Building Buy-in and Support

If you’ve found yourself on this page, there’s a good chance that you already see some of the benefits that environmental literacy programming can bring to students, classrooms, and school culture. There is strong evidence that environmental education has positive impacts on academic performance, critical thinking skills, and life-building skills like confidence, autonomy, and leadership. Environmental education also increases civic engagement and positive environmental behaviors. Integrating environmental learning with core subjects helps to meet standards and creates opportunities for all students to have meaningful learning experiences that are relevant to their lives, communities, and the world around them.

When making the case for environmental literacy with our stakeholders, it’s critical that we not only articulate these benefits but also strategically align them with both existing school priorities and stakeholder values. Sometimes champions within the school district can be particularly effective at garnering support. Here are some preliminary questions to consider.