The Center for Ecoliteracy (CEL) is a nonprofit organization dedicated to education for
sustainable living.
About
Located in
Berkeley, California
Berkeley ( ) is a city on the eastern shore of San Francisco Bay in northern Alameda County, California, United States. It is named after the 18th-century Irish bishop and philosopher George Berkeley. It borders the cities of Oakland and E ...
, the Center for Ecoliteracy's stated mission is to support and advance education for
sustainable living. It was founded in 1995 by philanthropist Peter Buckley, physicist/author
Fritjof Capra
Fritjof Capra (born February 1, 1939) is an Austrian-born American physicist, systems theorist and deep ecologist. In 1995, he became a founding director of the Center for Ecoliteracy in Berkeley, California. He is on the faculty of Schumacher ...
, and think tank director Zenobia Barlow to apply ecological, systems thinking principles to K-12 education.
The Center for Ecoliteracy has supported projects in habitat restoration, school gardens and cooking classes, partnerships between farms and schools, school food transformation, and curricular innovation. Together with the
Chez Panisse
Chez Panisse is a Berkeley, California, restaurant, known as one of the originators of the style of cooking known as California cuisine, and the farm-to-table movement. The restaurant emphasizes ingredients rather than technique and has develo ...
Foundation and
Berkeley Unified School District, the Center for Ecoliteracy implemented the School Lunch Initiative to provide local, seasonal, and sustainable meals for students as well as
experiential learning
Experiential learning (ExL) is the process of learning through experience, and is more narrowly defined as "learning through reflection on doing". Hands-on learning can be a form of experiential learning, but does not necessarily involve students ...
in gardens, kitchen classrooms, and cafeterias. Using a systems approach, the Rethinking School Lunch program offers a planning strategy for revamping food service programs.
The Center for Ecoliteracy’s initiative, Smart by Nature: Schooling for Sustainability, aims to provide a framework based on four guiding principles: “Nature is Our Teacher,” “Sustainability is a Community Practice,” “The Real World is the Optimal Learning Environment,” and “Sustainable Living is Rooted in a Deep Knowledge of Place.” It identifies four potential pathways to schooling for sustainability—food, campus, community, and teaching and learning.
In August 2011, the Center for Ecoliteracy released ''Cooking with California Food in K-12 Schools,'' a downloadable cookbook and professional development guide for school food service professionals. It introduces the concept of the 6-5-4 School Lunch Matrix, "based on six dishes students know and love, five ethnic flavor profiles, and four seasons." ''Cooking with California Food'' is part of the Center's statewide initiative, Rethinking School Lunch: California Food for California Kids, which aims to add more fresh, local, and healthy foods to school meals.
In collaboration with bestselling author
Daniel Goleman
Daniel Goleman (born March 7, 1946) is an author, psychologist, and science journalist. For twelve years, he wrote for ''The New York Times'', reporting on the brain and behavioral sciences. His 1995 book ''Emotional Intelligence'' was on ''Th ...
, the Center for Ecoliteracy published ''Ecoliterate: How Educators Are Cultivating Emotional, Social, and Ecological Intelligence'' in fall 2012. The book profiles educators, activists, and students who embody this integration of intelligences as they address food, water, and energy issues around the world. It also includes a professional development guide and five practices of "engaged ecoliteracy": developing empathy for all forms of life, embracing sustainability as a community practice, making the invisible visible, anticipating
unintended consequences
In the social sciences, unintended consequences (sometimes unanticipated consequences or unforeseen consequences) are outcomes of a purposeful action that are not intended or foreseen. The term was popularised in the twentieth century by Ameri ...
, and understanding how nature sustains life.
[Daniel Goleman, Lisa Bennett, and Zenobia Barlow. ''Ecoliterate: How Educators Are Cultivating Emotional, Social, and Ecological Intelligence.'' Jossey-Bass, 2012. isbn 978-1118104576]
Publications
* Daniel Goleman and Zenobia Barlow
''Ecoliterate: How Educators Are Cultivating Emotional, Social, and Ecological Intelligence.''San Francisco: Jossey-Bass, 2012.
* Georgeanne Brennan and Ann M. Evans
''Cooking with California Food in K-12 Schools.''Berkeley: Center for Ecoliteracy/Learning in the Real World, 2011.
* Michael K. Stone/Center for Ecoliteracy
''Smart by Nature: Schooling for Sustainability.''California: Watershed Media, September 2009.
* Center for Ecoliteracy
''Big Ideas: Linking Food, Culture, Health, and the Environment.''Berkeley: Center for Ecoliteracy/Learning in the Real World, 2008.
* Michael K. Stone and Zenobia Barlow, eds
''Ecological Literacy: Educating Our Children for a Sustainable World.''San Francisco:
Sierra Club Books, 2005.
Center for Ecoliteracy. “Rethinking School Lunch Guide.”
* Zenobia Barlow, ed. ''Ecoliteracy: Mapping the Terrain.'' Berkeley: Center for Ecoliteracy/Learning in the Real World, ASIN: B002AL1G3W. 2000.
See also
*
Education in the United States
Education in the United States is provided in public and private schools and by individuals through homeschooling. State governments set overall educational standards, often mandate standardized tests for K–12 public school systems and ...
*
Environment of the United States
The environment of the United States comprises diverse biotas, climates, and geologies. This diversity leads to a number of different distinct regions and geographies in which human communities live. This includes a rich variety of species of both ...
*
Environmental groups and resources serving K–12 schools
This article includes information about environmental groups and resources (such as those provided by government, its agencies, and existing or proposed legislation) that serve K–12 schools in the United States and internationally. The entries ...
References
External links
Center for Ecoliteracy
{{Authority control
Environmental education in the United States
Environmental organizations based in California