Sustainability Resources

The links to the resources provided here should help anyone who is interested in further exploring the topic of "sustainability."

Lesson Plans / Tools for classroom
General Resources – Sustainability & Education
Media (Films)
Further reading

Lesson Plans / Tools for classroom

• “Teaching and Learning for a Sustainable Future” by UNESCO: a multimedia teacher education program. It contains 100 hours (divided into 25 modules) of professional development for use in pre-service teacher courses as well as the in-service education of teachers, curriculum developers, education policy makers, and authors of educational materials. UNESCO, and the international community in general, believes that we need to foster - through education - the values, behaviour, and lifestyles required for a sustainable future. <http://www.unesco.org/education/tlsf/> See sample workshops and workshop planner for teachers http://www.unesco.org/education/tlsf/DTT/dtt_smpl.htm.
• Teaching Resources by the Center for Sustainable Systems within the School of Natural Resources and Environment at the University of Michigan. <http://css.snre.umich.edu/education/teaching-resources>
• An Inconvenient Truth for classroom use: free, downloadable curriculum is for middle school, high school and college science and civics classes as well as service learning projects. <http://www.climatecrisis.net/education-guide.php>
• Center for Environmental Education Curriculum Library – “Blueprint for a Green School:” provides current educational resources for use in schools. The curriculum is reviewed by our staff and we provide you with an assessment based on the North American Association for Environmental Education Guidelines for Excellence which include national academic standards and benchmarks. Teachers can enter the criteria that matches their needs: Subject Area, Grade Level, and Time Scope. <http://www.ceeonline.org/greenGuide/curriculum/curriculumLibrary.aspx>
• “Programs for Students/Educators Grades 9-12” by Creative Change. These are “packages of curricula and professional development [that are intended to]: Foster critical, interdisciplinary thinking through content that matters for students’ futures; Develop social and leadership skills by connecting content to real-world projects; Promote positive identity development with content that is culturally-responsive; Infuse meaningful content into literacy instruction; Link classroom instruction to academic and career pathways in a sustainable economy.” http://www.creativechange.net/audience/grades_9-12>
• “Teaching Sustainability in Agriculture: Resources for Instructors” <http://casfs.ucsc.edu/education/instruction/esa/ir/Teaching_Sustainability.pdf>
• ‘Learning-by-Notes’ Package for Year 10 Students, Lesson 2: Energy, “Powerful Solutions for Getting off Oil” - “Sustainability and Really Cool Technologies (Energy, Water, Waste); ” Teaching Sustainability in High Schools: Subject Supplement <www.naturaledgeproject.net/.../SLC%20Subject%20Supplement%20-%20Lesson%202%20Final.doc>
• Facing the Future: Critical Thinking, Global Perspective, Informed Action. “We empower teachers with the resources they need to ignite their students’ interest in complex global issues while helping them achieve academically.” See for free curriculum downloads: <http://www.facingthefuture.org/> Activities available include: “Metaphors for the Future” (http://www.facingthefuture.org/LinkClick.aspx?fileticket=Mdgdeze6r/U%3d), and “Shop Till You Drop?” (http://www.facingthefuture.org/LinkClick.aspx?fileticket=%2bPAkfEiPrI4%3d)
• “Teaching Case Studies:” BELL teaching cases explore sustainability related business challenges and capture business decisions that identify environmental challenges as business development opportunities. These case studies are now freely available via the catalog at www.bellinnovation.org. <http://www.wri.org/publication/bell-teaching-case-studies >
• Materials for the Classroom, by The Leopold Center for Sustainable Agriculture of Iowa State University (a research and education center with statewide programs to develop sustainable agricultural practices that are both profitable and conserve natural resources). Tools and resources on, e.g.: Organic Farming; A Geography of Taste; Native plant use and farming systems; Direct Marketing for Grass-based Products (w/ Teacher presentation (PPT)); Produce Market Potential Calculator; Biological Control/Sustainable Horticulture Curriculum; The Water Cycle. <http://www.leopold.iastate.edu/resources/classroom/classroom.htm>
• Tour of an average American’s consumption patterns, and how sustainability challenges emerge as a result, produced by The Center for Sustainable Systems of the University of Michigan. <http://css.snre.umich.edu/facts/index.html> Also see a Sustainability Quiz and factsheets at http://css.snre.umich.edu/facts/quiz.html and http://css.snre.umich.edu/publications/factsheets.
• Curriculum Resources by the Association for the Advancement of Sustainability in Higher Education (AASHE): focuses on formal education programs and courses that address sustainability. <http://www.aashe.org/resources/curriculum.php>
• Sustainability Education Handbook offers the “Multi-strand Approach,” which gives teachers a way to customize current curricula to include sustainability concepts. To customize current curricula, visitors to the site can link to a list of Sample Activities or consult the Criteria Evaluation to quickly interject varied concerns not included directly within the curriculum. <http://www.urbanoptions.org/sustainedhandbook/TheApproach.htm>

