The Civic Ecology Lab develops programs to support environmental learning among participants in community gardening, streamside cleanups, habitat restoration, park stewardship, community forestry, and other civic ecology practices. We also support multiple approaches to environmental education more broadly.
We have a long history of developing educational programs linking environmental quality, community wellness, and resilience. These efforts have produced books and other resources available online (see bottom of this page for links). In June 2017, we published Urban Environmental Education Review with Cornell University Press, edited by Alex Russ (ne Alexey Kudryavtsev) and Marianne Krasny. Our current outreach efforts focus on online and hybrid learning for global audiences.
For more information on Civic Ecology Lab online learning initiatives, go to Cornell Online Courses.
Reclaiming Broken Places: Introduction to Civic Ecology. This edX MOOC provides an overview of the ten civic ecology principles. Over 45 lectures and accompanying materials available for free on an ongoing basis, and course to be offered live in summer 2017. Textbook: Civic Ecology: Adaptation and Transformation from the Ground Up. 2015. By ME Krasny and KG Tidball. MIT Press.
Urban Environmental Education. Learn about the wealth of environmental education practices in cities around the globe. Thirty lectures and accompanying readings and social media. Textbook: Urban Environmental Education Review. 2017. Edited by A Russ and ME Krasny. Cornell University Press.
Environmental Education: Transdisciplinary Approaches to Addressing Wicked Problems. Over 40 lectures covering environmental education, environmental psychology, environmental governance and related disciplines.
Exploring Environmental Education Outcomes. A series of podcasts from young scholars researching outcomes of environmental education, including nature connectivity, sense of hope, positive youth development, environmental identity, and democratic participation, as well as more traditional outcomes such as environmental attitudes. We hope to offer this course in spring 2017.
Environmental Education Overview. An introduction to environmental education history, goals, audiences, and practices.
Climate Education: Applying Climate Communication Research. A survey of climate change communication research and how it can be applied to environmental education programs.
Climate Change Learning and Action. An introduction to climate science and climate communication research. Targeted at Cooperative Extension audiences.
Past Programs with Resources for Educators
The Civic Ecology Lab conducted EECapacity, the US Environmental Protection Agency’s national environmental education training program, from 2010-2017. Based on the notion that social innovations, including innovations in educational practice, arise through exchange of ideas among professionals holding diverse perspectives, EECapacity links environmental education, stewardship, and youth and community development professionals globally in order to exchange ideas and generate new practices. These new practices reflect the ways in which communities facing multiple stresses—including disinvestment, poverty and climate change related disturbances such as flooding—are learning about and stewarding nature and community. This project was conducted in collaboration with the North American Association for Environmental Education and thousands of environmental and education organizations globally.
Garden Mosaics is an intergenerational, science, culture, and action education program taking place in community gardens. Materials from the program, which was funded by the US National Science Foundation, are available for free online.
Publications
Below are links to a sampling of publications for educators and researchers. See Publications for complete list of Civic Ecology Lab publications.
Publications for Educators and University Students
- Urban Environmental Education Review
- Essays in Environmental Education (10 chapters from book available online)
- Urban EE Colloquium (chapter author lectures available online)
- Across the Spectrum: Resources for Environmental Educators
- Civic Ecology: Stories about love of life, love of place
- Measuring Environmental Education Outcomes
- Garden Mosaics
- Urban Environmental Education
- Urban Environmental Education Narratives
Academic Books
- Resilience, Learning, and Environmental Education
- Cities as Learning Arenas for Biodiversity and Ecosystem Services
- Civic Ecology: Adaptation and Transformation from the Ground Up
- Greening in the Red Zone
- Trading Zones in Environmental Education
Upcoming Publications for Educators
We have drafts of these publications and are working with Cornell University Press to publish them in 2018.
