its inception, the program has awarded over $14 million to support more than 2,200 projects.

The importance of this funding extends beyond mere financial support. It empowers communities, especially those in vulnerable areas, to take active roles in environmental stewardship. By equipping individuals with the necessary knowledge and tools, these grants help create resilient communities capable of tackling environmental challenges.

Applications for the 2025 Environmental Education Grants Program are expected to open in August 2024, with a submission deadline in mid-November 2024. Schools, organizations, and businesses interested in applying should prepare to present innovative proposals that align with the program’s goals of enhancing environmental education and justice.

The DEP’s commitment to environmental education reflects a broader understanding of the interconnectedness between human health and environmental well-being. As communities learn more about their environments, they become better equipped to protect them, ensuring a sustainable future for all Pennsylvanians.

By investing in these educational initiatives, Pennsylvania is not only addressing immediate environmental concerns but also laying the groundwork for long-term sustainability and resilience. The grants serve as a catalyst for positive change, fostering a culture of environmental responsibility that begins with education and leads to tangible action.

Pa. environmental education programs receive $1 million from state

The Department of Environmental Protection is giving nearly $1 million to 56 programs across the state that prioritize water quality, climate change mitigation, or environmental justice.

The Environmental Education Grants Program was created in 1993. DEP must set aside 5% of the pollution fines and penalties it collects each year for the program. To date, DEP says it has awarded more than $14 million to support more than 2,200 projects.

This year’s projects range from running summer camps to helping people protect their homes from stormwater.

DEP says almost all of the programs will benefit environmental justice communities, which are places where people are more threatened by climate change and air and water pollution than the general public.

“These projects help connect people to the ways we can protect the air we breathe and the water we drink, and many of them encourage learning at any age whether you’re a kid or an adult,” said DEP Acting Secretary Jessica Shirley.

Pennsylvania Envirothon is getting $53,938 to help run its annual environmental knowledge competition among high school teams statewide.

Bucknell University plans to use $5,000 dollars to raise public awareness of firefly conservation efforts in Lycoming County.

The Watersmith Guild plans to use $26,750 to run workshops in six western Pennsylvania counties. The “First Waves” project will teach young people to be waterway stewards through stream biology and climate change investigations, tree plantings, water samplings, and paddle boarding.

The National Audubon Society is getting $25,000 to develop a climate resilience and community health workshop series in Philadelphia.

In Dauphin County, the county conservation district will put $5,000 into educating homeowners about managing stormwater runoff.

The full list of awards can be found here .

Grants are open to schools and colleges, environmental and community-based organizations, county conservation districts, and businesses.

Groups can apply for the next round of grants later this summer.

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Jim Altemus, a forest health program specialist with Pennsylvania’s Department of Conservation and Natural Resources (DCNR), looks for signs of Hemlock Wolly Adelgid in Bald Eagle State Park.

 Karen Hendricks / For Climate Solutions

Pa. environmental education programs get $1 million from state

Karen Hendricks / For Climate Solutions

The Department of Environmental Protection is giving nearly $1 million to 56 programs across the state that prioritize water quality, climate change mitigation, or environmental justice.

The Environmental Education Grants Program was created in 1993. DEP must set aside 5% of the pollution fines and penalties it collects each year for the program. To date, DEP says it has awarded more than $14 million to support more than 2,200 projects.

This year’s projects range from running summer camps to helping people protect their homes from stormwater.

DEP says almost all of the programs will benefit environmental justice communities, which are places where people are more threatened by climate change and air and water pollution than the general public.

“These projects help connect people to the ways we can protect the air we breathe and the water we drink, and many of them encourage learning at any age whether you’re a kid or an adult,” said DEP Acting Secretary Jessica Shirley.

Pennsylvania Envirothon is getting $53,938 to help run its annual environmental knowledge competition among high school teams statewide.

Bucknell University plans to use $5,000 dollars to raise public awareness of firefly conservation efforts in Lycoming County.

The Watersmith Guild plans to use $26,750 to run workshops in six western Pennsylvania counties. The “First Waves” project will teach young people to be waterway stewards through stream biology and climate change investigations, tree plantings, water samplings, and paddle boarding.