General Resources – Sustainability & Education

• “Footprint Calculator:” How much land area does it take to support your lifestyle? Take this quiz to find out your Ecological Footprint, discover your biggest areas of resource consumption, and learn what you can do to tread more lightly on the earth. <http://www.footprintnetwork.org/en/index.php/GFN/page/calculators/>
• “Household Emissions Calculator:” You can use the following online calculator to get a rough “ballpark” estimate of your personal or family’s greenhouse gas emissions and explore the impact of taking various actions to reduce your emissions. <http://www.epa.gov/climatechange/emissions/ind_calculator.html>
• Center for Ecoliteracy “Publications” are to expand on the discussions in this website of the theory and practice of ecological literacy in education; they include books, downloadable publications such as teachers' guides, and essays by a variety of experts. <http://www.ecoliteracy.org/publications>
• Green Teacher is a magazine by and for educators to enhance environmental and global education across the curriculum at all grade levels. Each issue contains: Perspective articles - ideas for rethinking education in light of environmental and global problems; Practical articles - reports of what successful teachers, parents, and schools are doing; Ready-to-use activities - cross-curricular activities for various grade levels; Resource listings and reviews - evaluations of dozens of new books, kits, games, and other resources; School news, announcements of all kinds. <http://www.greenteacher.com>
• Our Common Future: Report of the World Commission on Environment and Development (UN Document), Chapter 2: Towards Sustainable Development. <http://www.un-documents.net/ocf-02.htm>

Media (Films)

• Film – Food Inc. (www.foodincmovie.com) & a discussion guide for teachers to use the film in their classrooms. Do people have the right to know what is in their food? Should companies be able to own the DNA contained in plant seeds? When deciding what to eat, how much should we consider the workers who pick, process, and transport our food? These are some of the questions high school students are encouraged to consider in the new Food Inc. Discussion Guide. <http://www.ecoliteracy.org/downloads/food-inc-discussion-guide>
• Film – An Inconvenient Truth is a (highly acclaimed) look at former Vice President Al Gore's fervent crusade to halt global warming's deadly progress by exposing the myths and misconceptions that surround it. In this intimate portrait of Gore and his "travelling global warming show," Gore comes across as never before in the media - funny, engaging, open and intent on alerting citizens to this "planetary emergency" before it's too late. <http://www.climatecrisis.net/an-inconvenient-truth.php>
• Film – The Eleventh Hour feature-length documentary on the extent and gravity of the global environmental crisis and its impact on human life as we know it. It describes this present moment as the very last when change is possible and features suggestions for restorative action from prominent figures around the world. The film is produced and narrated by actor Leonardo DiCaprio and includes interviews with Nobel Peace laureate Wangari Maathai, physicist Stephen Hawking, former Soviet President Mikhail Gorbachev and environmentalist Bill McKibben.<http://www.democracynow.org/2007/8/16/the_11th_hour_hollywood_documentary_takes>
• Film – No Impact Man <http://www.noimpactdoc.com/>
• Film – What’s on Your Plate? follows 2 11-year-old multi-racial city kids as they explore their place in the food chain. They interact with a wide variety of experts and address questions regarding the origin of the food they eat, how it’s cultivated, how many miles it travels from the harvest to their plate, how it’s prepared, who prepares it, and what is done afterwards with the packaging and leftovers. An excellent watch for all ages and levels of understanding about the food system. <http://www.whatsonyourplateproject.org/>
• Film – Fresh celebrates the farmers, thinkers and business people across America who are re-inventing our food system. Each has witnessed the rapid transformation of our agriculture into an industrial model, and confronted the consequences: food contamination, environmental pollution, depletion of natural resources, and morbid obesity. Forging healthier, sustainable alternatives, they offer a practical vision for a future of our food and our planet. <http://www.freshthemovie.com/>
• Film – The Future of Food, a groundbreaking documentary released in 2004, distills the complex technology and key regulatory, legal, ethical, environmental and consumer issues surrounding the troubling changes happening in the food system today—genetically engineered foods, patenting, and the corporatization of food—into terms the average person can easily understand. It empowers consumers to understand the consequences of their food choices on our future. The full-length filmmaker's version of the documentary is available to view for free on website. < http://www.thefutureoffood.com/>
• Film (& book) – Fast Food Nation traces the birth of an everyday, ordinary burger through a chain of riveting, interlocked human stories - from a hopeful, young immigrant couple who cross the border to work in a perilous meat-packing plant, to a teen clerk who dreams of life beyond the counter; to the corporate marketing whiz who is shocked to discover that his latest burger invention - "The Big One" - is literally full of manure. As the film traverses from pristine barbeque smoke labs to the volatile U.S.-Mexican border, it unveils a provocative portrait of all the yearning, ambition, corruption and hope that lies inside what America is biting into. <http://www.foxsearchlight.com/fastfoodnation/>
• Film – In Good Heart: Soil and the Mystery of Fertility, Spring 2010 Documentary: Examines our dependence on soil and its impact on current global challenges, including climate change, resource depletion, and peak oil. Includes interviews and soil explorations with scientists, activists, academics, and farmers. <www.ingoodheart.com>
• Film – Two Angry Moms, 2008. Documentary. Chronicles nationwide efforts in the movement for better school food, with strategies for overcoming roadblocks and getting healthy, good tasting, real food into school cafeterias. <www.angrymoms.org>
• Film – A Sense of Wonder (based on acclaimed play). When pioneering environmentalist Rachel Carson published Silent Spring in 1962, the backlash from her critics thrust her into the center of a political maelstrom. Using many of Miss Carson's own words, Kaiulani Lee embodies this extraordinary woman in a documentary style film, which depicts Carson in the final year of her life. Carson recounts with both humor and anger the attacks by the chemical industry, the government, and the press as she focuses to get her message to Congress and the American people. <http://www.asenseofwonderfilm.com/>