- Civic Ecology: Larger Impacts (edited by Marianne Krasny)
- Courses for a Cause: Online learning for environmental and education professionals (Philip Silva, Marianne Krasny, and others)
- Climate Change Communication for Environmental Education (Anne K Armstrong, M Krasny and Jonathan Schuldt)
- Environmental Education Outcomes (Marianne Krasny, Elizabeth Danter, Alex Russ, and Yue Li)
- Social Innovation in Environmental Education: Results and lessons learned from a five-year professional development program (Marianne Krasny, Yue Li, Elizabeth Danter, Rupu Gupta, Anne Umali Ferguson)
Tools and Activities for Educators
- Perspectives on Environmental Education (PDF file). Card sorting (Q-sort) activity to help environmental educators identify they commonly held views as well as their differences
- EEccology Map. Mapping your practical theory of behavior change
- Sense of place survey (from article in Ecosphere)
Popular Press
- Krasny, ME. 8 May, 2017. A Tribute to Jill Wrigley. The Nature of Cities. https://www.thenatureofcities.com/2017/05/08/nature-city-common-pool-resource-public-good-decides/
- Krasny, ME, A Oshry, and A Ferguson. 3 June 2016. How to Tackle Wicked Problems. PBS NOVA Science of Learning. http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/nova/blogs/education/2016/06/how-to-tackle-wicked-problems/
- Krasny, ME. 22 April 2016. Earth Day: Civic Ecology. MIT Press blog. https://mitpress.mit.edu/blog/earth-day-civic-ecology
- Snyder, K and ME Krasny. 12 April 2016. Capturing Stewardship Stories: the Unlikely Tale of a Massive Open Online Course. The Nature of Cities. http://www.thenatureofcities.com/2016/04/12/capturing-stewardship-stories-the-unlikely-tale-of-a-massive-open-online-course/
- Krasny, ME and B DuBois. 23 February 2016. Will Online Courses Make Education a Human Right? Zocalo Public Square. http://www.zocalopublicsquare.org/2016/02/23/will-online-courses-make-education-human-right/ideas/nexus/
- Krasny, ME. 2016. How to Reclaim Broken Public Places: From Dirty Streets in Bangalore to a Ragged River in L.A., Revival Requires Community. Zocalo Public Square. http://www.zocalopublicsquare.org/2016/01/06/how-to-reclaim-broken-public-places/ideas/nexus/
- Krasny, ME. 2015. Civic Ecology Meets EdX: An Experiment in Online Social Learning and Action. The Nature of Cities. http://www.thenatureofcities.com/2015/09/07/civic-ecology-meets-edx-an-experiment-in-online-social-learning-and-action/
- Krasny, ME. 2015. Cultivating MOOCs One Learner at a Time. Inside Higher Education. https://www.insidehighered.com/blogs/higher-ed-beta/cultivating-moocs-one-learner-time
- Anon. 2015. Garden Mosaics. http://www.aspiremetro.com/garden-mosaics/
- Krasny, ME. 2015. Why Baltimore and Ferguson Might Embrace Gardening and Find Healing. The Guardian. http://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2015/may/22/why-baltimore-and-ferguson-might-embrace-gardening-and-find-healing Rose to top of “ideas that matter” promoted summaries in their recommended reading list for the Memorial Day Weekend Must Read list.
- Krasny, ME. 2015.Civic Ecology: Integrating Social and Environmental Sciences. PBS Engaging Science series. http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/nova/blogs/education/2015/04/civic-ecology-integrating-social-environmental-sciences/
- Krasny, ME. 2015. Are City Folks the New Caretakers of the Land? Huffington Post. http://www.huffingtonpost.com/marianne-krasny/are-city-folks-the-new-caretakers_b_7153788.html
- Krasny, ME. 2015. Extinction of Experience: Does it Matter? Huffington Post. (revised from post on The Nature of Cities). http://www.huffingtonpost.com/marianne-krasny/extinction-of-experience-_b_7035252.html
- Krasny, ME. 2015. Nature’s Do-Gooders: What Difference Do They Make? Huffington Post. http://www.huffingtonpost.com/marianne-krasny/natures-dogooders-what-difference-do-they-make_b_6827606.html
- Krasny, ME. 2015. 7 People Who Care for Nature and Community. Huffington Post. http://www.huffingtonpost.com/marianne-krasny/people-who-care-for-natur_b_6728112.html
- Interview for USA Today. 2015. http://college.usatoday.com/2014/11/05/cornell-to-add-massive-open-online-courses-in-2015/
