Programs

We are facing a global crisis on many fronts. Changing the way we live and think, and creating sustainable communities, is more important now than ever before. The next generation of citizens and leaders needs to have an understanding of the challenges we face and the tools we need to develop effective solutions. Yet, there is hardly any environmental education in public schools, and certainly not the kind of whole-systems, solution-based education that is needed. Many young people do not understand where their food comes from, let alone how to solve climate change. Recognizing this disconnect, the Marion Institute seeks to put more of its energy and focus into educating local youth and the local community about the issues that affect us most - and even more importantly, the solutions we can all participate in through the creation of the Sustainable Education Initiative.

The Unique Role of the Marion Institute

The Marion Institute has a long history of sharing knowledge and inspiring action and we are especially eager now to enhance it in the schools and in our own back yard. We see a school as a mini-community, one that has a very far reach. Therefore, we would like to "green" one school at a time. We would help them in the classroom and in the administrative office. We would help to guide them in the development and creation of recycling and composting programs, show them how to source their cafeteria food locally, and provide them with green jobs, sustainability and Seed to Table curriculum. We would reinforce curriculum by providing opportunities for fieldtrips to deepen the lessons. Some of these field trips include a landfill and waste to energy facility visit, farm trips and green industry field trips.

We feel that food is a particularly important topic that is also very relevant to youth. The experience and impact of food is universal - everybody eats. Therefore, it provides an easy entry point into conversations about our ecological footprint and the connection between human behavior and environmental sustainability.
 

To start, we would like to expand the work we have already done to support the creation of our Seed to Table programs, in which students and teachers establish a school garden. We have already initiated programs at the Sippican Elementary School in Marion, South Coast Vocational School, Wareham Middle School, and New Bedford Global Learning Charter School. By giving students the opportunity to grow their own food, these programs not only improve school lunch nutrition and raise awareness about the environmental impact of food production, they also provide valuable teaching moments that are practical, hands on and that can be worked into existing curriculum. We are currently looking to expand out programs to two new schools in the year 2010.

   
We also have strong relationships with several local farms, which could provide numerous educational opportunities in addition to, in place of, or to jump start full Seed to Table programs. We hope to begin with a small internship program of some sort, where a select group of interested students would be able to learn from and meaningfully contribute to the farm. This serves not only as an educational purpose but also feeds into the creation of our Green Jobs, Green Economy Initiative.

Our Goals

An end goal of the Sustainability Education Initiative would be to create or find sustainability curricula - both for humanities and science - that would fit within the Massachusetts educational frameworks and could be used in multiple schools at multiple grade levels. This curricula would be hands on and meaningful while adhering to educational standards. We have a strong network of teachers from the teacher trainings we hosted through our Zero Emissions Research Initiative (ZERI) and from our Bioneers by the Bay: Connecting for Change. This past year alone, over 500 students and teachers attended Bioneers by the Bay. Over and over again, these teachers tell us that until there is strong curriculum developed, it will be a serious challenge for most public school teachers to effectively teach sustainability to their students. This is a clear and pressing need and we hope to address it with these initiatives.

We also hope to encourage recycling programs, energy audits to examine the potential for renewable energy or energy efficiency retrofits, and simple changes such as printing double sided. By supporting these efforts, we would encourage schools to move towards being "zero emissions" institutions. Since it is difficult for any institution to reduce its emissions to zero, we would point to Gaviotas, which is a sustainable community in Colombia and Treewala, a science education game that plants one tree in Gaviotas for every 20 questions players get right. Furthermore, it is crucial that teachers understand these issues. Continuing the work we began with our ZERI Learning Initiative, we are interested in hosting teacher trainings that would enable educators to better teach these important topics to their students.

The new environmental education initiatives will seek to find a balance between education and action so that students may better understand the problems their generation will face while also understanding their roles in creating solutions. On an institutional scale, our goal would be to create a consortium of "Green Schools" in the region.

We have been sharing knowledge with the surrounding communities - and world wide- since we were founded in 1993. As such, we have an expansive, and eager, network of teachers, experts and communities to draw from in our efforts. The possibilities are endless.

If you have questions or would like to participate in the Sustainability Education Initiative, please contact Zoe Hansen-DiBello at 508.748.0816 or send your questions to zoe@marioninstitute.org.

If you would like to help support the goals of the Sustainability Education Initiative, please donate here.

Donate by mail
Please make checks made payable to the "Marion Institute" with "Sustainability Education Initiative" noted in the memo line and send to:

Sustainability Education Initiative
c/o Marion Institute
202 Spring St.
Marion, MA  02738

Ph:  508.748.0816
Fax:  508.748.1976

Zoë Hansen-DiBello

Sustainable Education and Youth Coordinator
zoe@marioninstitute.org