Summer Newsletter | Social Justice and Education for Sustainability

What to Preserve and What to Transform
Over time, life on Earth has experienced times of relative stability and has seen great disruptions like earthquakes, volcanoes, tsunamis and global pandemics. Evolution, devolution, five near extinctions and yet some form of life has prevailed, so far. In fact, it is those very disruptions that make life possible on “Spaceship Earth”. Life organizes towards life. We can learn from both our social and physical history to invent our future as we build the capability to thrive over time. Appropriate disturbances create the next cycle of life. So how do we disrupt systemic racism, inequities and injustices?

• Here you can find our Starter Unit Planner to respond to the unacceptable things people have been saying and doing in the U.S. because of racism, sexism and xenophobia.

• Cultural Competency and EfS Alignment PowerPoint

• Cultural Competency and EfS Alignment Handout

• Cultural Competency Aligned EfS Standards and Indicators

• Webinar: Moving Forward Together - What to Preserve & What to Transform

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This special, single-day offering is designed to increase participants’ awareness, knowledge, and understanding of the core concepts, content, and habits of mind that characterize Sustainability and Education for Sustainability (EfS). 
Cost: $149

In this curriculum design studio, we use backwards design, or Understanding by Design, to reorient, innovate, build, and map curricula designed to meet academic standards and EfS standards, performance indicators, and enduring understandings.
Cost: $495

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July 22nd 10am est.

NJSBA I-Steam and Sustainable Lessons John Henry and Jaimie P. Cloud will discuss why short-term, unsustainable thinking during COVID-19 could lead to long-term unsustainable schools. Einstein once said, “The significant problems we face cannot be solved with the same level of thinking we used to create them”. Now, more than ever, is the time to think about reopening schools with the long term health of our school communities and every system and function of the school in mind. We know that sustainable actions create healthier schools at lower operational costs. Taking courageous steps now and solving problems by thinking differently, instead of taking actions driven by fear, could make a big difference in the health and well-being of our students and schools.

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The Cloud Commons EfS Digital Library houses Cloud Institute units and lessons, templates, assessment protocols, enduring workshop materials, videos, podcasts, and tools aligned to EfS Standards and Performance Indicators.

Purchase a 1 year pass and get access to all of our digital downloads, plus exclusive access to videos and podcasts by Jaimie Cloud.

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Remote Leadership Consulting and Curriculum Coaching

• Leadership Consulting: We provide consulting and leadership development to help administrators develop, implement and monitor a strategic plan for Education for Sustainability.

• Curriculum Coaching: We offer faculty coaching for curriculum design to support the development of lesson plans and units that are mapped and documented in a curriculum database, aligned to EfS and Common Core Standards, and that include assessments that measure meaningful learning.

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Employment Opportunity | Director of Youth Education Are you passionate about working towards a healthy planet that will sustain humans in harmony with the complex ecosystems we depend on? Do you like working with remote teams of impassioned individuals and partner organizations to achieve world-changing goals? Join the team! Apply by July 17, 2020

Is Surpassing Self-Righteousness the Key to Overcoming Racism, Sexism and Other Destructive Biases?

Dear Readers, 

I started a unit plan to respond to the unacceptable things people have been saying and doing in the U.S. because of racism, sexism and xenophobia. I draw from the Enduring Understandings, Standards and Performance Indicators of Education for Sustainability. I  completed Stage I and invite educators everywhere to build out Stages II and III as appropriate for your students, grade levels and disciplines. 

We ask: 

How can the new brain science help us to understand what is going on when people feel threatened by “the other”?
Throughout history, there are many examples of people who stood to gain economically and/or politically from creating and fueling conflict between diverse groups of people. Is the U.S. experiencing this phenomenon right now? Who stands to gain? Who stands to lose?
What good does diversity do us?
What do we need to know?
What kind of future do we want?

Please share your unit plans with us and with our larger community. This is a participatory design process and I look forward to seeing what you will build from this foundation. 

Jaimie P. Cloud

Exploring Environmental, Social-emotional, and Physical Literacies

The Other Literacies

Exploring environmental, social-emotional, and physical literacies. Reposted from: theotherliteracies.podbean.com

‘Women In Green’ Supporting The Green Schools Movement

“I'm still feeling the powerful impact of the Green Schools Conference last week, I personally feel it was the most productive conference to date. There was a strong acknowledgement between all attendees that furthering the green schools movement is imperative in helping to address the climate crisis we’re in, and it’s only by working closely together with a unified commitment to the implementation of green, healthy, and sustainable practices that we’ll create access for all students to healthy, sustainable schools.”- Bridgitte Alomes, Natural Pod

Drawdown Learn Educates Rhinebeck School Leaders

Rhinebeck School Superintendent Joe Phelan knew what he had to do after attending the Drawdown Learn Conference—share what he learned with Dutchess County's other school superintendents.

Storigins: Jaimie Cloud, Cloud Institute for Sustainability Education

How do we educate for the kind of future we want?

When I first heard about "sustainability" in 1987 it changed my entire framework as an educator... here's my Storigin:

Blue Planet Foundation | Empowering Youth

Blue Planet Foundation is clearing the path for 100% clean energy.

On April 20, 2017, over 600 students from across Oahu rallied at the State Capitol in support of their 100% clean transportation future. Inspiring!

MORE VIDEOS
For Our Future - Overview of Blue Planet Foundation's programs and the climate challenge, through the eyes of a 7-year-old.

Student Energy Summit 2018 - Recap of our annual signature event bringing students together for a two-day energy and climate-focused summit

REFERENCE: BLUE PLANET FOUNDATION VIMEO

PHRED Team 847 | Philomath High School

Inspiring Kids: Operation Gyre & Project Pure Water

These video animations were designed and produced by high school students in the Philomath High Robotics Engineering Division (PHRED) at  Philomath HS  in Philomath, Oregon.  These two 30 second animations are from PHRED Team 847. PHRED Team 847 is sponsored by local foundations, corporations and the Lions Club.

Operation Gyre is an elegant  30 second demonstration of several EfS attributes including authentic curriculum and assessment, the entrepreneurial mindset,  an understanding of the materials cycle principle and three of our enduring understandings:  “A Healthy and Sustainable Future is Possible”; “Live by the Natural Laws” and  “Read the Feedback”.  

Pure Water 847  is another elegant 30 second demonstration of  authentic curriculum and assessment, the entrepreneurial mindset, Biomimicry and “A Sustainable Future is Possible.”  In addition, the animations illustrate a robust use of technology in the classroom (Autodesk 3ds Max).