Diversity in Outdoor / Environmental Education

Introduction | Resources

Introduction

As Outdoor Educators, we often focus on the biological diversity of the ecosystems we study, but biodiversity and cultural diversity are inextricably linked – and we need both for a healthy world.

The great conservationist, Aldo Leopold, said:

“Wilderness is the raw material out of which man has
hammered the artifact called civilization. Wilderness was never a homogenous
raw material. It was very diverse, and the
resulting artifacts are very diverse. These differences in the end product
are known as cultures. The rich diversity of the world’s cultures reflects
a corresponding diversity in the wilds that gave them birth.”

Maintaining this diversity in nature may depend on maintaining cultural diversity among our ranks. Somehow, unfortunately, Environmental Education has been seen as a mainly white middle to upper class endeavor, but often the groups that are most severely impacted by environmental degradation are people of color and/or low-income. We need to find ways to remedy this disparity if we are to succeed in creating an environmentally literate population.

Diversity has been an ongoing concern for AEOE; this year the discussion started at the Northern 2003 Fall Conference, and continued at the 2004 Statewide conference in Malibu – a conversation, a forum, inspiration, speakers, and workshops on creating greater diversity among outdoor environmental educators.

As Northern Chair, Rikki Shackelford selected the theme for the 2003 Fall Conference: “Diversity in EE: A Gift Unto the Giver, A Random Act of Love” and got Running-Grass (Three Circles Center for Multi-Cultural Environmental Education) as a speaker to start the conversation. The conversation continued through Hal Aronson’s lovely concluding remarks

GSEEC, the Golden State Environmental Education Consortium, partnered with AEOE to bring a Diversity strand to our 2004 Statewide Conference. One of our plenary speakers, Sharon
Fuller of the Ma’at Youth Academy, addressed diversity issues as a keynote to this strand.

We invite any of you with ideas, strategies, and solutions to share them with AEOE members – sign up to present a workshop at one of our future conferences, or just talk to us.

How can we greater inspire children of ALL racial and ethnic backgrounds to become involved in outdoor and environmental education?  How can we best make EE pertinent to the lives of ALL children, so that not only are they invested as stewards of the Earth, they see Environmental Education as a viable career option? How can we reach out to college students interested in making a difference and recruit more diverse teaching staffs as role models for the culturally diverse populations of students we serve?

See “Key Ideas in Multicultural Environmental Education” by Running Grass for ideas, and read “The Conversation Continues” for more insights and ideas for incorporating Multicultural EE into your curriculm.

If you didn’t make it to the conference in Malibu on April 30 – May 2, 2004 to further explore these issues, you can read comments on the diversity strand on the AEOE Conference
Resources Page, or read the summary of the Diversity Wrap-Up Forum from the conference here.  See the diversity workshops that were offered in Spring 2004.

The AEOE 2005 State Spring Conference had a great selection of workshops dealing with diversity issues, from students with disabilities, to gender identity, to understanding poverty, to teaching English Language Learners more effectively, to multicultural environmental education – see those workshops, and also be sure to check the conference resources pages for more great teaching resources!

AEOE has continued to offer a strand of workshops at our annual statewide conferences in support of inclusivity, and has incorporated inclusivity as one of our Core Values for our Strategic Plan. If you would like to be part of the Inclusivity Committee of AEOE, and you are an outdoor/environmental educator in California, get in touch with us!

If you are interested in joining the GSEEC (Golden State Environmental Education Consortium) Listserve on Diversity in Environmental Education or viewing the ongoing discussion, click here.

Diversity Resources:

Articles | Organizations | Events
and Opportunities |
Training/Professional Development | Multicultural
EE Providers | Books/Magazines
| Museums,
Exhibits, etc highlighting diversity issues
| Lesson
Plans and Teaching Materials

Articles:

(articles are placed in the order in which I find or receive them, other sections
are in alphabetical order)

Diversifying the Conservation Movement Article from the Land Conservancy Magazine: http://www.environmentaldiversity.org/documents/diversifying_conservation.pdf

Facing the Future, Audubon Magazine: http://www.audubonmagazine.org/articles/living/facing-future

Attached article- Reaching out with Respect- Environmental Education with Underserved Communities

Understanding Cultural Competency in Experiential Environmental Education Programs  News, reports, speeches, and more from Barr staff, Fellows, grantees, and others to illustrate the challenges we are focused on and what we are learning.

CAEE’s Inclusiveness Initiative Resources   Recognizing the value of diversity and inclusiveness to advance environmental education; CAEE, including our staff, leadership, membership, and audiences, commits to:

• integrating the ideals of multiculturism, equity, justice, and sustainability;
• acting as allies for those whose voices are not being heard; and
• promoting equal access to environmental education.

Sometimes the articles don’t download- if that is the case, you can contact us for the PDF version or try googling it online.

Global Warming Is Colorblind – Can we say as much for environmentalism? by Jennifer Oladipo, Published in the November/December 2007 issue of Orion magazine. Key quote from article: “If environmentalism continues to appear mostly white and well-off, it will continue to be mostly white and well-off, even as racial and economic demographics change. The environmental movement will continue to overlook the nuances, found in diversity of experience, that reveal multiple facets of environmental problems—and their solutions.”

Mainstreaming Diversity: From Paradigm to Practice Massachusetts Audubon Society (Mass Audubon) commissioned a study on urban audiences and environmental education at two of their sanctuaries – Boston Nature Center and Broad Meadow Brook in Worcester. Specifically, this involved measuring Mass Audubon’s ability to engage a diverse audience and to identify the barriers that keep under-represented audiences from visiting the Society’s urban sanctuaries more often. The research was carried out between November 2004 -August 2005 by Julian Agyeman Ph.D., Kathryn Newhall-Smith and Jenna Ringelheim.

Understanding Cultural Competency in Experiential Environmental Education Programs The Barr Foundation has made significant investments in experiential environmental education (E3) programs for youth. The foundation’s theory of change is that urban youth who are engaged in experiential learning opportunities from a young age will acquire knowledge, deep appreciation for the environment and the skills and self-efficacy to transform themselves into environmental stewards. This transformation from student to steward happens most quickly and most often when E3 programs are designed with a culturally competent foundation and succeed at reaching, engaging and drawing on these youth’s own cultural diversity. In the spring of 2005, three Boston environmental education programs who were participating in a Barr Foundation-sponsored Experiential Environmental Learning Cluster decided to deepen their understanding of cultural competency. Antioch New England Institute’s Community-based School Environmental project (CO-SEED), Urban Ecology Institute (UEI) and Mass Audubon’s Boston Nature Center (BNC) participated in the Cultural Competency Assessment Project. Through this project, consultants Judy Tso and Curdina Hill conducted individual cultural competency assessments at each organization. These assessments were aimed at capturing a snapshot of each organization’s current progress in cultural competency and creating sets of metrics to measure future progress around objectives of cultural competency. The report contains results from the assessments, recommendations for the environmental education field and a section on cultural competency metrics.

EE and Cultural Diversity The next installment of diversity content is now available on the NAAEE web site. This content is being provided as part of part of a long-term effort to boost the ability of educators working in EE and related fields to work with and involve culturally diverse audiences. The topics of the new content are listed below. The content from the first installment (summer 2006) appears immediately below the new content on the web pages. The new content by section includes:

• Introduction
  • In an effort to continue providing resources and a forum for those wanting to grow in culturally competent practices, EETAP and Intercambios have created these pages that will be updated quarterly with new issues and resources that we and other colleagues (including yourself) would like to share.
• Assessing Cultural Competency
  
  • Each quarter, we will present an assesment tool to look at various aspects of your organization, programs, membership, partnerships and plans.
• Articles of Interest
  
  • This section provides a supporting article about each quarter’s theme.
• Challenging Vignettes
  
  • If you were in this situation, what would you do?
• Mini-Lessons
  
  • Tips, practice, and reflection on various strategies in becoming more culturally competent.
• Success Stories and …
  
  • A collection of success stories, hard knock lessons about individuals and groups trying to make a difference.
• Definitions and Resources
  • Contributions from everyone on words to know and resources to check out.

Browning the Green Movement from the Los Angeles Alternative, September 15, 2006. Article about Latino activism focusing on urban parks and the LA River restoration plan, and two groups, “Mujeres de la Tierra” (Mothers of the Earth) and “Alianza de los Pueblos del Rio” (Alliance of River Communities). There is also a summary in the Utne Reader Online, La Nueva Revolucion

Rediscovering the River – related article to the above story, from Orion Afield, 2002, the story of how Friends of the LA River (FoLAR) learned to work with community groups in Chinatown and elsewhere in LA – “A defining moment in FoLAR’s evolution took place in 1998, when MacAdams combined forces with Chi Mui at a conference called A River Through Downtown, which FoLAR helped organize. It was the organization’s first significant attempt to explore not just environmental restoration, but how river advocacy, even in areas where the river was entirely channelized, could be tied to initiatives regarding open space and other community needs.” This alliance led to the establishment of the city’s first ever downtown state park – from what was once “The Cornfields,” and abandoned rail yard bordering Chinatown and the LA River. NOTE: This article which was at the URL: http://www.oriononline.org/pages/oa/02-2oa/LARiver.html is no longer available.

