In this article, the author expresses her view on how urban agriculture can be a source of hope among people particularly the uneducated and undereducated ones. The author shares that urban agriculture is a brilliant answer to the difficulties in these times of crisis. One of its most relevant elements is its impact in education: it allows people…

The author, who has retired as Scarsdale elementary principal, was asked by the superintendent Michael McGill if he was interested in leading Scarsdale's green initiative. Early on in Scarsdale, they referred to their work as the "green initiative." After agreeing to lead the initiative, he set out to learn more about greening at K-12…

When the first Earth Day was celebrated in 1970, millions of Americans--many of whom were college and university students--participated in an effort that sought to improve the quality of the environment and conserve natural resources. Since then, environmental studies programs have popped up throughout the nation, creating jobs for ecologists,…

Contrary to what we often hear and teach, there is good news to be found on the environmental front. Environmental success stories show us not only that sustainability is possible, but also how people have made it happen. We can make these stories and their lessons accessible to students with help from the EcoTipping Points Project, which has…

This white paper examines the business case for environmental and sustainability (E&S) employee education and engagement. The "business case" is defined as both quantifiable measures of the business value for the sustainability program (e.g. money saved, energy use reduction, etc.) as well as less easily measurable assets such as…

This article demonstrates the educational value of an undergraduate course that integrates design and the liberal arts to teach about ecological systems, using study of the university campus as the means to connect theory and practice. It presents the curricular goals, objectives, results, and lessons learned from a qualitative case study of a…

For nearly 20 years, the Connecticut Sea Grant College Program (CTSG) has worked to foster the wise use and conservation of coastal and marine resources of the Long Island Sound (LIS) estuary, as well as working regionally, nationally and globally. The strategy for success of any individual Sea Grant College Program must be consistent with the…

When the modern U.S. environmental movement began in the 1970s, it relied largely on regulation to reduce negative environmental impacts. Companies responded by creating centers of environmental expertise within their organizations. The major focus of a second wave of corporate environmentalism, which began during the late 1980s, was on…

A growing body of literature on community gardening, watershed restoration, and similar "civic ecology" practices suggests avenues for integrating social and ecological outcomes in urban natural resources management. In this paper, we argue that an environmental education programme in which learning is situated in civic ecology practices…

Faculty at Columbia University's Earth Semester created the interdisciplinary Riparian Area Management Project to help students integrate information and skills from life sciences, geosciences, social sciences, and humanities focused coursework. Structured as a "consulting" contract, students were required to make a policy recommendation…

In the more than 10 years since the inception of EPA's (Environmental Protection Agency) Brownfields Program, brownfields have been redefined. Properties that were shunned or eyed warily by those with the resources to transform them are now viewed as dormant opportunities for economic and environmental rebirth. Communities that suffered aesthetic…