Education

A Chinese (actually Scots) curse is: May you live in interesting times. What is great about our current situation, as bad as it is with most of the ecological trendlines going in the wrong direction, is that in order to get where we need to be, we need to re-think everything, including or maybe especially education. Here's a start on that conversation (send yours!)

Video

TEDtalks on education in general, including one of the most popular of all time, Ken Robinson on how schools kill creativity and a more recent talk on how to revolutionize education also Q&A followup

Join John Hardy on a tour of the Green School, his off-the-grid school in Bali that teaches kids how to build, garden, create (and get into college). The centerpiece of campus is the spiraling Heart of School, perhaps the world's largest freestanding bamboo building. TEDtalk video.

Designer Emily Pilloton moved to rural Bertie County, in North Carolina, to engage in a bold experiment of design-led community transformation. She's teaching a design-build class called Studio H that engages high schoolers' minds and bodies while bringing smart design and new opportunities to the poorest county in the state.TEDtalk video

Fumes from indoor cooking fires kill more than 2 million children a year in the developing world. MIT engineer Amy Smith details an exciting but simple solution: a tool for turning farm waste into clean-burning charcoal. TEDtalk video

Audio

Green education: At a time of growing concern about the environment, KQED's Forum discusses the ecological challenges ahead and how California schools and other state programs are bringing students outside to inspire them to learn about nature and science (includes Bill McKibben).

Local Resources

LifeLab teaches kids about food and sustainability through school gardens.