Environmental Education for Everyone (pdf – 541k) Article in the CREEC (California Regional Environmental Education Community) Winter 2006 Newsletter. Article spotlights many EE programs in the state that have a multicultural perspective.

Diversity Developments: Representative Diversification Activities in the Conservation Field
In the past, there was no one place to go to find out about diversity activity in the field of conservation, but ECO launched a national database in October 2005 which will fill that gap. Accessible online at www.eco.org/ccddirectory, the database currently lists more than 1300 diversification initiatives that organizations, companies and agencies offer or engage in to diversify their particular workforce or the field of conservation in general.  The goal of this year-long project was to educate, recruit, support and retain underrepresented groups within the conservation field, and diverse environmentalists (as well as recruiters) everywhere will find this to be an invaluable resource.

A formal report on this project presents findings in each of the various sectors, identifies trends and gaps in diversification efforts, discusses lessons learned, and makes recommendations.  Hard copies are available for purchase, but the report may also be downloaded in electronic format: Click Here

Parents of Under-represented Students in Science and Engineering Speak Out
According to the latest national science education/science literacy surveyfrom Bayer Corporation, despite the fact that women, African-Americans, Native Americans, and Hispanic Americans are under-represented in science and engineering (S&E) in the United States, parents of these students are overwhelmingly confident that their children—both boys and girls—can succeed in these subjects in school and in the workplace. The survey also reveals a subtle gender bias. While almost all the parents believe S&E careers are desirable for the children, 65% say they are “very desirable” for the sons, but only 41% say “very desirable” for their daughters. All parents were united in their belief that the science and engineering communities need to do a better job of making today’s students more aware of the wide range of job opportunities available to them in these fields.  To view a copy of the report, The Bayer Facts of Science Education XI: American Parents Speak Out About Their Children and Science, go to http://www.bayerus.com/msms/news/facts.cfm?mode=detail&id=survey05.

Standing on Whose Shoulders? Why race and class matter to the environmental movement, By Michel Gelobter, et al GristMagazine, 27 May 2005

AEOE joblist
mentioned in article on Workplace Diversity, called “Finding Employers that Want to Be Inclusive”: http://www.collegejournal.com/successwork/workplacediversity/20050422-needleman.html

Diversity of Temperament – Don’t forget the Quiet Ones! “Whenquiet kids get forgotten in class” Teachers sometimes make the mistake of assuming that students who don’t speak
up have little to contribute. By Toni Weingarten | Contributor to The Christian Science Monitor, from the April 26, 2005 edition – http://www.csmonitor.com/2005/0426/p11s01-legn.html This article has ramifications on culture and language as well. Excellent advice!

Rainbow Warrior – Dramatizing the “death” of environmentalism doesn’t help urban people of color, or anyone else, By Adrienne Maree Brown; Grist Magazine, March 15, 2005

Equity and Diversity – from Eisenhower National Clearinghouse for Mathematics and Science Education (ENC Online) A resource for educators concerned about creating equitable conditions in which every child can succeed.  These equity materials can help teachers and administrators acknowledge children’s diverse strengths, identify inequities, and improve
the ways they serve students with varied needs. Including articles like “Thinking of Each and Every One” about considering the needs of each child and finding hidden biases; Self Assessment – Checklists and rubrics to identify gaps in equity awareness; Stories, Cases, and Vignettes, Journal Articles, and Selected Resources, which contains many further links, such as this resource for Multicultural Approaches - an excellent resource. NOTE: Sadly, the amazing free resources of ENC Online are now only available through paid subscription. According to them, “the Eisenhower National Clearinghouse (ENC) is no longer funded by the U.S. Department of Education and has discontinued operations as of September 29, 2005.

ENC materials are still available from our new web site, goENC.com. goENC.com is a subscription service that continues to offer the same timely, high-quality math and science resources you’ve come to expect from ENC. From professional development to lesson plans to web resources, it’s all here. Learn how your school, school district, university, or library can subscribe at goENC.com/subscribe/. We have also added subscriptions for individuals.”

Schools tackling tough lessons about tolerance, By S.L. Wykes, Mercury News, Sun, Feb. 13, 2005 (you may need to register (free) to see the article).  Students at Los Altos High School, in Los Altos, California, got a powerful lesson in stereotyping and intolerance last week as they watched videos of first-person accounts from their peers about the name-calling, ejection, and isolation they’d endured because of the assumptions people make based on their appearance. The video project sparked debate among students, staff, and parents in this northern California community. Read the full story in this San Jose Mercury News article. (Free registration may be required.) The best part is the last line… and why we are talking about it here! NOTE: This article is now archived and you would need to pay to view it. Try the library.

Putting the “Public” back into Public Health: Multicultural Partners as Mentors in Environmental Health Education (pdf-370K), article by Marsha Henning in the Fall 2004 issue of Clearing Magazine

Educating for Eco-Justice in an Era of Ecological Uncertainty (pdf-124K), article by Chet Bowers in the Fall 2004 issue of Clearing Magazine

Taking Scientific Approaches (The PDF of this article has since been taken offline, but you can find it in libraries) Christopher Vang recommends multiple approaches
to teaching science to Limited English Proficient students.  Article in the December 2004 issue of Language Magazine.

Cultural Adaptation in Outdoor Programming Sheila M. Fabrizio and James T. Neill, University of New Hampshire. This article provides links between cross-cultural literature
and outdoor programming and suggests a need for facilitating participants’ adaptation. In many ways, entering an outdoor program is like entering another country where
environmental and cultural differences require the adaptation of a participant’s behavioral norms and expectations. Outdoor programs often provide an intentionally
different culture and opportunities for facilitated adaptation. Participants leave the comforts of home and social support networks and face challenges of
a new outdoor environment. An inability to adapt to a program’s environment can cause negative behaviors, failure to cope with program settings, and interpersonal
conflicts. Based on cross-cultural adaptation literature, it can be suggested that successful adaptation requires preparation for the new environment, an
understanding of cultural norms operating in the new setting, and an understanding of typical  stages of adaptation and adaptation processes which are likely to occur. For full PDF of article, click here

Approaches to Environmental Education by Indigenous Cultures in North America   “Since the long term goal of environmental education is to change behaviors
so that waste of natural resources can be prevented, it is important to share and exchange information as well as learn from the teachings of these indigenous
cultures, namely Native Americans.” A publication from the EETAP Resource Library, in pdf format.

9/2004: Sierra Club’s ‘Inside the Outdoors’ Brings A Diverse Coalition Together To Increase Outdoor Environmental Education Opportunities For California ’s At-risk Youth by
Jennifer Ruiz-Kohn (reprint from the Northern Fall 2004 Newsletter)
URGENT ACTION NEEDED TO SUPPORT OUTDOOR ENVIRONMENTAL EDUCATION FOR UNDERSERVED AND AT-RISK YOUTH – get on the Sierra
Club’s “Inside the Outdoors” Listserv to find out what you can do

EnglishLanguage Development Theory and Practice: Background Information for EE Providers (pdf file – 209K) A project supported by a grant from the U. S. Environmental
Protection Agency’s Environmental Education Training and Partnership (EETAP) Program in partnership with Project Learning Tree, Project WILD and Project WET in California

Review of Literature on English Language Learning and Gardening (pdf file – 57K)
This literature Search was compiled by Sandi Funke for her Master Ed. Projectat CSU Hayward

Building A More Inclusive Environmental Movement © By Running-Grass,
Director, Three Circles Center

Diversity Spoken in 39 Languages – 6/16/04 LA Times article (now archived)

Ecological Education: A System Rooted in Diversity, by Michael J. Caduto. From the Journal of Environmental Education, vol. 29, 1998. (This is just a free preview of the article – you have to purchase the entire article, although you might find this Journal at University Libraries.)

EElink’s publications on Environmental Justice and EE: Articles (all available as PDF files) include, “Environmental Education for Empowerment,” “Environmental Justice and Environmental Education,” “Environmental Justice in a Changing World: A Historical Perspective,” and “Role of Education in Environmentalism and Social Justice” Seeds
of Justice, Seeds of Hope by Anna Marie Carter – Watts Garden Club.

From Yes Magazine, Issue #25, “Our Planets Our Selves” Spring, 2003

What it Takes: Pre-K-12 Design Principles to Broaden Participation in Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics New report evaluates pre-k-12 programs that aim to help underrepresented groups succeed in mathematics and science

Key Ideas of Multicultural Environmental Education from Running-Grass and the Three Circles Center for Multicultural Environmental Education

Valuing Diversity has a great page of links on valuing cultural diversity from Race Matters.org

Native Americans and the Environment a website full of resources, references, articles and more: This non-profit project has three goals: to educate the public on environmental problems in Native American communities; to explore the values and historical experiences that Native Americans bring to bear on environmental issues; to promote conservation measures that respect Native American land and resource rights.

The 50th Anniversary of Brown vs. the Board of Education was May 17, 2004. While this isn’t directly related to environmental and outdoor education, it is essential to the larger cultural context and it seems too important an educational diversity landmark to leave off of this page, so here are a few links with information, articles, and opinions about the end of “Separate but Equal.”

