Blurring Boundaries and Realizing Just Potential

How Diverse California Schools Enact Sustainability-in-Place

Authors

  • Victoria Derr
  • Red Glines
  • Cristan Molinelli-Ruberto

Keywords:

green schools, critical pedagogy, sustainability, social justice, California schools, historically excluded communities, environmental education

Abstract

Green schools can reduce negative environmental impacts, promote positive human and ecological health and wellbeing, and promote learning and action competencies for local and global sustainability. This research sought to understand how sustainability practices take shape and unfold in historically excluded schools in California that had received sustainability awards. Using a multiple case study approach, this research highlights ways schools extended their educational practices into three domains of a sustainability-in-place model—community, compassion, and creativity—and also explores barriers to implementing these practices. Some teachers distinguished ideas of care and compassion for student wellbeing as distinct from the practice of sustainability, highlighting the persistence of mainstream, historical framing of sustainability systems. Research implications address opportunities to expand and strengthen green school research and practice.

Author Biographies

  • Victoria Derr

    Victoria Derr is Associate Professor of Environmental Studies at California State University Monterey Bay, which resides on the traditional lands of the Rumsen Ohlone, Esselen, Salinan, and Amah Mutsun peoples. For nearly 30 years, Victoria has engaged children, youth, and communities in community-based and participatory research. Her teaching and research focus on the intersections between sustainable communities, place-conscious environmental education, and social justice, in California, the Southwest U.S., and Mexico. She holds a masters and Ph.D. in Environmental Studies from Yale University.

  • Red Glines

    Red Glines grew up amongst the foothills and southern chaparral of California’s Inland Empire. Tapping into their intrinsic love for nature, they achieved a Bachelor of Arts in Environmental Studies from California State University Monterey Bay. They are currently working in the Pacific Northwest on historically Chinook and Multnomah lands to support themself and their cat, as well as burgeoning interests in various art media, geology, and community building.

  • Cristan Molinelli-Ruberto

    Cristan Molinelli-Ruberto completed her B.A. in Environmental Studies with a concentration in Environmental Education from California State University Monterey Bay in 2021. She currently lives and works in Sonoma County, on the traditional lands of the Southern Pomo and Coast Miwok Peoples. Her capstone research was focused on green schools as sites for sustainability and learning, and how the built environment aids student engagement. This led to her interest in conducting additional research into the regional differences between green schools, including the barriers imposed. She wanted to find where the systems could improve for future students of green schools.

Children riding scooter on an urban sidewalk

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Published

2023-12-08

Issue

Vol. 33 No. 3 (2023): Children, Youth and Environments

Section

Research Articles