We are excited to announce that registration is now open for the annual Curriculum Design Studio 2026!
For years, the Curriculum Design Studio has brought together educators, curriculum leaders, instructional coaches, and changemakers from around the world to engage in meaningful curriculum work grounded in systems thinking and Education for Sustainability (EfS).
This immersive professional learning experience is designed to support educators in creating learning experiences that help students build the knowledge, skills, and habits of mind needed to live well over time on Planet Earth.
A little something from the heart… as I just finished reading Jaimie Cloud’s Response-Able.
I do not think this book simply gave me answers. More than anything, it left me reflecting on education, systems, responsibility, and the kinds of worldviews we may be shaping in schools every day. What follows are just some of the many ideas and questions I found myself sitting with while reading.
The future of education is shifting, and we are thrilled to announce that Sustainability and Environmental Education (SEEd) is officially partnering with the Cloud Institute for Sustainability Education!
By bridging the gap between SEEd’s UK-based initiatives and the Cloud Institute’s extensive work in the US and beyond, we are uniting over two decades of shared passion, research and practice. Together, we will scale our collective impact to ensure that students don’t just learn about sustainability, but that they learn for it.
We are excited to release 4 new Mental Models of Sustainability cards!
Here is a sneak peek at one of them. 🌱
The Mental Models cards, a trademark of The Cloud Institute, are being used by educators around the world to explore the cognitive patterns that shape sustainable and unsustainable ways of thinking.
These new additions bring even more depth to the deck by expanding opportunities for reflection and dialogue on sustainable ways of thinking, and paradigm shifting.
🗓️ July 14-15, 2026
📍 Kingston, NY
Deeper Learning Global (DLg) aims to build regional Deeper Learning networks through smaller conferences held across the globe. These events are inspired by and affiliated with the international Deeper Learning (DL) conference in San Diego. The regional versions of DL yield lasting connections among participants by utilizing a cadre of local facilitators, speakers, musicians and artists to engage in collaborative and transformative learning experiences for educators.
We are excited to invite you to join Response-able’s Book Club—a space for thoughtful conversation, shared reflection, and collective exploration.
🗓 Date: Thursday, August 13, 2026
🕛 Time: 12:00 PM EST
📍 Location: Zoom
Jaimie recently attended the 2026 Green Difference Awards, organized by our friends and colleagues at Project Green Schools. She was amazed by the magnificent work of the awarded students. Click to read more about a few of her highlights.
I just finished working on a project with The UCLA/Getty Program in the Conservation of Cultural Heritage, entitled, “Embedding Education for Sustainability in Cultural Heritage Conservation Education”. The Getty Program received a grant from the National Endowment for the Arts (NEH) to implement the initiative because conservators and preservation specialists are in a timely and critical position to be global leaders in sustainability.
We are excited to share a special opportunity for educators seeking a meaningful and engaging book to explore with their students. When you purchase a class set of 10 or more copies through the Cloud Institute website, you will receive a 10% discount, along with complimentary inquiry-based questions to support rich classroom discussions.
We are excited to invite students (Grade 6 and above) to take part in a unique opportunity to engage with big ideas—and share their voice.
We are selecting three students to read Response-Able: How to Live Well Over Time on Planet Earth and participate in a special episode of the Empathy to Impact Podcast hosted by Inspire Citizens.
We enjoyed attending the Green Schools Conference in San Diego last month. It was a pleasure to reconnect with--and meet new members of this community.
Our favorite parts were the open plenary, with Cody Petterson, board member of the San Diego Unified Public School District, delivering a powerful keynote and of course, the Green Book Zone.
Jaimie has been educating for sustainability for over 30 years. She created a practical guide to help school leaders understand why education for sustainability matters. The guide offers a mini audit and explores the connection between your students’ mindsets and the curriculum. These are the first steps toward building a purposeful and coherent core curriculum that empowers students to shape a thriving, sustainable future.
Get Jaimie’s 3-Step Guide Toward Educating Students for a Sustainable Future here.
Jaimie’s new book, Response-Able: How to Live Well Over Time on Planet Earth has been opening meaningful conversations with educators, students, and communities about what it means to live responsibly on our shared planet. Below are recent developments and opportunities connected to the book and the learning experiences it is inspiring. 🌍📚
Upcoming events include the Hudson Valley Youth Climate Summit on March 18-19, an IB Webinar for DP on March 25, Deeper Learning NY on July 14-15, and the annual Curriculum Design Studio on August 3-7.
We are reaching out to colleagues and friends to share what we are working on and to help amplify the important work happening across our community. Our goal is to spread the word about our initiatives while also highlighting and celebrating the meaningful projects and contributions of those around us.
The Nakujali Foundation is seeking financial support to help cover the basic costs of its operations and build a healing center.
Nakujali Foundation seeks $20,216 USD to construct a Healing and Empowering Center in Nakivale Refugee Settlement, Uganda. The center will address critical gaps in mental health support, economic opportunity, and community resilience through sustainable, locally-managed programming focused on art, yoga, education and mindfulness.