• 50th Anniversary
  of Brown vs. BOE, from the Association
  for Supervision and Curriculum Development’s (ASCD -
  publishers of Educational
  Leadership)
• Brown at 50: the Education
  of a Nation, May 13, 2004 MSNBC story
• Horizons
  of Opportunities: Celebrating 50 Years of Brown v. Board of Education –
  May 17, 1954-2004 from the California Teacher’s Association (CTA)
• 50 Years After
  Brown: California’s “Texas Challenge,” by Peter
  Schrag, from Hispanic Vista,
  Feb 11, 2004
• CNN Educator Guide: CNN
  Presents Classroom Edition:”The
  Gap: 50 Years after the Brown Ruling” (airing Monday, May 17,
  from 4:00-5:00 a.m. on CNN.)
• Tolerance.org: Brown v. Board – 50 Years Later

And yet… all of us who teach at outdoor schools or nature centers where a variety of schools come to us can see that although de jure segregation officially ended 50 years ago, de facto segregation continues, mostly along socio-economic/class lines. Some schools are very diverse, and some have a distance to go before getting there still. As our state population demographics shift, it is more important than ever that we get the message of environmental education out effectively to ALL of our audiences. 50 years of AEOE, 50 years of Brown, and “miles to go before we sleep” on both fronts. May we remain alert to the challenge and keep reaching out to touch kids’ lives in so many ways for another 50 years and beyond! Comments on this from Running-Grass

Achieving Diversity in the Environmental Education Community, from the North American Association for Environmental Education (NAAEE) website

GreenPower article from the May 5, 2004 Dallas Morning News, sent in by Jack Shu. The Environmental Justice implications of this article are profound.

Paper: Four Models of Community Collaborative Efforts: Experiments in open engagement among people of different backgrounds, by David L. Romain; presented at the AEOE
2004 Statewide conference, “Teaching Outside the Lines” in the GSEEC Diversity Strand workshop: Ingredients for Authentic Collaboration and Partnership

“The Roots of Hatred” Our brains are programmed to distrust outsiders.  But are we hard-wired to hate? Article in the May-June 2004 issue of AARP Magazine by Sharon Begley. Several more articles in this issue as well.

“Why Race Matters (in the Fight for a Healthy Planet)” – a series of articles on diversity in the May/June 2004 issue of Sierra Also see “We’re All In This Together”, an interview with Hilda Solis, a Latina Legislator from East LA.

First African American Wins the Goldman Environmental Prize, 4/19/04 On April 19, 2004, Margie Eugene Richard made history by becoming the first African American to win the prestigious Goldman Environmental Prize, the award begun in 1990. The Goldman Environmental Prize is the world’s largest award for grassroots environmentalism and carries a cash award of $125,000 for each winner. The awards ceremony, attended by 3,000 guests, was presented in San Francisco.

Hispanics Lend a Strong Hand to Green Issues by Paul McHugh, Chronicle Outdoors Writer, San Francisco Chronicle, Thursday, Feb 26, 2004

“Deciding on Diversity” by Richard Rodriguez for the AEOE Spring 2004 Newsletter

Reaching Out With Respect: Environmental Education with Underserved Communities by Bonnie Sachatello-Sawyer and Shamu Fenyvesi, Clearing Magazine #115, Winter 2004.

What Is Environmental Education? by Sharon Fuller. From Earth Island Journal, Fall 1998

Re-Orienting Environmental Education for Environmental Justice (pdf) Running Grass and Julian Agyeman, position paper from the Second People of Color Environmental Leadership Summit (other Summit II Resource Policy Papers Here)

Principles of Environmental Justice from the Second People of Color Environmental Leadership Summit

Educational Reform in an Era of Ecological Crisis by C.A. Bowers. Great article!

Re-evaluating our Purpose: Environmental Education and Diversity, A provocative article from the Graduate Program in Education at IslandWood, by Karen Matsumoto and Kristin Poppo: A conversation on Diversity in EE from New Horizons for Learning

Bioneers Articles on Biological and Cultural Diversity “Voices” of Julia Butterfly Hill, Malcolm Margolin and Wade Davis

A Christian Perspective on Environmental Justice by Jim Schwab, from “Care of the Earth – an Environmental Resource Manual for Church Leaders,” which is part of the Web of Creation – “Transforming Faith-based Communities for a Sustainable World.” Also see their page, Environmental Justice, Environmental Racism, and Eco-Justice – this is an excellent resource with definitions and explanations.

The Red Road: The Indigenous Worldview as a Prerequisite for Effective Character Education (pdf), Don Trent Jacobs. (Paths of Learning Magazine, Summer 2001, Issue #9, pp. 6-9).

Making Differences Matter: A New Paradigm for Managing Diversity Diversity efforts in the workplace have been undertaken with great goodwill, but, ironically, they often end up fueling tensions. They rarely spur the leaps in organizational effectiveness that are possible. Two paradigms for diversity are responsible, but a new third paradigm is showing it can address the problem. Leaders in third-paradigm companies are proactive about learning from diversity; they encourage people to make explicit use of cultural experience at work; they
fight all forms of dominance and subordination, including those generated by one functional group acting superior to another; and they ensure that the inevitable tensions that come from a genuine effort to make way for diversity are acknowledged and resolved with sensitivity. Order a reprint of this article from Harvard Business Online.

Wild and in Color  The Wonderings and Wanderings of a “Colored” Man’s Love Affair with Nature

Organizations

(now in alphabetical order)

Asian Pacific Environmental Network (APEN) APEN seeks to empower low-income Asian Pacific Islander (API) communities to achieve environmental and social justice.  APEN believes that the environment includes everything around us: where we live, work and play. And we strive to build grassroots organizations that will improve the health, well-being
and political strength of our communities.

California Mini-Corps The California Mini-Corps School-Year Program was initiated in 1974. The school year programs evolved from the Mini-Corps Summer Program. The idea for a corps of people from rural migrant background to work not only in the summer school, but in the regular school year was born, and put into action in 1974. The Mini-Corps students would use their talent and dedication to work in migrant impacted classrooms, and would be the link between the migrant community and the schools. They would be personally acquainted with each child and their family; they could share their hopes and frustrations. Most important, they would be role models that hopefully would raise the aspiration of migrant children. Through the summer and school-year programs the Mini-Corps students provide services to the migrant children of California.

Center for Community Action and Environmental Justice The Center for Community Action and Environmental Justice is a 501 (c) (3) non-profit organization with its main office located in Riverside, California. The Center’s goal is to bring groups of people together to find opportunities for cooperation, agreement and problem solving. We work with community groups in developing and sustaining democratically based, participatory organizations that promote involvement of a diverse segment of the community in ways that empower.

Center for Diversity and the Environment  One of the premier organizations addressing inclusiveness within the environmental movement. Lost of good resources on their website.

Center for Research on Education, Diversity and Excellence (CREDE) CREDE is a federally funded research and development program focused on improving the education of students whose ability to reach their potential is challenged by language or cultural barriers, race, geographic location, or poverty. From 1996-2001, CREDE funded 31 research projects around the country. Researchers in these projects gathered data and tested curriculum models in wide-ranging settings and with diverse student populations. CREDE offers a wide range
of  multi-media products (interactive CD-ROMs, videos, online directories), print publications, and a useful website for practitioners, researchers, and parents. Coalition on the   Environment and Jewish Life (COEJL) The Coalition on the Environment and Jewish Life (COEJL) deepens the Jewish community’s commitment to the stewardship of creation and
mobilizes the resources of Jewish life and learning to protect the Earth and all its inhabitants.

Communities for a Better Environment:
Environmental Health and Justice for California’s Urban Communities. Communities for a Better Environment (CBE) is an environmental health and justice non-profit organization, promoting clean air, clean water and the development of toxin-free communities. CBE’s unique three-part strategy provides grassroots activism, environmental research and legal assistance within underserved urban communities. CBE directly equips residents impacted by industrial pollution with the tools to inform, monitor, and transform their immediate environment.

Eastern Sierra Institute for Collaborative Education (ESICE); our mission is to facilitate innovative educational partnerships. Many involve academic institutions, resource agencies, schools and less traditional partners including the tribal communities. What we are offering in the realm of diversity approaches, is called Preparing for Engagement (c). Our  organization is exploring diversity from a slightly different orientation, but I think it is relevant. As an educational nonprofit promoting inclusiveness, we find that problems arise in the collaborative process when participants are unaware of their own personal assumptions, how they feel about issues, and the environment they find themselves in–in short when they fail to overtly, thoughtfully probe the uncomfortable diversity issues inherent in collaboration.

EdChange.org has a Multicultural Pavilion that is just FULL of great resources! Their Mission: ” Through the Multicultural Pavilion, I strive to provide resources for educators, students, and activists to explore and discuss multicultural education; facilitate opportunities for educators to work toward self-awareness and development; and provide forums for educators to interact and collaborate toward a critical, transformative approach to multicultural education.” From Personal Growth to Engaging Lessons, this is a GREAT resource.

Environmental Justice and Climate Change Initiative The mission of the Environmental Justice and Climate Change initiative is to educate and activate the peoples of North America
to drive the creation and implementation of just climate policies. The primary focus of our work is to change policies and practices in the United States, but our perspective and the context for our work is international. The EJCC Initiative supports energy efficiency, renewable energy, and conservation policies while seeking equitable measures to protect and assist the communities most affected by climate change.

