What's happening
This bill establishes the New York State Environmental Sustainability Education Act, requiring public schools to implement comprehensive sustainability education programs.
Why it matters
Mandates a holistic approach to environmental education. The bill requires schools to incorporate not just ecological concepts, but also the interconnections between environment, economy, and society, encouraging students to analyze sustainability issues from multiple perspectives.
Integrates sustainability across all subjects and grade levels. Rather than making sustainability a stand-alone topic, the legislation calls for its integration into diverse subjects (e.g., science, arts, history, economics) and adapts content for age appropriateness throughout K-12 education.
Aims to foster action, critical thinking, and civic responsibility. The education model emphasizes empowering students to become active, informed citizens who can participate in problem-solving, decision-making, and stewardship for a sustainable future.
Promotes collaboration and real-world learning. The act encourages project-based learning, involvement of visiting experts, cross-curricular and cross-school projects (including global partnerships), and assessments focused on teamwork and real-world problem-solving—preparing students for the complex challenges of sustainability.
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Who cares
Headline styles
Teach Kids Sustainability
Plain English, a few words. Used as the page title.
Sponsors
History
- Referred to environmental conservation
- Referred to environmental conservation
Full text
3 pagesUnderlined is new[Struck] is removedOfficial text on nysenate.gov ↗
STATE OF NEW YORK
3586
2019-2020 Regular Sessions
IN SENATE
February 11, 2019
Introduced by Sens. PARKER, ADDABBO, BAILEY, KENNEDY, MONTGOMERY -- read twice and ordered printed, and when printed to be committed to the Committee on Environmental Conservation
AN ACT establishing the New York state environmental sustainability education act
The People of the State of New York, represented in Senate and Assembly, do enact as follows:
Section 1. This act shall be known and may be cited as the "New York State Environmental Sustainability Education Act".
§ 2. Legislative findings. The legislature finds and declares that:
1. In recognition of the United Nations Decade of Education for Sustainable Development (2005-2014), as declared at the Johannesburg Summit of 2002, New York state deems it imperative to develop and implement an educational program geared towards improving the capacity of people to address environmental issues in the 21st century.
2. Our ability to fulfill our responsibility to equip New York's citizens with the required knowledge, skills, attitudes and values needed to create a sustainable future and enhance our quality of life have never been more critical.
3. More than any other time in recent history, New York's citizens have the capacity to dramatically affect their natural environment, and mitigate and possibly reverse our society's negative impact on our natural surroundings.
4. New technologies and research have availed unparalleled opportunities for us to develop and protect resources in a manner that enables people to meet current needs, while also providing that future generations can meet future needs.
5. To successfully confront these environmental concerns and sensitivities, we must put forth a vision of education that seeks to empower people of all ages to assume responsibility for creating a sustainable future.
EXPLANATION--Matter in italics (underscored) is new; matter in brackets
[ ] is old law to be omitted.
LBD09575-01-9
S. 3586 2
§ 3. Definitions. For the purposes of this act, the following words shall have the following meanings:
1. "Sustainability" shall mean development that meets the needs of the present without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their own needs. Development that occurs in such a way ensures the capacity of the natural environment to meet present and future needs.
2. "Education for sustainability" (EFS) means to promote an understanding of the interconnectedness of environment, economy and society. EFS links this understanding with inquiry and action to help students build a healthy future for their communities and for the planet. EFS fosters the ability to integrate scientific, economic and social knowledge and makes education more pertinent to the changing world by moving beyond institutional boundaries of the disciplines and their content bias. EFS helps students identify their role in local communities and suggests ways to get involved. EFS shall consist of educational activities and training activities involving elementary and secondary students (K-12), as such terms are defined in the education law and by environmental education personnel.
§ 4. Legislative directives and programs. 1. The department of education is hereby required to establish a model program to guide the development, implementation and evaluation of a comprehensive environmental sustainability education program to be made available to public schools, and assist them in developing curricula and training staff to adequately prepare students to participate as active and involved citizens in building a sustainable future.