The National Audubon Society is getting $25,000 to develop a climate resilience and community health workshop series in Philadelphia.

In Dauphin County, the county conservation district will put $5,000 into educating homeowners about managing stormwater runoff.

The full list of awards can be found here .

Grants are open to schools and colleges, environmental and community-based organizations, county conservation districts, and businesses.

Groups can apply for the next round of grants later this summer.

Editor's Picks

Centralia, wash.’s coal plant has to close next year. can pa. communities learn from centralia’s transition, coal transition: how a weatherization grant helped a music venue build community, coal transition: betting on hydrogen with an energy technology grant, coal transition: raising fish and a workforce with an economic development grant, about stateimpact pennsylvania.

StateImpact Pennsylvania is a collaboration among WITF , WHYY , and the Allegheny Front . Reporters Reid Frazier , Rachel McDevitt and Susan Phillips  cover the commonwealth’s energy economy. Read their reports on this site, and hear them on public radio stations across Pennsylvania.

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• Mariner East: A pipeline project plagued by mishaps and delays 301
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• Gov. Tom Wolf 185
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Climate Solutions , a collaboration of news organizations, educational institutions and a theater company, uses engagement, education and storytelling to help central Pennsylvanians toward climate change literacy, resilience and adaptation. Our work will amplify how people are finding solutions to the challenges presented by a warming world.

StateImpact Pennsylvania Team

Green Adelaide and the Murraylands and Riverland Landscape Board are partnering on the FrogWatch Seasonal Census to encourage citizen science and gather frog data in the first week of every season – starting with this winter.

Amphibians are the world’s most endangered group of animals. More than 41% of the world’s amphibian species are currently threatened with extinction. Data like frog call recordings are crucial to monitoring their population. A recent review of the state’s frog call recordings highlighted that everyday people contribute this data in large numbers to perfectly complement government monitoring programs.

Green Adelaide Board Presiding Member Professor Chris Daniels encourages everyone interested to take part in the census and get involved in citizen science.

"Frogs are a vital part of many of our ecosystems. They're a natural pest controller by eating insects, and an important food source for their predators," Chris said.

"They're also a great indicator of ecosystems. They're sensitive to pollution, so if we find their numbers decreasing in an area, it's a sign that the whole ecosystem is in trouble.

"You don’t have to be an expert to contribute to science! Anyone with a smart phone or computer can record frog calls via the FrogSpotter smartphone app or FrogWatch SA website. You'll be helping us understand how frogs and their ecosystems are tracking."

Data will be analysed by experts to monitor frog populations and health. Uploads to the FrogSpotter app or website are added to state and national databases to be used by scientists, ecologists and conservation experts. FrogWatch SA will share the amount of frog calls achieved and interesting findings they gain from the data.

South Australians can get started at the FrogWatch SA website.

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Environmental Education (EE)

Environmental education.

This website provides information about EPA activities and programs that support environmental education, including professional development, youth and educator recognition, and grants.  Environmental education increases public awareness and knowledge about environmental issues or problems. In doing so, it provides the public with the necessary skills to make informed decisions and take responsible action. 

Learn about EE

• What is EE?
• National Environmental Education Advisory Council
• Contact your Regional Environmental Education Coordinator .

• National Environmental Education Training Program
• Presidential Innovation Award for Environmental Educators
• President's Environmental Youth Award (PEYA)
• PEYA winners

Funding Opportunities

• 2023 Environmental Education Grant Solicitation Notices
• EE grants and how to apply

Join our mailing list to receive EE updates, announcements and more . 

• PEYA and PIAEE application period is now  open 
• EPA Selects Educational Organizations to Receive Over $3.1 Million to Support Environmental Projects Nationwide
• Environmental Education Resources - Learning Adventures at Home or at School

Related Information

• Support healthy and productive learning environments
• Learn about children's health and the environment
• National Environmental Education Foundation (NEEF)  and  EE Week
• Lesson plans, videos, project ideas, student awards and more
• EE guidelines
• Supporting Healthy Houses of Worship - Effective, affordable measures to protect the health of congregations and staff.
• Frequent questions about education and student activities at EPA .

