As educators navigate their second school year adapting to the COVID-19 pandemic, it can be daunting to advocate for any additional curriculum to be taught in the classroom. However, the benefits of incorporating sustainability education in daily curriculum are more important than ever and justify the extra effort.

Daily news headlines chronicle the implications of our warming planet. Providing opportunities for students to reflect on the world around them and the impacts of their actions can be a powerful tool in encouraging the qualities of empathy, gratitude and responsibility in students.

We asked two K–12 school and educator 2021 Best of School (BOGS) awards recipients why sustainability education is so relevant to the classroom this year. Read on to understand how the past two years have informed their pursuit of sustainability literacy for all students.

Sal Gordon, head of teaching and learning at Green School Bali, Bali, Indonesia:

It’s simple. The more we, as humans, separate ourselves from nature, the sicker we become. When we return to living in harmony with our natural environment, our health improves. I hope COVID-19 is a wakeup call for us. To secure the health of future generations, we need to educate our children and ourselves about what living in harmony with nature actually looks like, on a local and global scale.

https://www.usgbc.org/articles/back-school-sustainability-education-all