Frequently Asked Questions
Where does The Cloud Institute operate?
We work in NYC, all over the country, and in other countries. In NYC we either hold our professional development programs in the conference room of our “green" office space or we work on site at schools with teachers and administrators. We run programs at universities, in government offices, at conferences and institutes, and at our colleagues’ and partners’ sites.
Who else is educating for sustainability?
There are a handful of dedicated professionals working in this area of K-12 Education for Sustainability in the U.S. Many more are working in Higher Education. You can find many of these partner organizations here.
What are your courses and units like?
The courses and units we develop involve student participation; they develop in students a sense of place and purpose; encourage students to connect to, and develop a vision for, their lives, their work and their communities in the 21st Century; they engage them in learning about and developing local, regional or national sustainability/quality of life indicators; they involve students in identifying and monitoring the “commons” in their communities, they involve students in systems thinking, “win-win” negotiation, “upstream” problem identification and effective action. Our courses systemically link students and teachers to community-based organizations and/or local and regional businesses that could provide authentic instruction and enliven project-based learning.
The goal of our programs is to engage students and their teachers and administrators (and, by extension, their families and communities) in the process of inventing a sustainable future. Our courses involve teachers and students through authentic curriculum, instruction and assessment, community-based partnerships, service learning, role-play simulations, and project-based learning rooted in their communities.
What more can I do?
Begin or continue to educate yourself - attend our programs and those of our partners and colleagues.
Get involved in your local/regional sustainable community development initiatives.
Buy goods and services from companies who are working toward a sustainable future.
Eat regionally and seasonally as much as possible.
Get connected and participate in our democracy.
Teach your children, teach your parents, or both.
