ecoliteracy.org

October 15, 2009
San Rafael, California

Featuring pioneering educators from across the nation, this event offered insight into the practices of leadership that cultivate conditions for lasting systemic change in schools.

Inspired by the Center for Ecoliteracy's book, Smart by Nature: Schooling for Sustainability (Watershed Media/U.C. Press), this intensive is designed for educators, activists, parents, youth, and others interested in greening schools, integrating the natural world into teaching and learning, improving school food systems and campus operations, and promoting sustainable practices in local communities.

The day featured:

Keynotes by outstanding speakers, including Fritjof Capra, eminent systems thinker, cofounder, and board chair of the Center for Ecoliteracy; and Lucinda Lee Katz, head of Marin Country Day School, former director of the University of Chicago Laboratory Schools, and recipient of the 2009 National Association of Independent Schools Diversity Leadership Award.

Workshops with leaders of noted sustainability education organizations, including Jaimie Cloud of the Cloud Institute for Sustainability Education (New York), Matt Dubel of Shelburne Farms' Sustainable Schools Project (Burlington, Vermont), and Louise Cadwell of Cadwell Collaborative: Sustainability Education and School Design (St. Louis).

Presentations of findings from the Center for Ecoliteracy's recent nationwide research on schools that are rethinking curricula; helping children discover the wonders of nature; restoring rural landscapes and creating city habitats; designing safe, energy-efficient and healthy schools; and transforming themselves into model communities for learning the skills of sustainable living.

Lively discussions and dialogue about successful practitioners' experience in leadership and systems change in schooling for sustainability.