Leadership and Professional Development Initiative

Leadership and Professional Development

GSEEC works to create opportunities that build leadership and professional skills for environmental education providers, teachers, and youth.

LEADERSHIP CLINICS: Leadership clinics provide local youth with opportunities to bolster their leadership skills and become more aware of local environmental issues so they are ultimately empowered to address and help solve these issues in their community. They feature workshops, keynote speakers and group problem solving sessions. The Clinic also often includes a career fair that offers a glimpse into environmental careers.

GSEEC is proud to have organized two Environmental Leadership Clinic in Los Angeles in 2005. It was attended by over 70 youth interns, students and employees from various organizations such as the California Conservation Corps, Los Angeles Conservation Corps’ EcoAcademy, ArtscorpsLA, and the Santa Monica Mountain National Recreation Area.

GSEEC was also recently involved in the planning and implementation of the East Bay Professional Development Conference.

The CREEC Network is an excellent resource for professional development opportunities.

The Association for Outdoor and Environmental Education also offers a resoource directory of professional development opportunities.


California is currently poised to lead the nation in environmental literacy. This effort is termed the EEI. The California Environmental Protection Agency (Cal/EPA) and the California Integrated Waste Management Board (CIWMB) are actively engaged in the implementation of the Education and the Environment Initiative (EEI) pursuant to AB 1548 (Pavley, Chapter 665, Statutes of 2003-PDF) and AB 1721 (Pavley, Chapter 581, Statutes of 2005-PDF). These landmark laws mandate the development of a unified education strategy to bring education about the environment into California’s primary and secondary schools. Other current key partners include the State Board of Education, the Office of the Secretary for Education, the Curriculum and Supplemental Materials Commission, the State Department of Education, and the California Resources Agency.
Key elements of EEI include:
0. Development of California’s Environmental Principles & Concepts, (EP&Cs);
0. Alignment of the EP&C’s to California’s Academic Content Standards;
0. Development of a Model Curriculum to teach the EP&C’s to California’s K-12 students;
0. Incorporation of the EP&C’s into criteria for instructional materials adoption in science, history/social science, English/language arts and, mathematics; and,
0. Alignment of the state’s diverse environmental education programs and materials with the EP&C’s.