Environmental Justice Resource Center The Environmental Justice Resource Center (EJRC) at Clark Atlanta University was formed in 1994 to serve as a research, policy, and  information clearinghouse on issues related to environmental justice, race and the environment, civil rights, facility siting, land use planning, brownfields, transportation equity,
suburban sprawl, and Smart Growth. The overall goal of the center is to assist, support, train, and educate people of color – students, professionals, and grassroots community leaders – with the goal of facilitating their inclusion into the mainstream of environmental decision-making. The center is multi-disciplinary in its focus and approach. It serves as a bridge among the social and behavioral sciences, natural and physical sciences, engineering, management, and legal disciplines to solve environmental problems. The center’s programs build on
the work that it staff has been engaged in for over two decades. Great page of books on environmental justice.

The Faces of Science: African Americans in the Sciences Profiled here are African American men and women who have contributed to the advancement of science and engineering. The accomplishments of the past and present can serve as pathfinders to present and future engineers and scientists. African American chemists, biologists, inventors, engineers, and mathematicians have contributed in both large and small ways that can be overlooked when chronicling the history of science. By describing the scientific history of selected African
American men and women we can see how the efforts of individuals have advanced human understanding in the world around us.

Fledgling Birder Institute  The Fledging Birders Institute (FBI) has the unique focus of actively exposing new and broader audiences to the enjoyment and benefits of birdwatching. Our approach incorporates state-of-the-art educational theories and methods with avian knowledge to create meaningful and enticing exposures to birds for potential future birdwatchers.

GreenAction for Health and Environmental Justice: Greenaction mobilizes community power to win victories that change government and corporate policies and practices to protect health and to promote environmental justice.

Indigenous Environmental Network “A network of Indigenous Peoples empowering Indigenous Nations and communities towards sustainable livelihoods, demanding environmental justice and maintaining the Sacred Fire of our traditions.”

InThis Place, Inc. is a 501(c)3 educational organization founded in March 2001. Our mission is to promote cultural awareness and survival through the arts and direct cultural exchange, and to help bring into balance the relationship between human beings and the natural world by revealing our vital connection to the land and the life it supports.
We empower young people of diverse cultures and backgrounds to speak, and to share their art; to examine and understand what we share in common as human beings; to explore and honor the things that make our cultures distinct, and each one of us as individuals unique and worthy of acknowledgment and support. Through sharing our stories The Tracking Way magazine brings increased awareness and understanding to the issues and challenges that face many Native people and communities. In This Place joins a growing awareness that the diverse knowledge and culture of indigenous people can reveal new and different visions of what it means to be human that are of value to us all.

Kids Against Pollution (KAP) Pollution issues are intimately connected to issues of poverty & prejudice. We have not changed our name but are raising awareness that these issues are connected. KAP’s focus is pollution, which impacts poverty & prejudice, and poverty and prejudice that create pollution. Decades of depleting natural resources leave future livelihoods without. All we create comes from our natural resources, they are like having money in the bank. If you don’t put money in the bank there is no money there for you, and the money you have needs to be taken care of. Communities with the most pollution are often communities of color or low income or both. KAP problem solves with others and so we Advance  Partnerships, Prosperity & Peace. Prosperity comes from using Sustainable Development practices. Peace is the result of working in partnership, equally with others on human rights and social justice and pollution issues. Like in nature, everything is connected.

KIDS for the BAY is a multicultural environmental education organization. We collaborate with teachers to inspire environmental consciousness in children and cultivate a love of learning. We partner with low income, urban schools and use the local environment as a living laboratory for learning. We address environmental justice issues and teach our children that everyone has the right to live in a clean and healthy environment. Our students clean up and restore urban creeks and raise and release Pacific Chorus Frogs into their adopted creeks. They complete pollution reduction projects and get their families involved. Students teach their families and peers about safe bay food consumption and they interview local politicians about environmental justice and pollution issues in their neighborhoods. Please visit our website at kidsforthebay.org

Literacy for Environmental Justice Literacy for Environmental Justice (LEJ) is an urban environmental education and youth empowerment organization created specifically to address the unique ecological and social concerns of Bayview Hunters Point, San Francisco, and the surrounding communities of Mission, Potrero Hill, Visitacion Valley, and Excelsior. Their
efforts have grown to encompass seven program areas: Environmental Justice Education, Heron’s Head Park Programs, The Living Classroom Project, Youth Envision, Youth IMPACT, Slough Youth, Youth Promoting Green Energy

The Ma’at Youth Academy The Ma’at Youth Academy is a multicultural environmental organization dedicated to a safer, cleaner healthier environment for children and youth. Through research, public education and community organizing MYA creates a system of community monitors to minimize human exposure to environmental hazards to preserve good health in communities of color and low-income areas, especially as it applies to children.

Maidu Stewardship Project – “Saving Maidu Culture, One Seedline at a Time.” A restoration project using traditional Maidu land stewardship practices in cooperation with the Plumas National Forest. The Maidu Stewardship Project focuses on the understory of the forest, the oaks, shrubs and flowering plants that have traditionally provided the necessities of Maidu life. It is the first place in the nation where Native Americans have begun applying traditional stewardship methods to national forest land. Read this article from High Country News for more information. Contact: Lorena Gorbet / P.O. Box 426, Greenville,  95947 / (530) 284-1601 / E-mail:

MERITO: Multicultural Education for Resource Issues Threatening Oceans MERITO is a marine conservation outreach effort comprising approximately twenty-five regional groups that participate in ocean and watershed education programs that serve students, teachers, adults and families living near the Monterey Bay National Marine Sanctuary (MBNMS). The mission of MERITO is to provide programs and products for our diverse citizens in order to increase their understanding of ocean-related threats within sanctuaries so that our entire
community can actively contribute to ocean preservation resulting ultimately in full protection of our special marine resources. With limited resources, the initial focus for the first year was developing partnerships with Spanish-speaking residents and visitors, as they represent the largest multicultural population in the Central Coast region. With full funding and implementation of MERITO, we plan to address additional multilingual and multicultural communities that reside in the Central Coast area, and eventually the entire California region.

N A A L A -
Natives, Africans, Asians, Latinos(as) and Allies: A Professional Group of the Association for Experiential Education (AEE)

The National Hispanic Environmental Council
(NHEC) is a national, non-profit, membership-based organization founded in 1995. NHEC seeks to educate, unite, and engage our community on environmental and sustainable development issues; encourage Hispanics to actively work to preserve and protect our environment; provide a national voice for Hispanics before federal, state, and non-profit environmental decision-makers; and actively assist Hispanics to pursue the many career, business, educational, and policy opportunities in the environment and natural resources field. We develop programs—in partnership with the environmental movement—that accomplish this mission, and furthers our guiding credo: “because it’s our environment too.”

People of Color Environmental Groups Directory The People of Color Environmental Groups Directory 2000 is the only resource guide of its type in the country. The current
edition of the directory lists more than 400 people-of-color groups from 45 states, the District of Columbia, and Puerto Rico, up from 200 groups in 1992. Created as a standard reference guide, the directory is designed to help environmental justice organizations network with one another, as well as aid public and private decisionmakers reach community constituents and stakeholder groups.

The Sierra Club’s Environmental Justice Program The Sierra Club’s Environmental Justice program supports local communities to fight for a clean and healthy environment
for people of color and others whose neighborhoods have been targeted by polluting industries. We invite you to learn more about our Environmental Justice work, and find out how you can help. Also see their Human Rights and the Environment page

Society for Advancement of Chicanos and Native Americans in Science (SACNAS) The mission of SACNAS is to encourage Chicano/Latino and Native American students to pursue graduate education and obtain the advanced degrees necessary for research careers and science teaching professions at all levels.

STAR – Students and Teachers Against Racism Through education, we seek to bring the image of Native Americans into the present, to support the well being of Native children in schools through the accurate depiction of history and by raising awareness of the need for sensitivity to Native culture as well bringing recognition to the ongoing contributions of Native Peoples today, and to celebrate the varied and rich cultural traditions of all Native people in the United States.

Three Circles Center for Multicultural Environmental Education, Running-Grass,
Executive Director. Three Circles Center publishes The Journal of Culture, Ecology and Community©. Key Ideas Multicultural Environmental Education; Mailing Address: Three Circles Center, c/o 6 Terrace Drive, Sausalito, CA, 94965; Phone: 415-377-1276

Urban Habitat working for social and environmental justice. Publishes Race, Poverty and the Environment Magazine. Founded in 1989, Urban Habitat’s mission is to develop multicultural urban environmental leadership in the Bay Area. Urban Habitat builds bridges between environmentalists, social justice advocates, government leaders, and the business community. Our work has helped to broaden and frame the agenda on toxic pollution, transportation, tax and fiscal reform, brownfields, and the nexus between inner-city  disinvestments and urban sprawl.

Wishtoyo Foundation The Wishtoyo Foundation
protects and preserves the culture and history of coastal communities and fosters responsibility to our waters, marine habitats and watersheds through research, education, community action and where necessary, citizen enforcement. We aim to utilize traditional Chumash beliefs, practices, songs, stories and dances to create self-respect and a greater awareness of our connection with, and dependence upon, the natural Environment. The founder and director of Wishtoyo is Mati Waiya, who was a speaker at our statewide conference in Malibu in 2002.

