Growing the Green Economy: �Integrating Career Exploration into Environmental Education Programs
Zoë Temple
Eco Opportunities Program Manager
TreePeople
Background: TreePeople & EE
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
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
23,500
230
370
Students served across Los Angeles County
Field trip tours across 9 LA County parks
Los Angeles County schools reached
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
Project Goals
How can TreePeople’s existing environmental education programs support green career development and exploration?
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
Green Careers Eco-Tour
01
Creating a new kind of Eco-Tour!
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?
Green Career Fields Covered
Example Tour Stops
Conference Center
Career Spotlight: Green infrastructure
Nursery
Career spotlight: Native plant nursery
Green Careers Passport
02
Supplemental learning materials
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
Example Pages
Educator
Focus Group
03
Gathering feedback from EE staff
—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.”
—TreePeople Educator
“It invites a lot of students to imagine themselves as changemakers and see themselves within the field.”
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
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
Q&A