In October 2025, the Cloud Institute will be offering an Education for Sustainability workshop in the Nakivale Refugee Camp in Uganda. This is a project initiated by Rosemarie, our program specialist here at the Cloud Institute.
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Story.Earth makes Earth system science accessible and meaningful with beautiful visualizations, interactive maps and globes, and NGSS-aligned lesson plans. Students explore real-world data, analyze patterns of change, and develop solutions for a sustainable future. Perfect for inspiring a global perspective and making connections across disciplines. Explore for free at Story.Earth. An ideal Earth Day resource!
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We are excited to share a fun opportunity for educators and students! The EcoHero Earth Day Livestream Concert is a high-energy, interactive event that has already engaged over 1.2 million students across thousands of elementary schools worldwide. This Earth Day, April 22nd, your students can be part of this global movement—learning about sustainability through music, rap, and fun, all while contributing to real-world change!
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At the recent Green Schools National Conference in Orlando, Florida, we had the privilege to visit Arbor Ridge Elementary School. Arbor Ridge has received first place in the green schools recognition program, the Florida Green Apple award by the Florida Department of Environmental Protection and the Green Ribbons Schools award by the US Department of Education.
We toured the school and the campus and a team of faculty members attended our afternoon workshop on vertical articulation of Education for Sustainability. Among many hey have composting in the cafeteria, a living garden.
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Jaimie will be leading two workshops at the Woodward’s Summit for Transformative Learning (STLinATL) hosted by Woodward Academy on March 10 and 11, 2025!
The Summit will explore the theme “Embracing the Future of Education” as a beacon lighting the path ahead for deeper learning.
Jaimie’s workshops will focus on:
Educating for Sustainability with the Brain in Mind
Effective Practices for Aligning and Integrating Education for Sustainability (EfS) into Core Curriculum
If you are an International Baccalaureate (IB) teacher with an IB Exchange account, check out the new Commons microlearning modules co-developed with the Cloud Institute.
These microlearning modules are available to educators who want to understand more about the Commons and those who want to undertake the micro-credential Recognizing and Protecting the Commons.
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Need help with Education for Sustainability action submissions? Join our professional development workshop on March 7, 2025, to gain the knowledge and tools to integrate sustainability into your teaching and strengthen your Sustainable Jersey action submissions.
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We are proud to announce that the print book series of the Oxford International Sustainability is now available! Developed in collaboration with The Cloud Institute, this comprehensive series includes 9 Project Books, 9 Teacher’s Guides, and professional development support for primary and secondary education. Designed to equip students with the knowledge and skills to navigate the challenges and opportunities of sustainable living, this series empowers the next generation to lead the shift toward a sustainable future.
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Planting the seeds for a sustainable future starts early for these young students. It's at the core of one charter school's mission from how it's built, to what it serves.
We are happy to share this CBS feature about Mundo Verde Public Charter School, a PreK-5 bilingual school that serves students across two campuses in Washington D.C. The Cloud Institute has been working with Mundo Verde for several years now because they are dedicated to educating for a sustainable future. It’s working!
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Check out the Climate Change Education Resource Guide for Schools produced by the team at the Center for Sustainability and Climate Education at the Dutchess County BOCES. Find ideas, resources and activities to start the conversation about our climate and the actions that we, our students and colleagues can take as global citizens.
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The EfS Reservoir is a multi-media repository of exemplars aligned to the EfS Benchmarks. The exemplars include quality curriculum units, courses, assessments, performance criteria, student work samples and eventually stories, interviews, discussions, images, narration and film that will illustrate the contexts and the impact of this work in schools and communities. Register for free to access the collection.
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The workshop was part of our "Land Use and Resources" day (other parts of the program that day included workshops, discussions and presentations on food, farming methods, waste management, and circular economy). We started the workshop by playing the Fish Game simulation in eight groups with 5-9 members, each recording their results in a table. We followed up on this in reflective group discussions, talking about why groups failed, what the different scenarios represent, and how this relates to real life/ in what ways this is not a 100% accurate representation of international (over)fishing. Afterwards, we provided some more theoretical context on overfishing by going through our own presentation on causes of overfishing, consequences for the ecosystem and the human population, and proposed solutions and strategies to prevent overfishing / fix the damage already done. Additionally, we went over some specific cases of overfishing e.g. in Canada and on the West African coast.
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Our work with the NYC Department of Education’s High School Career Technical Education continues and has now been merged into the CTE Academic Integration Blueprint. This document aims to bridge the gap between graduation rate and low college readiness by facilitating the integration of CTE and academic coursework, training teachers to develop integrated curriculum and promoting high quality project-based learning (PBL) practices in academic classes. One of the plan’s five objectives is to “Infuse sustainability principles throughout CTE and academic content curricula”.
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In my experience, it is harder for people to think about what it will take to educate for sustainability, than it is to actually educate for sustainability. This makes sense, given that change of any kind is threatening to our reptilian brains. We have a biological fear of change. Add to this the fact that most educators think of “sustainablizing” as an add on to an already packed life, curriculum and to do list. Given the flavor of the month way that schools often operate, it seems like just one more thing to do. It isn’t. It can’t be. It is the thing we all must do if we want to thrive over time.
Read MoreI have been working with Kapalama Middle School at the Oahu campus of Kamehameha Schools for the past seven years. We would like to continue our work together, but for now, the contract has been completed. How can we know if the work we have done together to educate students for a sustainable future will last and will be improved over time? We can’t. What we can do is create favorable conditions for it to flourish over time—just like everything else we want to sustain. As I always say, there is no such thing as “sustain-guaranteed” but there is such a thing as “sustain-able”.
Read MoreIn previous blog posts, we’ve featured stories about schools or districts across the country that have integrated EfS into their curriculum. Today, we’d like to tell you about Putnam and Northern Westchester Board of Cooperative Educational Services (PNW BOCES), a regional education agency whose innovative approach to EfS is worth exploring.
New York State’s PNW BOCES is a regional collaborative serving approximately 60,000 pre-K through 12th graders in 18 school districts. In 2008, the PNW BOCES Curriculum Center undertook the development of a K-12 web-based Education for Sustainability curriculum to address the question, “How are we all going to live well within the means of nature?” The curriculum development project was a multi-year undertaking that included capacity building for administrators to lead in this area as well as support for teams of teachers to develop the cutting edge sustainability education curriculum. To implement the project, PNW BOCES assembled a diverse group of sustainability, curriculum design, and instructional technology experts to work with the educators in involved in the project.
As the new administration in Washington questions the role of the federal government in protecting the environment, there is a growing sense of urgency for all parts of society to step up to the plate, and they are. As Einstein said, “The significant problems we face cannot be solved with the same thinking we used to create them.” We need new ways of thinking, not just to solve today’s problems, but to lead us to a healthy and regenerative future. Now imagine that schools could prepare young people to think about the world in this entirely new way. Here’s the good news—it’s happening. Right now, all over the state of New Jersey.
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