Events and Opportunities
Specifically those with a diversity or multicultural emphasis,
or focus on groups that traditionally work with diverse populations
- Also see “Opportunities for Educators” for
more Grants and Funding, Training,
etc., and the AEOE Calendar for more events.

• AEOE Spring Conferences always include a workshop strand on diversity/inclusivity. The very first “Core Values Statement” adopted by the AEOE board relating to our new Vision Statement and Strategic Plan was an Inclusivity Values Statement. AEOE feels very strongly about the importance of inclusive environmental education practices for our diverse population of students, and strives to provide professional development on methods, ideas, and philosophies of inclusive education at our conferences. In addition to workshops on diveristy/inclusivity, our Spring 2007 Conference keynote speaker was Dr. Carlos Cortés, widely regarded as one of the founders of the multicultural education movement in California.

• MAKING DIVERSITY COUNT: AN ONLINE ANTIBIAS COURSE FOR EDUCATORS
  The Anti-Defamation League offers a free, online continuing education course in support of its Making Diversity Count high school curriculum, which aims to combat bias
  and promote respect. For more information, contact Melissa Morgan at 562-773-4619 or. Also see ADL’s “A World of Difference Institute” for more educational resources

• California Association for Bilingual Education (CABE) CABE holds both annual and special regional conferences in California. The California Association for Bilingual Education  (CABE) annual conference is a major educational event for school and university personnel, parents and other individuals who work with all students and
  specifically English Language Learners and heritage language students. Check their website for updates on conference dates and locations.

• Cases Workshops: EE Professionals Jack Shu and Sandi Funke will begin offering tailored workshops for California Environmental Education organizations, based on
  the new EE diversity training module “What’s Fair got to do with it?” as part of their Diversity in Environmental Education Workshop Series.

• Results are in from the CONSERVATION CAREERS DIVERSITY PROJECT SURVEY The Environmental Careers Organization (ECO) conducted a national research project on initiatives/activities/programs (i.e. fellowships, scholarships, field research education programs, K-12 programs, etc.) which aim to educate, recruit, support and retain underrepresented groups within the conservation field. The end result is now available: a report of trends and findings and an interactive online directory of activities.

• EE & DIVERSITY FACILITATOR WORKSHOPS: The Environmental Education and Training Partnership (EETAP) offers an Environmental Education and Diversity Facilitator Workshop. The workshop introduces participants to the methods and strategies needed to facilitate six- and two-hour diversity workshops for environmental educators working in formal and non-formal settings. The training focuses on how to lead a case discussion, use open ended questions, and develop inclusive practices that users can apply in professional and volunteer settings. Check the website for upcoming trainings.

• NAAEE Conferences: usually in October. NAAEE Scholarships include The Diversity Scholarship Fund and The William B Stapp College Student Fund. Conferences include
  hundreds of presentations, exceptional keynote speakers, workshops, field trips, Exhibit Fair, Special Tracks for K-12 teachers, Spanish-language speakers and EE Researchers.

• SACNAS (Society for the Advancement of Chicanos and Native Americans in Science) Conferences:
  “Science Revolution in Minority Communities: What Progress Have We Made?”
  Tampa, Florida, October 26-29, 2006; 2007 Conference: 10/11
  - 10/14, 2007: Kansas City, Missouri, and 2008 Conference: 10/09
  - 10/12, 2008: Salt Lake City, Utah. The SACNAS National Conference provides a forum for students, faculty and professionals in science and education to share research, address the unique accomplishments and challenges of minorities in science, form networks of mentors and colleagues, and gain access to educational and career opportunities. The Society holds its national conference through mentorship, professional training, scientific presentations and cultural activities to further the achievements of all minority scientists.

• (PAST) NATIONAL SUMMIT ON DIVERSITY IN THE ENVIRONMENTAL FIELD, put on by The Minority Environmental Leadership Development Initiative (MELDI), a project at the University of Michigan’s School of Natural Resources and Environment (SNRE). Held in August 2005 (check back to website for conference proceedings), the conference focused on the state of diversity in the environmental field, how to enhance it and focus on examining techniques of introducing and implementing
  diversity practices. Excellent Resource available from MELDI: One of the goals of MELDI is to identify people of color who have had outstanding
  careers in the environmental field and develop profiles of them. This will serve both as a celebration of their achievements, but as a means of recognizing
  the impact that minorities have had and could have on the environmental field. To view the The Paths We Tread: Profiles of the Careers of Minority Environmental
  Professionals, please click on the link: The Paths We Tread

• (PAST) Faculty Diversity And Environmental Justice Research Symposium, June 7-9, 2007
  Hosted by the University of Michigan’s School of Natural Resources and Environment, Ann Arbor, Michigan
  Call for abstracts due February 15th
  Call for papers (for those wanting to submit articles for a book) on May 30th.
  You can submit abstracts electronically by clicking on the following link: http://www.surveymonkey.com/s.asp?u=995893078396.
  To complete the form for entries into the Environmental Justice Research Directory (EJRD) please click on the following link:
  http://www.surveymonkey.com/s.asp?u=337183078514

See the AEOE Calendar for more EE events and Opportunities for Educators for more training, grants, funding and other opportunites

If you know of an event coming up with a diversity/multicultural emphasis,
please let me know and I’ll post it here!

California EE Providers with a Diversity
or Multicultural Emphasis:

Agua Pura The Agua Pura Leadership Institute was designed by University of California Cooperative Extension-Santa Barbara County, Santa Barbara City College,
County public health and water agencies, and local Latino and environmental groups. The Institute was developed to provide support for youth leaders who
can involve Latino youth in understanding local water quality issues. The focus of the Institute is on local watershed issues, strategies to involve the Latino
community and how resources should be adapted to local needs and interests. The Leadership Institute relied on local expertise to address environmental
science, the arts, computer resources, youth qualities, and education processes. Education resources from Give Water A Hand, Global Rivers Environmental Education
Network (GREEN), Adopt-A-Watershed, and California Aquatic Science Education Consortium (CASEC) served as the foundation for improving understanding of
how to involve local youth in watershed protection. Latino community leaders and other community members were involved in learning to use these materials
and then analyzed how the materials could be adapted for local use. Relying on a small army of local college students led by one of the participants in
the pilot Leadership Institute, Agua Pura continues to involve Latino youth and youth leaders throughout Santa Barbara County in workshops, camp programs,
and after-school activities.

Audubon Center at Debs Park Over 25,000 kids, mostly Latino, live within 2 miles of the Audubon Center at Debs Park, near downtown Los Angeles. These
kids are often left out of environmental education opportunities. In fact, the grandparents and great-grandparents in the community, often from rural
backgrounds, possess a far broader knowledge of the natural world than do the younger generations. With family-oriented educational programming, the Audubon
Center at Debs Park addresses these disparities and serves as a model for urban nature centers across the country.

Eco-Village Farm EcoVillage
is a model for growing healthy youth and healthy communities. People are an important part of the environment and we want to broaden the range of people
involved in environmental and social justice work to include urban residents and people of various cultural backgrounds.”  – Shyaam Shabaka, EcoVillage
Founder and Executive Director

Cross Cultural Environmental Leadership
(XCEL) Academy, San Francisco. The mission of the Cross Cultural Environmental Leadership (XCEL) Academy is to support high academic achievement and equity
by fostering environmental literacy and leadership among culturally diverse youth. XCEL Academy offers high school students opportunities to examine the connections
between natural science, urban ecology, environmental justice and cultural diversity. Our goal is to prepare students to think critically and become
life-long learners who are leaders for sustainability and environmental justice.

Hidden Villa Multicultural Camps. See their statement on diversity Frank and Josephine Duveneck established our multicultural summer camp in 1945. The idea is to build relationships
between children of different backgrounds, using the natural environment of Hidden Villa as a teaching platform. At first everyone said it wouldn’t work—“rich
families wouldn’t send their kids to camp with kids from poorer neighborhoods.” Fifty years and generations of campers later, we know it works. At summer camp differences
aren’t ignored, but discussed in a safe and supportive environment. Children of high tech executives learn what they have in common with formerly homeless
children. We offer scholarship assistance to two-thirds of our campers each summer.

KIDS for the BAY is a multicultural environmental education organization. We collaborate with teachers to inspire
environmental consciousness in children and cultivate a love of learning. We partner with low income, urban schools and use the local environment as a living
laboratory for learning. We address environmental justice issues and teach our children that everyone has the right to live in a clean and healthy environment.
Our students clean up and restore urban creeks and raise and release Pacific Chorus Frogs into their adopted creeks. They complete pollution reduction projects
and get their families involved. Students teach their families and peers about safe bay food consumption and they interview local politicians about environmental
justice and pollution issues in their neighborhoods. Please visit our website at kidsforthebay.org Multicultural Education for Resource Issues Threatening Oceans (MERITO) MERITO
(Spanish for “merit” or “worth”) was developed in 2002 by the Monterey Bay Na t i o n a l Ma r i n e Sanctuary in partnership with
Latino communities in Central California to provide bilingual education and outreach concerning coastal and marine environments. Since its inception, MERITO
has served over 5,500 Spanish-speaking citizens in the Monterey area. The services for students focus on conservation practices that promote awareness and motivation;
prepare our bilingual and cross-cultural community for important environmental decisions, and build strong connections to our rich coastal and marine environments.