Join us for a dynamic virtual event dedicated to sustainability, innovation, and empowering the next generation of leaders to tackle real-world environmental challenges.
The Hudson Valley Youth Climate Summit brings together students, educators, community agencies, and sustainability-focused vendors to showcase impactful work, share innovative solutions, and collaborate toward a more sustainable future.
Join us at the Hudson Valley Youth Climate Summit! They are still accepting proposals! This virtual, two-day event will take place on March 18–19, 2026, bringing together students, educators, community organizations, and sustainability-focused vendors to explore ideas, innovations, and actions that support a more sustainable future.
Response-Able is now available from all retailers!
This book is the result of months of reflection, collaboration, and care, and we are grateful to everyone who supported it along the way.
Thank you for reading, sharing, and supporting this work!
Last fall, Rosemarie, our program specialist, travelled to Uganda to deliver a series of workshops on sustainability education.
During her visit, she worked alongside educators, community members, and youth leaders who are actively shaping the future of their communities. The workshops focused on sustainability education as a tool for understanding local and global challenges, strengthening systems thinking, and empowering young people to take informed action.
We invite you to explore this story and spend time with the beautiful picture book that emerged from this collaboration.
We are very happy to share the launch of a brand new webpage created expressly for Response-Able, Jaimie P. Cloud’s upcoming book. This space was designed to bring the project to life, offer readers a first look at what is coming, and gather all the updates in one place.
You can explore the new page here: https://www.jaimiepcloud.com/
Check out this fun video of Jaimie engaging with students at the Chinese International School in Hong Kong.
The Student Kitchen is a nonprofit focused on culinary education for New York City middle and high school students. The goal of the program is to equip students with the confidence and the skills to cook for themselves and families, make healthy choices, and better understand where their food comes from. Through live demos and workshops, The Student Kitchen works hands on with participants at their schools and in their communities. They also assist with mutual aid efforts and community projects.
There is a great deal of good news that we are excited to share!
First and foremost, the official cover is out! This milestone makes the project feel wonderfully real and we are loving its dynamism.
We are very excited to share the book blurb:
For young people and all those who love them, this is an uplifting and practical book of wisdom. Written with a game on mindset, Response-able is a must read for those who want to participate in thegrand course correction toward a sustainable future.
Our Oxford International Curriculum for Sustainability continues to gain momentum!
Since its publication, the series has won the 2024 GESS Education Award, was nominated for the BESA Sustainability and Net Zero Award 2025, was presented by Daniella Tilbury to the UN Economic Commission for Europe (UNECE) during a meeting of the Education for Sustainable Development (ESD) Steering Committee in Geneva.
Recommended Reading: Connected to Place by Matt Daggar
We recommend keeping an eye out for Connected to Place: Regenerating Nature, Communities and Local Economies through Systems Change, a new book by Matt Daggar coming in November 2025.
Stories from Nora Bateson — “How Our Ways of Knowing Shape Our Collective Future”
In this piece, Nora Bateson, calls for a more relational, context-rich “warm data” approach to achieve social and ecological regeneration and sustainability.
638 educators from around the world joined our latest International Baccalaureate (IB) webinar on how to integrate Education for Sustainability (EfS) into the Primary Years Programme (PYP). The engagement was exceptional!
For anyone who was unable to attend, we will soon receive the chat comments and the full recording, and we will be pleased to share both. You can write to admin@cloudinstitute.org
We are also pleased to confirm that two additional IB webinars will take place later this year, focusing on the Middle Years Programme (MYP) and the Diploma Programme (DP). Dates will be announced soon.
A recent report and series of contract negotiations spotlight how teachers’ unions across the U.S. are using collective bargaining to demand climate action in schools.
In Chicago, the teachers’ union secured commitments for installing solar panels, enhancing indoor air quality monitoring, and integrating climate curricula. Meanwhile in Minnesota, educators pressed for an environmental task force and free transit access, and in Los Angeles, the demands include electrifying bus fleets and installing EV charging stations at schools. These moves underscore how contract talks are powerful levers for climate progress.
Oregon has passed a new law requiring climate change and sustainability to be integrated across school subjects — thanks in large part to the persistence of Mikayla May, a student at Caldera High School in Central Oregon.
Mikayla became the driving force behind House Bill 3365 after noticing that her classes taught the science of climate change but not the solutions. “We’re only taught the problems and the causes of climate change,” she said. “We don’t learn anything about the solutions.” Determined to change that, Mikayla partnered with Oregon Educators for Climate Education and testified before lawmakers, helping push the bill through the 2025 legislature.
We are excited to share the latest version of our Standards and Performance Indicators document.
This updated edition reflects our ongoing commitment to supporting sustainability education. One of the most significant additions is a brand-new standard, Many Ways of Knowing, which is accompanied by a new set of performance indicators designed to help educators recognize, value, and integrate diverse ways of understanding the world.