Founded in 1995, the Center for Ecoliteracy (CEL) advances ecological education in K-12 schools. A core principle of the organization is that students need to experience and understand how nature sustains life. CEL leads systems change initiatives, publishes original books and resources, facilitates conferences and professional development, and provides strategic consulting. A central focus is supporting schools to teach and model sustainable practices. Widely recognized as a pioneer in school food systems change, CEL’s Rethinking School Lunch Guide has provided structure and insight for districts across the country. Its California Food for California Kids® partnership with the TomKat Foundation is a comprehensive statewide initiative that includes the California Thursdays® program, a collaboration with a network of public school districts to serve freshly prepared meals featuring California-grown food. Among other benefits to the environment, serving fresh food saves on shipping and packaging. CEL has published an extensive array of high quality instructional materials for educators, food service directors, and families. One of the most popular is the acclaimed cookbook and professional development guide Cooking with California Food in K-12 Schools. Among its most recent resources, CEL partnered with Whole Kids Foundation to crate Starting with Soil, an interactive app to encourage children and families to discover that soil is a living system full of fascinating relationships. In 2018, CEL will release Understanding Food and Climate Change: An Interactive Guide, a visually rich electronic publication that uses food as a lens to introduce adults and youth to the fundamental relationship between climate and human life and also underscores the potential for food systems-oriented climate change mitigation and adaption. CEL-authored books include Ecological Literacy: Educating Our Children for a Sustainable World; Smart by Nature: Schooling for Sustainability; and Ecoliterate: How Educators Are Cultivating Emotional, Social, and Ecological Intelligence, and the discussion guide for the Academy award-nominated documentary, Food, Inc.

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The Center for Ecoliteracy

The Center for Ecoliteracy

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