Given the right resources, the green economy is poised to deliver change on nearly every industry front. There’s a growing market for clean energy technologies, net zero construction, low-carbon materials and software for modeling climate-smart development, to name a few of the areas where sustainability is taking shape.
“Sustainability” can be defined as a holistic approach to integrating environmental, social and economic benefits into human-generated goods and services. It is an adaptable, malleable concept readily applied to any field. It is a term that more and more industries are adopting in their communications; it signals intentionality around environmental and social stewardship. It is also a sign that the green economy is growing—and that economy needs a larger labor force.
It is incumbent upon educational institutions to equip their students with the kind of knowledge and skills needed to push sustainability not only forward, but in all directions, to reach every socioeconomic sector. Developing methods for teaching lessons—across all academic subjects—around sustainability that will impart both theoretical information and practical skills is the challenge.
Some high school educators have found solutions in USGBC’s LEED Green Associate Exam Prep-Take-Teach for Teachers, an online course begun in 2022. Its objective is to prepare educators to sit for the exam and teach them green building principles that they can then incorporate into their classes.
Finding a framework
Karen Carney, an instructor of environmental science and sustainable and renewable technologies at Battlefield High School in Haymarket, Virginia, found the prep course helpful. Her school is in an affluent suburb half an hour west of Washington, D.C. It has 2,500 students and is the only school in the county to offer a sustainability course.
https://www.usgbc.org/articles/teaching-today-s-change-agents