Concerns have been expressed about the United Nations University's (UNU) Regional Centres of Expertise on education for sustainable development (RCE) initiative. While many have discussed RCE's contribution to the United Nations Decade of Education for Sustainable Development (DESD), there has been no attempt to contextualise the RCE initiative in…

The notion of campuses that are energy-efficient and ecologically friendly, and that provide a healthy, productive, comfortable environment for students and staff has been around for some time. But for many educators, green schools have remained more good intention than proven approach, a huge risk that few school leaders could--or would--take.…

Celebrated annually on April 22, schools and communities organize numerous activities during Earth Day to promote awareness. To help teachers plan their own initiatives and to learn more about what is happening around the world, they can join the Earth Day Network at: http://network.earthday.net/. Once they have joined, they can create a webpage…

Colleges and universities throughout the nation are stepping up their environmental accountability. All 50 states are represented in the American College & University Presidents Climate Commitment, a "high-visibility effort to address global warming by garnering institutional commitments to neutralize greenhouse-gas emissions and…

Purpose :The goal of this paper is to enhance consideration for the potential for institutions of higher education throughout the world, in different cultures and contexts, to be change agents for sustainability. As society faces unprecedented and increasingly urgent challenges associated with accelerating environmental change, resource scarcity,…

In today's classrooms, the three R's might refer to reduce, reuse and recycle. Schools are major consumers and producers of waste, and many are assuming responsibility for instilling environmental values and practices in their students--the next generation of leaders--and serving as role models for their communities. At universities and K-12…

Reptiles and amphibians are a diverse and interesting group of organisms. The four activities described in this article take students' curiosity into the realm of scientific understanding. The activities involve the concepts of species identification; animal adaptations, communication, and habitat; and conservation. (Contains 1 table and 2…

The Canadian residential sector contributes approximately 80 megatons of GHGs to the environment yearly. With the ratification of Kyoto Protocol, Canada has committed to reduce its 1990 GHG emission levels by at least 5% between 2008 and 2012. To meet this target, Canada must evaluate and exploit all feasible means to reduce fossil fuel energy…

This study focuses on the implementation of selective waste collection in a school located on the outskirts of the city of Rio de Janeiro. The participants consisted mainly of 64 students taking an Environmental Control technical course during 2007 and 2008. By addressing selective waste collection, the pedagogical proposal aimed at: a) enabling…

Technology training is a resource-intensive endeavor with inherent potential for waste. Such training is commonly offered in live, face-to-face workshops on campus, without charge, by colleges and universities who value technology skills in their faculty, staff, and students. The true cost to the institution begins with the space used for…

This study describes the experiences of nine school-based artists who took part in a six-day professional development course on ecology and the arts at an off-grid wilderness facility. The course was designed to increase artist-educators' awareness of issues surrounding energy use and consumption as well as to provide them with direction for…

The purpose of the study is to investigate the effects of an applied environmental education project carried out using the green-class model on students' environmental knowledge and its retention. 101 7th grade students attending Nazim Akcan Primary School in the Altindag Province of Ankara participated in the study. The study was carried out in…

A study of attitudes of 328 people living around Mt. Elgon National Park showed that more than three-quarters had favorable attitudes toward the conservation of the Park's forest and wildlife resources. They also had favorable attitudes toward the conservation education efforts of various agencies that operated in the area, particularly those of…

Spending on construction by the nation's education institutions increased in 2008, reversing four years of declines in total annual expenditures, according to "American School & University"'s 35th annual Official Education Construction Report. One of the reasons for the increase in spending was the fact that the majority of the construction…

Studies have revealed that sub-Sahara African forest resources are decreasing at an alarming rate. Widely acknowledged too is a growing body of empirical evidence which suggests that understanding people's views are important to forest conservation. But few are the current studies that capture cross-national perspectives. This study explores the…