Palomar Race and Human Relations Camp operated through San Diego City Schools. Palomar Outdoor School
is an outdoor school at the top of Palomar Mountain where every sixth grade student in San Diego gets a chance to  live for one week.  The
experience is part of the sixth grade curriculum for San Diego Unified School District.  Students learn about science, history, nature, and tolerance.

Proyecto Bio-Regional de Educación Ambiental (PROBEA) PROBEA is a collaboration
of 10 organizations—five from each side of the US/Mexico border—who share the same bio-region, the Tijuana River Watershed. PROBEA has focused
on building a network of teachers, volunteers (maestros, promotoras) and scientists to reach communities through environmental education. PROBEA’s educational
programs are e x t r eme l y e f f e c t i v e because the information is relevant to individuals’ lives, the curriculum is activity based and engaging for educators
and their students and can be applied immediately in the classroom or the community. One of the most important aspects of this program is that it integrates cultures
and countries that share a common bio-region and its resources, towards working for a common goal: the conservation of our environment.

I know there are many more programs out there – if your program should be on this list, email the webmaster with information and I will add it.

Other Programs:

Eagle Eye Institute “Hands-On Exploratory Learning on Environmental Topics for Underserved Urban Youth of Color.” Based in Somerville, Massachusetts, Eagle Eye Institute is a 501(c)3 nonprofit organization dedicated to developing and disseminating innovative environmental education programs that transform the lives of urban youth.

See AEOE’s California EE Providers page for more

Books
and Materials

To use with students in environmental / outdoor education:

Lists and resources for books:

50 Multicultural
Books Every Child Should Know from the NEA (National Education Association)
Read Across America resources page. Also see their other booklists: African American Booklist, Asian-American Booklist, Spanish-English Bilingual Books, Native
American Booklist, and others. See the NEA Read Across America page for more.

Children’s Books from the National Museum of the American Indian Many more recommended books are on the museum’s Education and Teacher Resources page – lists of books (in pdf files) for teaching, kids, and various subjects.

Children’s Book Press (CBP)
is a nonprofit publisher of multicultural and bilingual children’s picture books. We view our efforts as part of a larger movement to create a children’s
literature of inclusion, giving all children a sense of their culture, history, and importance. When Harriet Rohmer founded CBP in 1975, it became one of the
country’s first publishers to focus exclusively on quality literature for children of Latino/Chicano, African American, Asian American, and Native American communities.
Our early books were tales from the oral tradition of indigenous peoples from across the Americas. Soon we included stories set in the contemporary United
States, poetry collections, and multicultural anthologies. Our authors and artists continue to have a strong commitment to and connection with their communities,
and many are activists committed to affecting social change. CBP has won numerous awards for its authentic multicultural literature and has served as a role
model for many mainstream publishers. We have always been located in the Bay Area and since August of 2000 we have been a proud resident of San Francisco’s
vibrant Mission District.

Lee and Low Books: Multicultural Children’s Books/ Books for Everyone LEE & LOW BOOKS is an independent children’s book publisher specializing in multicultural
themes. It is the company’s goal to meet the need for stories that children of color can identify with and that ALL children can enjoy. LEE & LOW
makes a special effort to work with artists of color, and takes pride in nurturing many authors and illustrators who are new to the world of children’s book publishing.

MulticulturalLiterature for Children and Young Adults This annotated selection of outstanding books with multicultural themes and topics for pre-kindergarten
through grade 9 is a must for all libraries. Discover great books published in the United States and Canada by or about Africans, Afro-Carribeans, African
Americans, American Indians, Asians, Pacific Asians, Asian Americans, and Latinos. The first volume (1980-1990) includes 400 titles about history,
people and places, seasons and celebrations, issues in today’s world, and much more. The second volume (1991-1996), compiled by Ginny Moore Kruse and
Kathleen T. Horning of the Cooperative Children’s Book Center at the UW-Madison, lists 500 titles — including picture books, fiction, biography, history,
folklore, poetry, and more. This volume lists books for senior high as well. On sale for $18 each.

Multicultural
Literature for Children and Young Adults, Volume 2 This selective bibiliography includes more than 350 books by and about people of color published in the
United States between 1991 and 1996 are recommended for children from birth to age 14. This is a follow up to the above list from the Cooperative Children’s Book Center

Running Grass‘ recommendations: “The stories are a key resource and the field of multicultural education is rich with literature. A few of my favorites, Home
Place by Crescent Dragonwagon, Roll of Thunder Hear My Cry, by Mildred D. Taylor and Tanya’s Reunion by Valerie Flournoy and Jerry Pinkney. These stories occur
on many levels, and reveal African-American perspectives, histories and links to the land, family and rural lifestyles. Discussions of the stories
with students can evoke their own personal stories of land and family. Giving space in the program for their voices is useful and creates the field for
rich sharing across cultural, class, gender, linguistic backgrounds and experiences.”

Individual Books recommended for Outdoor / Environmental Education:

Aani and the Treehuggers Teacher’s Guide from Lee and Low Books Multicultural Literature for the Classroom: One day, Aani, a young girl in a large Indian family, is resting against her
favorite tree when she hears the unfamiliar roar of trucks. She alerts the village women, who tell her that the sounds are made by men from the city who have come
to cut down the trees. The women explain to the cutters that their trees provide the villagers with food and fuel; are home to animals; and prevent erosion.
But the men are heedless. The cutters move closer, and as Aani makes a decisive move to save her special tree, the women around her are inspired and join
in. Together, they help save their beloved forest. Based on a true event in northern India, AANI AND THE TREE HUGGERS presents an enduring message of bravery
and environmental action.

Amelia’s Road, by Linda Jacobs Altman; illustrated by Enrique 0. Sanchez. Teacher’s Guide from Lee and Low Books Multicultural Literature for the Classroom. Amelia Luisa
Martinez hates roads. Los caminos, the roads, take her migrant worker family to fields where they labor all day, to schools where no one knows Amelia’s
name, and to bleak cabins that are not homes. She longs for the day when she doesn’t need to move again, and can live in a tidy white house with a fine shade tree.
One day Amelia discovers an “accidental road.” At its end she finds an amazing old tree. Its stately sense of permanence inspires her to put her
own roots down in a special way–by placing her favorite things in a box and burying it next to the tree, so she will always have a place to go back to.

Bug Watching with Charles Henry Turner by Michael Elsohn Ross. “A well-researched biography of a lesser-known scientist, complete with project ideas that extend
the book’s usefulness. …this entry in the Naturalist’s Apprentice series combines biographical information–this time on the life and work of entomologist
Charles Henry Turner (18671823)–with tips and activities, all expertly illustrated by Caple. Turner’s story is one of overcoming obstacles and prejudices as
the only African-American in his college class, the first to serve on the faculty of his university, and the first to be elected a member of the St.
Louis Academy of Science. Genuinely inspiring are the details of Turner’s experiments on the web-building instinct and intelligence of spiders, the
homing of ants, the color-blindness of bees. Charts, mazes, and diagrams shed light on Turner’s approach as well as provide clear directions on how
to replicate insect experiments, along with a list of supplies needed. Insect enthusiasts can investigate whether bees can tell time by setting up a flower
schedule and can test the learning abilities of cockroaches and caterpillars by observing them in a maze constructed of building blocks. Bugs are distinguished
from insects at the outset, and precise drawings and insets offer background information on the specific subjects of Turner’s studies.” — Copyright ©1997,
Kirkus Associates, LP. All rights reserved.

Cool Melons – Turn To Frogs! The Life and Poems of Issa; story and haiku translations by Matthew Gollub; illustrated by Kazuko G. Stone. Teacher’s Guide from Lee
and Low Books Multicultural Literature for the Classroom. The title of the book, COOL MELONS – TURN TO FROGS!, comes from a haiku by the Japanese
poet, Issa. Told in prose interspersed with 33 of Issa’s most delightful poems, the book is both a biography of the famed poet and an introduction
to haiku. The poems also appear in Japanese along the outside edges of the pages.

Giving Thanks: A Native American Good Morning Message, by Chief Jake Swamp, illustrated by Erwin Printup, Jr. Teacher’s
Guide from Lee and Low Books Multicultural Literature for the Classroom. Mohawk parents have traditionally taught their children to start each day by giving thanks to Mother Earth. “To be a human being is an honor, and we offer thanksgiving for all the gifts of life,” begins the Thanksgiving Address. This Native American good morning message is based on the belief that the natural world is a precious and rare gift. The whole universe–from the moon and the stars to the tiniest blade of grass–is addressed as one great family
It is a celebration of the beauty of Mother Earth, which Chief Jake Swamp of the Mohawk Nation, who is also a founder of the Tree of Peace Society, has adapted
especially for readers of all ages.

In a Nutshell, by Joseph Anthony, Illustrated by Cris Arbo, Dawn Publications. Okay, this book isn’t about diversity, but it is about the connectedness of all living things, and includes humans in the picture – which is missing in many childrens’ books. The story is full of metaphors – I use it to challenge students (who are now like the little acorn at the start of the
story, safe in the tree of childhood) to “break free of their shells and become bigger than they are” as they grow into teenagers and young adults, and to contribute to
their communities, to become “one of the tallest trees in the forest” so that, even after they die, they have left a legacy and made the world a better place just by being
in it. I think this ties in very well with environmental justice and community. The fact that the family shown in the end illustration is black is just a bonus
- a subliminal message that we are ALL part of the same web of life, the same Earth community. I end every week’s instruction with this book and highly recommend it!