Project Management Support, Senior Officer

Cities Alliance, which is hosted by UNOPS, is a global partnership promoting the role of cities in poverty reduction and sustainable development. Managed by a Secretariat based in Brussels, it is a unique partnership with a diverse membership which has come together to strengthen both impacts and coherence in urban development. Cities Alliance is a global leader with a strong track record in grant-making, which supports strategic city planning, slum upgrading strategies and national policies designed to make cities more inclusive and sustainable. Through UNOPS, the Cities Alliance operates a Multi-Donor Fund supported by an efficient, flexible grant-making mechanism with global reach.

Cities Alliance provides financial and technical assistance to local city stakeholders in low-income countries to identify and implement approaches for improved local migration management that are relevant to each city’s context. As migration and displacement in developing countries are characterized by informality, Cities Alliance builds partnerships among various constituencies at the local, national, and global levels to jointly identify and negotiate a better way forward. Sustainable urban planning instruments, such as urban expansion planning, are at the forefront of Cities Alliance’s work to provide equitable access to a city for all. The Cities Alliance is looking for a Local Advisor for the implementation of the SUIDAC project in Assosa.

The Action aims to:

Improve social cohesion and self-reliance of Displacement-Affected Communities (DACs) in urban and peri-urban areas and expand legal protection (e.g., access to rights, documentation), with specific attention to forcibly displaced populations (refugees, returnees, and IDPs) and including persons with specific needs.

Strengthen local authorities’ capacities to adopt integrated approaches to forced displacement management in urban contexts and promote political and evidence-based policy dialogue at regional, national, and local levels to improve policy frameworks and influence future policy discussions on urban forced displacement.

The Action target beneficiaries are Displacement-Affected Communities (DACs), as well as their hosting cities. Cities are a new environment for the implementation of EU forced displacement programs. SUIDAC will be the first urban displacement program financed through the 'Neighborhood, Development and International Cooperation instrument – Global Europe' ('NDICI-Global Europe') in the SSA region.

The Action builds on and expands the EU Trust Fund program “CRRF: Inclusive Urban Development and Mobility” ending in 2023. Moving forward, SUIDAC will help tackle the challenges arising from sudden and/or sustained forced displacement currently happening in the secondary cities targeted by the Action

Under the oversight of the Technical Officer, develop, complete, and update the implementation plan of SUIDAC in Assosa.

Support the implementation of the approved plan for SUIDAC in Assosa.

Assist the selected grantees in Assosa to meet their objectives.

Ensure regular and successful communication between all project stakeholders in Assosa.

Act as a liaison person between Assosa project grantees and the SUIDAC project team.

Support project synchronization with the Assosa Municipality, ensuring that the project deliverables are included in the Municipality Plans.

Support liaison and mapping of all activities, authorities (such as RRS), and partners implementing similar activities in the region, participate in key events, make presentations when required, and report to the Technical Coordinator.

Ensure regular reporting of project-related activities to the Technical Officer, the Program Coordinator, the MEAL Specialist, and the communications specialist.

In coordination with the Technical Officer, manage the SUIDAC grants in Assosa. Support successful development, implementation, and supervision of assigned grants and work packages.

Embed sustainability dimensions including social and gender inclusion, environmental, and economic aspects into the project lifespan.

When required, with support from the Technical Officer, assist with the implementation of all HSSE requirements in the activities located in Assosa and ensure follow-up.

Support the SUIDAC project team with the organization of national and regional dialogues, ensure the participation of Assosa’s key stakeholders in the national and regional dialogues, and assist with the production of all supporting documents including event reports.

Help with the organization of field missions in Assosa, preparation, and reporting for Cities Alliance staff, consultants, donors, and partners.

When required, provide administrative support in all aspects of project implementation such as organizing workshops, and operational support for the Secretariat and partners’ mission in the city.

Comply with all organizational policies and donor policies and assist grantees to comply with all organizational policies and donor policies.

Liaise with the Technical Officer and the grantees on the timely and adequate preparation of regular project and/or financial reports in accordance with Partner and UNOPS requirements for reporting.

