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Growing the Green Economy: Integrating Career Exploration into Environmental Education Programs

Zoë Temple

Eco Opportunities Program Manager

TreePeople

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Background: TreePeople & EE

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TreePeople’s Mission

To inspire, engage and support people to take personal responsibility for the urban environment, making it safe, healthy, fun, sustainable, and resilient; and to share the process as a model for the world.

Our Mission is Centered on People

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Environmental Education at TreePeople

Eco-Tours at �Coldwater Canyon Park

Natural Connections Field Trips

In-Classroom Presentations

Service Learning Projects

Guest lectures and activities on various topics

TreePeople’s legacy EE program offering

8 park locations across Los Angeles County

Developing student leadership

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23,500

230

370

Students served across Los Angeles County

Field trip tours across 9 LA County parks

Los Angeles County schools reached

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Eco Opportunities Programming

Compton YouthBuild Youth Forester Class

Cindy Montañez Young Leaders Program Internship

Outdoor Equity Program Internship

Semester-long environmental class with an emphasis on green careers

Paid summer internship for high school students to explore green careers

Paid school-year internship for high school students to lead community Eco-Tours

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Project Goals

How can TreePeople’s existing environmental education programs support green career development and exploration?

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Project Scope

Developing a Green Careers Eco-Tour

01

03

02

Gathering Feedback from Educators

Creating a “Green Careers Passport”

Writing new script, mapping trail

Hosting a focus group with staff who will lead this tour

Developing a handout to supplement learning

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Green Careers Eco-Tour

01

Creating a new kind of Eco-Tour!

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Green Careers Eco-Tour

Learning Goals

1.

What green jobs exist?

2.

What are green career trends looking like now and into the future?

3.

How does one pursue and obtain a green job?

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Green Career Fields Covered

  1. Watershed management
  2. Green infrastructure
  3. Habitat restoration
  4. Community organizing
  5. Park maintenance
  6. Native plant nursery
  7. Environmental education
  8. Arboriculture & urban forestry
  9. Non-profit management
  10. Landscape design

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Example Tour Stops

Conference Center

Career Spotlight: Green infrastructure

Nursery

Career spotlight: Native plant nursery

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Green Careers Passport

02

Supplemental learning materials

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Green Career Information

How much does a person make in this field?

Salary

What do you need to pursue this career?

Qualifications

What does a person in this field do on a daily basis?

Key Responsibilities

What is this career all about?

Description

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Example Pages

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Educator

Focus Group

03

Gathering feedback from EE staff

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—TreePeople Educator

“It connects the fact that anything can be a green job, or be sustainable. If you told me as a kid that there were green careers, I wouldn’t have known what that meant.”

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—TreePeople Educator

“It invites a lot of students to imagine themselves as changemakers and see themselves within the field.”

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Salary Sources

Guided Reflection

Passport Readability

Diversify Pathways

Student Next Steps

Implementation

Suggestions from Educator Focus Group

Include other, non-collegiate avenues for careers (AA, certificates, etc.)

Replace a blank “bonus” page in Passport with guided reflection questions

Adjust the colors on Green Career Passport to make it easier to read

Create a landing page with opportunities for students: Draft

Provide context on the salaries listed in passport – include sources, region, year

Best with small groups, educator shares their personal green career journey

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Next Steps

01

02

03

04

Collect learner & teacher feedback.

Train educators and offer program widely!

Feedback

Train!

Pilot the tour with a group.

Make necessary edits to program.

Pilot

Refine

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Q&A

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THANKS!

Please feel free to reach out:

Zoë Temple

ztemple@treepeople.org

Learn more at TreePeople.org

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