Nature
Art with Chiura Obata by Michael Elsohn Ross. Obata is one of my personal favorite artists, and his story is as stunning as his paintings and drawings.
He moved to the California from Japan as a 17-year-old boy in 1903, survived (and sketched) the Great San Francisco Earthquake of 1906, was put into the
Japanese Internment Camp system during World War II (and made many moving sketches during this period), fell in love with and painted Yosemite’s scenery,
and became a professor at UC Berkeley. The book includes information and tips on sketching and painting. Part of Ross’s “Naturalist’s Apprentice” Series.

The Tree Is Older than You Are: A Bilingual Gathering of Poems & Stories from Mexico with Paintings by Mexican Artists, edited by Naomi Shihab Nye.
Simon & Schuster, 1995.

Wildlife Watching with Charles Eastman – there are many more in Michael Ross’s Naturalist’s Apprentice Series! Check them out!

For your own reading:

Books on Environmental Justice from the Environmental Justice Resource Center

The Colors of Nature: Culture, Identity, and the Natural World, Alison H. Deming and Lauret E. Savoy, editors, Milkweed Editions, 2002. Challenging
Euro-American ideas of wilderness as absurd, the writers in this book reaffirm the importance to cultural identity, whether Native American, Chicano, Mestizo, or Hawaiian, whether of Japanese, Lebanese, or African-American descent. Pointing out the ways that traditional cultural values have been limited, changed, co-opted or even made iconic,
the essays argue that to re-embrace the natural world is not an exercise in nostalgiaf but the source of a worldview that is powerfully provocative and resistant as well as restorative of both culture and the environment on which it depends.

EdChange Tools for Multicultural Education A packet of these great handouts were left out at the Spring 2005 AEOE State Conference: “20
(Self-)Critical Things I Will Do to Be a Better Multicultural Educator“; “Six Critical Paradigm Shifts for Equity in Education“; “The IS and the ISN’T of Multicultural Education“; “Stages
of Multicultural School Transformation“; “7 Key Characteristics of a Multicultural Education Curriculum“; All of these and much more are available as Word and PDF files for download
and sharing on the “Free Handouts and Tools” page of the Teacher’s Corner of the Multicultural Pavilion of EdChange.org – what a great resource! Thank you to Katie Davis of Field
to Market to You for bringing those in!

Heyday Books Heyday Books is dedicated to producing high-quality, accessible books about California. Founded in 1974 by Malcolm Margolin, Heyday has maintained a highly-respected list of titles covering California history and culture, natural history, literature, poetry, regional guides, and California Native American life for over 25 years.

Native Science Five centuries ago Europeans arrived on the American continent, but they did not listen to the people who had lived for millennia in harmony
with this land. Cajete now tells their story of indigenous science as a way of understanding, experiencing, and feeling the natural world.

News From Native California For fifteen years, News from Native California has provided an inside view of the California Indian world. Written and produced by California Indians
and those close to the Indian community, News provides an intimate portrait of traditional and contemporary California Indian culture and history. Published
quarterly, each issue has lively columns and features on art, language, literature, political concerns, traditional skills, ongoing and upcoming events, and
is illustrated with dozens of historical and contemporary photos.

Oyate is a Native organization working to see that our lives and histories are portrayed honestly, and so that all people will know our stories belong to us. Our work includes evaluation of texts, resource materials and fiction by and about Native peoples; conducting of teacher workshops, in which participants learn to evaluate children’s material for anti-Indian biases; administration of a small resource center and library; and distribution of children’s, young adult, and teacher books and materials, with an emphasis on writing and illustration
by Native people. We hope by making many good books available to encourage many more, especially from Native writers and illustrators.

Teaching Tolerance Magazine Published twice a year, Teaching Tolerance magazine showcases innovative tolerance initiatives in schools across the country. Tolerance.org is
a principal online destination for people interested in dismantling bigotry and creating, in hate’s stead, communities that value diversity. If you want
to know how to transform yourself, your home, your school, your workplace or your community, Tolerance.org is a place to start — and continue — the
journey. Also see Classroom Activities, Kits and Handbooks, 101 Tools for Tolerance, and so much more – this is a rich and useful website! I looked up “environmental” on their search engine and came up with this inspiring article about bringing students together through watershed study and restoration: Healing Waters, and this one on teaching sustainability: A
Standard to Sustain

The Tracking Way magazine brings increased awareness and understanding to the issues and challenges that face many Native people and communities. In This Place joins a growing awareness that the diverse knowledge and culture of indigenous people can reveal new and different visions of what it means to be human that are of value to us
all. In the words of Joseph Bruchac, editorial advisor to The Tracking Way, “Tracking means more than just following a trail. It means being able to perceive your
own place in the world, to see where others have been and to learn from what they have left behind. Today, the western culture that dominates the world economically
and militarily is truly at a crossroads. Young people and leaders alike seem uncertain of how to find their way and even what ways remain that are worth finding.
Yet the old knowledge is still there, not outworn, but as timeless as earth and sky, held strong in the memories of passage that Native peoples all over the
world have not relinquished. All that is needed are ears to hear and voices to speak, forums such as the one this magazine can provide. There has never been
a time when a publication such as The Tracking Way has been more needed.”

What’s Fair Got To Do With It: Diversity Cases From Environmental Educators Educators, non-formal educators, and community organizations will find these cases fascinating
reading and a powerful tool for professional development. While the cases are grounded in the experiences of a diverse group of environmental educators,
the questions and issues they raise apply to education in general and society as a whole. Each case is a candid, dramatic, and highly readable first-person
account that makes concrete the challenges of fairness, expectations, respect, and communication when people who share goals, perhaps, but not cultures,
interact. The ten cases arise from in-school and out-of-school settings and involve the real and perceived power relationships that cultural differences
often throw into high relief. The casebook includes facilitator notes and commentary about each case. It is designed to promote rich discussion and
thoughtful reflection and to develop principles of practice that users can apply to their own work or volunteer settings. $21.50 from WestEd

Videos and other media:

Bullfrog Films – Films and videos about the environment, ecology, sustainable development, indigenous people, cultural diversity , and science and society
for K-12.

Earth Bridge – Video. The Earth Bridge Project is an innovative, nature-based leadership development program that brings together high school students
of different cultures. By reminding young people of their connection to the earth, the project helps them develop a deepened respect for nature, for their own cultural
heritage, and for the heritage of others.

In the Light of Reverence -
screening held at the 2003 AEOE Spring Conference at Jones Gulch. Earth Island Institute’s Sacred Land Film Project produces a variety of media and
educational materials — films, videos, DVDs, articles, photographs, school curricula materials and Web site content — to deepen public understanding
of sacred places, indigenous cultures and environmental justice. Our mission is to use journalism, organizing and activism to rekindle reverence for land,
increase respect for cultural diversity, stimulate dialogue about connections between nature and culture, and protect sacred lands and diverse spiritual
practices. For the last decade we have focused on the production and distribution of the documentary film, In the Light of Reverence.

Training, Professional Development,
and Personal Development

Association for Supervision and Curriculum Development (ASCD) Professional Development Online: “Embracing Diversity, Respecting Others” This 7 lesson course is designed to give teachers the tools they need to create environments of acceptance and harmony in today’s schools. Participants will first explore the diverse landscape that is the United States and its schools today. Participants will then be asked to look inward and reflect on their own beliefs and biases. Lastly, participants will be asked to set tolerance
goals for their schools and to create an action plan that will help them accomplish their goals. This course will also give participants an opportunity to explore
curricula and lessons that focus on tolerance and diversity. Additionally, participants will learn about instructional approaches that have been
recommended by tolerance professionals and used by teachers. Click here to learn more and view contents and sample lesson.

Association for Supervision and Curriculum Development (ASCD) Professional Development Online: “The Inclusive Classroom”
In 1975, the U.S. government declared that all disabled children have the right to a free education. The law Congress passed also stipulated that students
with disabilities must be educated with children who are not handicapped to the maximum extent possible. According to the lawmakers, the general education
classroom was the least restrictive environment for learning and development to take place for a disabled person. Teachers who already have students with
mild to moderate learning disabilities, or who teach (or will be teaching) severely disabled students, will find this seven-lesson course helpful. Each
lesson addresses some of the most common concerns that educators have about teaching students with disabilities — concerns about the effectiveness
of inclusion, anxiety about not having enough time or enough training, fear about the potential disruption to their class, and uncertainty about the most
effective teaching strategies and assessment measures for disabled students. Click here to learn more and view contents and sample lesson.

California Science Project
The California Science Project (CSP) is a university-based professional development network for teachers of science at ALL levels. This statewide
network works toward the common goal of improving science education for all students in California. Good resource for teaching Science to English Language Learners
- download a pdf version of Fred Dobb’s book: Essential Elements of Effective Science Instruction for English Learners Second Edition (PDF – 1.7MB)

Cases
Workshops: EE Professionals Jack Shu and Sandi Funke will begin offering tailored workshops for California Environmental Education
organizations, based on the new EE diversity training module “What’s Fair got to do with it?” as part of their Diversity in Environmental Education Workshop Series.

