In late 2022, Waste Wise Lane County — a part of Lane County Waste Management — contacted 2,000-plus county educators via survey and focus groups to gauge how much county students learn about environmental sustainability topics. Nearly 500 educators responded to the survey, and 45 participated in focus groups.
The most significant takeaways:
81% are unfamiliar with Lane County sustainability programs.
53% do not know if their district has a sustainability plan.
Nearly 50% of teachers report their students engaging in sustainability topics.
29% reported rarely teaching sustainability; 26% taught at least once per semester, and 21% taught sustainability issues at least once a month.
A lack of access to ready-made classroom materials was cited as the biggest roadblock.
To address this, Lane County has created a new sustainability education website, WasteWiseLane.org, slated to launch this fall. The platform will organize sustainability content (activities, lesson plans and field trips) by grade, subject and program focus and is geared toward teachers, parents and district administrators.
These free resources will help teachers instruct on everything from preventing food waste to understanding climate science to advances in renewable energy. Visit WasteWiseLane.org to learn more and help us spread the word!
Daniel Hiestand has been the Lane County Waste Reduction Outreach Coordinator since 2022.
Follow us online: Facebook.com/WasteWiseLaneCounty
Instagram @wastewiselandcounty/
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