ustainability is a complicated topic. In March, 50 teachers from the Cobb and Fulton County (Georgia) School districts took up the challenge to begin developing classroom materials that would explain sustainability to their students. Whether teaching kindergarten or high school, these teachers began the task of incorporating sustainability issues into their varied curriculums.

But first, they had to agree on why it was important to do so, especially when it meant learning new technology tools to support their teaching curriculum.

"It is important . . . because [teachers] are the bridge between such a future and the kids who will shape it," one group of teachers replied.

They all agreed that kids are the key to the future. "One teacher said it was like a treasure chest and we have the key," said Donna Culver, the facilitator at the workshop, which was an orientation for Education for a Sustainable Future (ESF), a project of Concord Consortium's Center for a Sustainable Future (CSF) and the Cobb County Public Schools (@CONCORD, Winter 1998).

More than 250 K-12 teachers applied to participate in this first round of curriculum development, and this was the first time the selected teachers had met.

Dr. Richard Benjamin, Superintendent of Cobb County Schools and co-Principal Investigator of the project, noted that as a superintendent it is easier for him to find out who attended school each day than what it was that each child was learning. "We have a situation where attendance is mandatory and learning is optional," he said.

A key component of the ESF project is the use of technology tools, such as computers and the Internet, to help students understand local and worldwide sustainability issues. Benjamin expressed his hope that the ESF project will lead the way in this respect. Two ESF web sites (http://csf.concord.org, http://esf.concord.org) have already made available a number of items, such as a resource database, a bookstore, a calendar of events, a sample curriculum template, and other features.

Teachers were able to experience the immediacy of an online chat session when they logged on to talk with Keith Wheeler, the ESF co-Principal Investigator, from Vermont. A "contagious enthusiasm" among the teachers in the chat session made it evident how communication can be enhance by technology.

There still remained the development of a definition of sustainability. "We started with a picture of a tree," explains Donna Culver, "with three main roots - quality of life, a prosperous economy, and a healthy environment - and we described what those things mean in their local community." Thinking locally is crucial to gaining a clearer understanding of sustainability. It's easier to talk first about how water quality, air quality, urban sprawl, and transportation affect your community before thinking about global issues.

In order to understand their communities better, participants discussed a short version of a Community Cultural Profile, a series of questions about different characteristics of a community. Here are some examples:

• Where do people in your community see each other on a regular basis (e.g., town meetings, parks, grocery stores, shopping malls)?

• In general, what kinds of opportunities exist to get involved in community activities?

• What percentage of people who live in your community work in the community? Outside the community? Do you have any thoughts on why these trends are occurring?

• Is telecommuting on the rise?

"I explain sustainability this way," says Culver, "if our communities are a trust fund, we can only touch the interest, not the principle."

Now imagine what your community would be like if you used only the interest, or if you dug into the principle. If the result was represented by the branches of the tree, what would your community look like twenty years from now? One group of teachers chose to represent both scenarios and came up with a tree that was alive and vigorous on one side and sickly and drooping on the other. They agreed that the healthy side was a result of positive sustainable actions, represented by the three agreed upon tenets: quality of life, a prosperous community, and a healthy environment.

After beginning with a shaky understanding of sustainability, it was apparent that these teachers were quickly developing a realistic sense of the current challenges facing their community and optimism about their ability to create a more sustainable future.

But how to bring this understanding to the classroom? Teachers explored the connections between the subjects and grades they taught, taking advantage of the wide experience that the assembled teachers had in K-12 classrooms.

"Stewardship" became an important topic when connecting teaching and sustainability. Participants brainstormed connections between their teaching roles and the following:

• An understanding of 1) resource allocation, use, and renewal, and 2) the responsibility society has to make these resources available to future generations.

• Individuals, institutions, and corporations taking full responsibility for the social, environmental, and economic consequences of their actions.

"There are no federal agencies regulating sustainability, no charts or graphs to tell you or us whether or not we're succeeding. We had to create this ourselves. And it wasn't easy. . . . More than anything else, this report describes our road map to sustainability ­ as we see it. If it helps you, use it. If you can show us a better way, please do. We're all in this together."

The next step for ESF is a week-long summer institute (June 22-26) which will result in materials for the opening of classes in the Fall.

In one day fifty teachers demonstrated how community can be defined as a group of people meeting for the first time to accomplish a goal, and succeeding.

Jack Byrne is Project Director for the Center for a Sustainable Future and co-Project Director of Education for a Sustainable Future. esfinfo@concord.org

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