In coordination with the Technical Officer, regularly review the project status of grantees, evaluating performance criteria (scope, cost, schedule, and quality).

Regular reports evaluation to the Technical Officer. 

Track and regularly update milestones and targets for the duration of the project’s life span

Under the leadership of the Technical Officer, establish solid working relationships with the local stakeholders in Assosa including local authorities, as well as donors, national authorities and key stakeholders.

Support regular liaison with the Assosa local and regional authorities, identify their challenges and needs and when required help to address them. 

Support regular internal coordination with the SUIDAC Comms and M&E Specialists as well as with the SUIDAC local advisors. Provide effective communications from the project in Assosa. 

Assist in making sure stakeholders are aware of project activities in Assosa. 

Work with internal stakeholders to ensure projects comply with audit requirements

Under the guidance of the SUIDAC Technical Officer, support the conduct of effective capacity-building activities for the grantees and the local teams in order to build the long-term and sustainable capacity of staff and program stakeholders.

Actively interact with the other SUIDAC Local Advisors and the wider Project Team to share case studies, lessons learned, and best practices.

In collaboration with SUIDAC Comms and MEAL Specialists, contribute to the dissemination and sharing of best practices and lessons learned for corporate, regional, and national development planning and knowledge building.

An Advanced University Degree (Master’s degree or equivalent) preferably in migration studies, urban development, urban planning, public policy, and administration, or related fields is required. 

A First-level University degree (Bachelor’s degree or equivalent) preferably  in migration studies, urban development, urban planning, public policy, and administration or related fields, combined with two additional years of relevant professional experience may be accepted in lieu of a Master’s degree

A minimum of two (2) years of demonstrated expertise working in the field of migration and/or urban development is required. 

A minimum of two (2) years of working experience in Ethiopia is required.

Previous experience with grant management is considered as an asset. 

Strong knowledge of sustainable urban growth in secondary cities in the Horn of Africa is an asset. 

In-depth understanding of gender equality and women’s empowerment in the field of migration and urban development in the Horn of Africa is a distinctive advantage.

Fluency in written and oral Oromiffa is required.

An intermediate level of  English is required. 

Working knowledge of Amharic, Berta, and/or Tigrinya is an asset.

Please note that UNOPS does not accept unsolicited resumes.

Applications received after the closing date will not be considered.

Disclaimer : Contract issuance will be subject to the signature of project agreement and availability of funds.

Please note that only shortlisted candidates will be contacted and advance to the next stage of the selection process, which involves various assessments.

UNOPS embraces diversity and is committed to equal employment opportunity. Our workforce consists of many diverse nationalities, cultures,  languages, races, gender identities, sexual orientations, and abilities. UNOPS seeks to sustain and strengthen this diversity to ensure equal opportunities as well as an inclusive working environment for its entire workforce. 

Qualified women and candidates from groups which are underrepresented in the UNOPS workforce are encouraged to apply. These include in particular candidates from racialized and/or indigenous groups, members of minority gender identities and sexual orientations, and people with disabilities.

We would like to ensure all candidates perform at their best during the assessment process.  If you are shortlisted and require additional assistance to complete any assessment, including reasonable accommodation, please inform our human resources team when you receive an invitation.

Terms and Conditions 

For staff positions only, UNOPS reserves the right to appoint a candidate at a lower level than the advertised level of the post. 

For retainer contracts, you must complete a few Mandatory Courses (they take around 4 hours to complete) in your own time, before providing services to UNOPS. For more information on a retainer contract here .

All UNOPS personnel are responsible for performing their duties in accordance with the UN Charter and UNOPS Policies and Instructions, as well as other relevant accountability frameworks. In addition, all personnel must demonstrate an understanding of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) in a manner consistent with UN core values and the UN Common Agenda.

It is the policy of UNOPS to conduct background checks on all potential personnel. Recruitment in UNOPS is contingent on the results of such checks.

Contract type: Individual Contractual Agreement (ICA) Contract level: Local ICA Specialist 9 (LICA 9) Contract duration: 12 months initially, subject to funding availability and satisfactory performance.

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