EdChange Tools for Multicultural Education A packet of these great handouts were left out in the Tea House at the 2005 State AEOE Conference: “20
(Self-)Critical Things I Will Do to Be a Better Multicultural Educator“; “Six Critical Paradigm Shifts for Equity in Education“; “The IS and the ISN’T of Multicultural Education“; “Stages
of Multicultural School Transformation“; “7 Key Characteristics of a Multicultural Education Curriculum“; All of these and more are available as Word and PDF files for download
and sharing on the “Free Handouts and Tools” page of the Teacher’s Corner of the Multicultural Pavilion of EdChange.org – what a great resource! Thank you to Katie Davis of Field
to Market to You for bringing those in!

EE and Cultural Diversity The next installment of diversity content is now available on the NAAEE web site. This content is being provided as part of part of a long-term effort to boost the ability of educators working in EE and related fields to work with and involve culturally diverse audiences. The topics of the new content are listed below. The content from the first installment (summer 2006) appears immediately below the new content on the web pages. The new content by section includes:

• Introduction
  • In an effort to continue providing resources and a forum for those wanting to grow in culturally competent practices, EETAP and Intercambios have created these pages that will be updated quarterly with new issues and resources that we and other colleagues (including yourself) would like to share.
• Assessing Cultural Competency
  
  • Each quarter, we will present an assesment tool to look at various aspects of your organization, programs, membership, partnerships and plans.
• Articles of Interest
  
  • This section provides a supporting article about each quarter’s theme.
• Challenging Vignettes
  
  • If you were in this situation, what would you do?
• Mini-Lessons
  
  • Tips, practice, and reflection on various strategies in becoming more culturally competent.
• Success Stories and …
  
  • A collection of success stories, hard knock lessons about individuals and groups trying to make a difference.
• Definitions and Resources
  • Contributions from everyone on words to know and resources to check out.

To see the above topics and content from summer 2006 click on the URL below:
http://naaee.org/ee-and-cultural-diversity

Test Yourself for Hidden Bias Recent scientific research has demonstrated that biases thought to be absent or extinguished remain as “mental residue” in
most of us. Studies show people can be consciously committed to egalitarianism, and deliberately work to behave without prejudice, yet still possess hidden
negative prejudices or stereotypes. So even though we believe we see and treat people as equals, hidden biases may still influence our perceptions and actions. Psychologists at Harvard, the University of Virginia and the University of Washington created “Project Implicit” to develop Hidden Bias Tests — called Implicit Association Tests, or IATs, in the academic world — to measure unconscious bias. Take a test at Project Implicit’s website and see what may be lingering in your psyche. After taking a test, read Tolerance.org’s
tutorial to learn more about stereotypes and prejudice and the societal effects of bias

Also see Events and Books and Materials – for your own reading

Museums,
Exhibits, Shows, etc Highlighting Diversity issues

California African American Museum Los Angeles. No information available at this time (their website is under construction). More later!

California’s State Parks and Diversity California’s human history is reflected in its State Parks, from Indian Museums to Spanish Missions to The Joss House, our state
has been diverse since the beginning.

Manzanar National Monument Interpretive Center, Eastern Sierra (Just north of Lone Pine). The new interpretive center at Manzanar just opened in April – I cannot recommend a visit to this place strongly enough – it was a thoroughly moving and enlightening experience. The new exhibits replicated how we must all confront our prejudices – starting with facing them, ending with learning from them and being vigilant. The beginning of the exhibit was the hardest – facing the raw fears and prejudice of this
nation after Pearl Harbor in caracatures of “evil Japs menacing America,” “Whites only,” and the like. It was painful to look at, more painful to own as part
of ~my~ country’s history, and while it disgusted me, also made me so very sad. But walking through the exhibit, and watching the film was a type of catharsis
- what people did with the internment, how they dealt with what they were given and what was taken away, their triumphs and tragedies, and how strong they
were, was inspiring. The reparations act finally acknowledged the internment camps as a wrong to be apologized publicly for, but there was more than that…
the exhibit looked at the meaning of liberty, of security, and the balance between the two. It looked into the future, not just back at the past, and
it couldn’t be more timely. One display juxtaposed Pearl Harbor with September 11. It was thoughtfully done, and thought-provoking. And it left me feeling
uplifted, hopeful, and inspired in the end. The lessons and message of Manzanar are more important to heed now than ever, and I am thankful the NPS has been
able to open this monument at such an appropriate time in history.

The Museum of Tolerance in Los Angeles is a high tech, hands-on experiential museum that focuses on two central themes through unique interactive exhibits:
the dynamics of racism and prejudice in America and the history of the Holocaust – the ultimate example of man’s inhumanity to man. The Museum, the educational
arm of the Simon Wiesenthal Center, was founded to challenge visitors to confront bigotry and racism, and to understand the Holocaust in both historic and contemporary
contexts. The museum also offers workshops, such as Tools for Tolerance for Educators See the series of workshops for educators offered this year: workshop
series – still one in the series: “From Dialogue to Action – getting ready for service learning involving social change” offered Thursday, June 3, 2004 Registration Form

National Civil Rights Museum, Memphis Tennessee. The National Civil Rights Museum (NCRM) was opened in 1991 at the site of the Lorraine Motel in downtown Memphis, Tennessee. The Museum exists to assist the public in understanding the lessons of the Civil Rights Movement and its impact and influence on the human rights movement worldwide,
through its collections, exhibitions, research and educational programs.

National Museum of the American Indian includes a list of children’s books and other educational resources. Their Teacher Resources page has many books and materials listed

Phoebe A. Hurst Museum of Anthropology in Berkeley: Ongoing exhibit “Celebrating
the diversity of California Indian Culture” and more.

Shadow Soldiers in the Range0f Light African American soldiers of the 24th Infantry and 9th Cavalry protected the National Parks of California at the turn of the last century. Their contributions have been either forgotten or ignored. The prevailing view of American history is that African-Americans and other people of color played no major role in those
formative years. People of color helped shape the American West; the recognition of this has not yet come to pass. The dead cannot speak for themselves, and
therefore need a spokesperson. Find out the latest news about the Sierra Buffalo Soldiers by visiting the Regulation Tree.

Lesson Plans and Teaching Materials

Also see Books and Materials, above

American Indian Source – links to educational resources

EdChange.org has a Multicultural Pavilion that is just FULL of great resources! Their Mission: ” Through the Multicultural Pavilion, I strive to provide resources for educators,
students, and activists to explore and discuss multicultural education; facilitate opportunities for educators to work toward self-awareness and development;
and provide forums for educators to interact and collaborate toward a critical, transformative approach to multicultural education.” From Personal Growth
to Engaging Lessons, this is a GREAT resource.

English Language Development Theory and Practice: Background Information for EE Providers (pdf file – 209K) A project supported
by a grant from the U. S. Environmental Protection Agency’s Environmental Education Training and Partnership (EETAP) Program in partnership with Project
Learning Tree, Project WILD and Project WET in California

Japanese Internment Curriculum This web site provides lesson plans and related materials for use by teachers in Grades K-12.

Multicultural Music and Songs that Build an Appreciation of Diversity, Songs About Diversity and Embracing our Differences from Songs for Teaching

Multicultural Lesson Plans from the Multicultural Education Resource Center section of NAME, the National Association for Multicultural Education

NASA’S PLANET HUNT WEB SITE EN ESPANOL Spanish-speaking space aficionados can track the latest news in the hunt for planets around other stars thanks
to a new NASA Web site, Planet Quest, which also can be read in Spanish. The Spanish language site features information
about NASA missions designed to find extrapolar planets, meaning those that orbit other stars. The ultimate goal is to find earth-like planets, which are
considered more likely to host some type of life. So far, more than 150 planets have been discovered beyond the solar system. The site includes explanations
of the science and technologies involved in the search, as well as images and artists’ concepts. As new planets are discovered, they will be added
in Spanish to the site’s “Atlas de Nuevos Mondos.” You can find this site at http://planetquest.jpl.nasa.gov/espanol/index.cfm.

National Museum of the American Indian – Teaching Materials page The museum has developed several curricula for teachers that are available as free pdf downloads.

Reaching Out With Respect: Environmental Education with Underserved Communities by Bonnie Sachatello-Sawyer and Shamu Fenyvesi, Clearing Magazine #115, Winter 2004. This article has some great examples of teaching EE to diverse communities, and some excellent resources listed as well.

Review of Literature on English Language Learning and Gardening (pdf file – 57K) This literature Search was compiled by Sandi Funke for her Master Ed. Project at CSU Hayward.

Seeds of Change – Sharing Our Differences, Learning From Each Other Columbus didn’t discover America. People were living here for many years before Columbus came. One
thing that Columbus did was to begin the trade routes which had never been established between Europe and the Americas. Amongst the trade items were
many plants and animals. Beans, carrots, wheat, horses, pigs, cows, and much more were introduced to the Americas. Corn, potatoes, tomatoes, beans, and
more were brought back to Europe. How have these events affected our lives today? These activities illustrate the Old World and New World origins of
the foods we eat and the impact Columbus’ voyages had on the diets, cuisines, and ethnic make-up of our world today.