Is community-based sustainability education sustainable? A general overview of organizational sustainability in outreach education |
| |
| Authors: | Linda Chalker-Scott Rod Tinnemore |
| |
| Affiliation: | 1. Puyallup Research and Extension Center, 2606 West Pioneer Way, Washington State University, Puyallup, WA 98371, USA;2. Air Quality Program, Washington State Department of Ecology, P.O. Box 47600, Olympia, WA 98504-7600, USA;1. Department of Civil and Mechanical Engineering, University of Cassino and Southern Lazio, via G. di Biasio 43, 03043 Cassino (FR), Italy;2. Queensland University of Technology, 2 George Street, Brisbane, QLD 4000, Australia;1. Solar Energy Technologies, Western Sydney University, Penrith, NSW 2751, Australia;2. Institute of Earth Environment, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Yanta District, 97 Yanxiang Rd, Yanta District, Xi’an 710061, Shaanxi, China;3. Institute for Solar Fuels, Helmholtz-Zentrum Berlin für Materialien und Energie GmbH, Hahn-Meitner-Platz 1, D-14109 Berlin, Germany;4. Department of Materials Science and Engineering, Stanford University, Stanford, CA 94305-4034, USA;5. School of Chemistry, The University of Sydney, Sydney, NSW 2006, Australia;6. Faculty of Chemistry, Jagiellonian University, Ingardena 3, 30-060 Krakow, Poland;7. Department of Materials Science and Engineering, University of Florida, Gainesville, FL 32611-6400, USA;8. University of Tokyo, 7-3-1 Hongo, Bunkyo-ku, Tokyo 113-8654, Japan;1. Charles University Environment Centre, José Martího 2/407, 162 00 Praha 6, Czech Republic;2. Sustainability Team, University of Zurich, Binzmühlestrasse 14, 8050 Zurich, Switzerland;3. Technology and Society Lab, Empa – Materials and Technology, Lerchenfeldstrasse 5, 9014 St. Gallen, Switzerland;1. Sustainable Development Coordination Unit, University of Brighton, Brighton BN2 4GJ, United Kingdom;2. China National Thousand Talents Professor, Department of Environmental Science & Engineering, Fudan University, Shanghai 200433, PR China |
| |
| Abstract: | Educators recognize the ecological, economic, and social components of environmental sustainability. For community-based programs, there is another sustainability trio that, if neglected, will lead to a decline in program quality and function. To be sustainable over the long term, community-based programs must have superior educational quality, clear organizational structure, and continued financial stability. Many educational outreach programs that have neglected this sustainability trio have been weakened or eliminated as they are not seen as priority items during budget reductions. The Master Gardener Program exemplifies this premise, representing a cadre of tens of thousands of university-trained volunteer educators who deliver environmental education to their communities. Over the years, the vision for educational quality, use of clear organizational structures fitting an increased reliance on volunteers, and securing of outside funding for sustainability education have waned in many states, resulting in a lack of university leadership and programmatic devolution. We propose revising outreach education to align with the best practices in adult pedagogy and science by developing a centralized organizational structure and by looking outside traditional university resources for funding opportunities. These strategies can easily be adapted for other community-based outreach programs. |
| |
| Keywords: | |
| 本文献已被 ScienceDirect 等数据库收录！ |
|
