OUR MISSION:

The Children’s Environmental Literacy Foundation’s mission is to bring about enduring institutional change to education by promoting sustainability as a core K-12 learning framework. Through early education we can equip students with the knowledge, skills and attitudes that will lead to a sustainable future for everyone.

Ultimately, we envision our children and future generations understanding the unique and complex systems that support the natural, as well as the human-built environments, and having the knowledge, the desire and the ability to save the integrity of those systems.

The Children's Environmental Literacy Foundation (CELF) is a not-for-profit 501(c)3 organization that collaborates with school districts and teachers to raise awareness of sustainable development and to help incorporate it into K-12 education programs. Sustainability education (SE) infuses curriculum and instruction with concepts that link economic prosperity, ecosystems restoration, and social stability. SE ties existing core curricula (subject areas and processes) together with the common theme of systems thinking. CELF's professional development programs provide teachers with the practical tools to integrate SE into their curricula and to address such questions as: "What are the knowledge, skills, and values of sustainability education?" and "What does SE look like in my classroom?"

CELF provides the most proven, effective, and inspiring methods from around the world to address educational and community needs. By partnering with schools, businesses and other organizations, CELF seeks to accelerate the rate at which children come to understand the interdependence between the complex systems of the natural and fabricated world. This collaborative role is unique and evolving within the growing community of SE practioners and related professionals.

Sustainable development was conceptually defined in 1987 by the World Commission on Environment and Development as progress that meets the needs of the present without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their needs.