Further reading

• Cloud Institute for Sustainability Education. (2006). Education for sustainability. Retrieved June 1, 2006, from http://www.sustainabilityed.org/what/education_for_sustainability/what_is_education_for_sustainability.html
• “Last child in the woods: saving our children from nature-deficit disorder” by Richard Louv (Algonquin Books, 2005).
• “Moral Questions in the Classroom: How to Get Kids to Think Deeply About Real Life and Their Schoolwork,” Katherine G. Simon (Yale University Press; September 1, 2003).
• The Natural Step: a not-for-profit organisation dedicated to education, advisory work and research in sustainable development. Book & website offers case studies useful to classroom discussion, e.g. “Scandic Hotels” <http://www.thenaturalstep.org/en/system/files/Scandic+Hotels+Case+Study_Dec+2008.pdf>
• Cloud, J., & Byrne, J. (2003, January). Content areas for educating about sustainability. Paper presented at 3rd National Conference for Science, Policy, and the Environment (Education for a Sustainable and Secure Future), breakout session on K-12 Content, Washington, DC.
• EcoSchools. (2006). How it works. Retrieved June 1, 2006, from http://www.eco-schools.org/aboutus/howitworks.htm
• Green Schools Initiative. (2006). The little green schoolhouse: Thinking big about ecological sustainability, children's environmental health, and K-12 education in the USA. Retrieved June 1, 2006, from http://www.greenschools.net/greenschools.pdf
• Henderson, K., and D. Tilbury. (2004). "Whole-school approaches to sustainability: An international review of whole-school sustainability programs. Report prepared by the Australian Research Institute in Education for Sustainability (ARIES).
• McMillan, V., & Higgs, A. L. (2003). Implementing sustainability: Lessons from four innovative schools. Unpublished master's thesis, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor.
• Orr, D. (1994). Earth in mind. Washington, DC: Island Press.
• “Climate Interactive:” a program of Sustainability Institute, is a collaboration of business people, academics, not-for-profits, and scientists committed to using innovative approaches to address climate change. The mission of this program is to develop, extend, and distribute powerful, open-innovation climate simulations for the world to share. These are open-source simulations about climate dynamics that some students and teachers might find interesting to manipulate. <http://climateinteractive.org/>
• “Reflections on Teaching for Sustainability” essay by Tre McCarney, an elementary school teacher in Vermont participating in “The Sustainable Schools Project” (which claims to be “a dynamic new model for school improvement and civic engagement. The program helps schools use sustainability as an integrating context for curriculum, community partnerships, and campus practices”). <http://www.sustainableschoolsproject.org/curriculum/rflctontchgssp-tre/rflcttchgssp-tre.shtml>