2. The program shall be developed by the department of education, in conjunction with the department of environmental conservation, and modeled to promote and enhance an understanding of the concepts of sustainability and improve understanding of the natural and built environment, and the relationships between humans and the environment, including local and global aspects of environmental problems.
3. The education for sustainability program shall be constructed in line with the following principles:
a. A program that fosters clear awareness of, and concern for, economic, social, political and ecological interdependence in all regions of New York, the United States and the world.
b. One that endorses an approach to teaching and learning that integrates the goals and benefits of conservation, social justice, renewable energy, cultural diversity and sustainable development into a vision for social improvement.
c. One that ensures that students appreciate and respect the intrinsic value of the whole environment, and develop an ethic of personal responsibility and stewardship towards all aspects of the environment.
d. One that encourages students to participate as active and involved citizens in building a sustainable future.
e. One that fosters appropriate applications of technology that help solve, not create, problems.
4. The sustainability education program shall include, but not be limited to, the following specific features:
a. The program shall be designed and tailored appropriately to suit all age groups covered by the K-12 state curriculum and the department shall design lesson plans and teaching strategies that are age appropriate. The department of education shall reserve the right to include or omit certain specified program requirements (listed below in this subdivision) when tailoring the principles of sustainability to be taught at
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each grade level, depending on the suitability of the lesson's instruction at each grade interval.
b. The program shall specifically enumerate the key topic/issue areas to be studied, and shall integrate environmental education for sustainability issues and topics into specific key learning areas/subjects located within the broader curriculum framework such as creative arts, English, health and physical education, languages, mathematics and economics, science and geography, history and studies of society, environment and technology. The principles of sustainability shall be presented and integrated wherever appropriate.
c. The program shall promote education for sustainable development 'perspectives' across learning areas to include cross-curricular units, complementary teaching across several subjects, special projects, performances, excursions, and visiting experts. The program may also provide for collaborative projects with other schools (locally and globally) to promote equity, inclusivity, and respect for all people.
d. The program shall raise awareness of the nature and function of ecological, social, economic and political systems and how they are interrelated in addressing environmental and sustainability issues.
e. The program shall underscore the impact that people, business, industry and government have on environments and how the environment shapes human activities, with particular reference to unique and distinctive New York heritage traditions and settings, connecting past, present, and future perspectives and/or impacts.
f. The program shall emphasize the role of cultural, socioeconomic and political systems in environmental decision-making.
g. The program shall reinforce the value of innovative technologies with the aim to produce places, products and services in a way that reduces use of non-renewable resources, minimizes environmental impact, relates people with the natural environment, and conveys the importance of creating and maintaining a sustainable lifestyle.
h. The program shall include assessment strategies that emphasize problem-solving, teamwork, decision-making, holistic thinking, clarifying and analyzing values and opportunities for action, in order to gauge and improve the effectiveness and relevance of the program.
§ 5. This act shall take effect immediately.
Reflowed for reading: line numbers and page breaks removed. Cite the official text.
Sponsor's memo
Title of bill
An act establishing the New York state environmental sustainability education act
Purpose
This bill establishes the New York state environmental sustainability education act which instructs the Department of Education, in conjunc- tion with the Department of Environmental Conservation, to establish a model program to guide the development, implementation and evaluation of a comprehensive environmental sustainability education program to be made available to public schools.
Summary of provisions
Section one states that this act shall be known as the "New York State Environmental Sustainability Education Act."
Read the full memo (835 words)
Section two lists the findings of the legislature regarding the critical importance of, and need for, comprehensive sustainability instruction in New York State's classrooms.
Section three defines the key terms of the bill, namely 'sustainability' and 'environmental education.' Sustainability is portrayed as a method of development and social progress that meets the needs of the present without compromising the vital environmental resources future gener- ations would need to achieve similar progress and growth.
Section four outlines various legislative directives which collectively establish the appropriate framework for the successful instruction of environmental sustainability. The interdependence of social, political and economic systems in determining the degree to which a society devel- ops and prospers in an environmentally friendly way is emphasized. More- over, adopting a global perspective in the instruction of environmental sustainability and assuring that New York's students understand that a global commitment is needed to reverse negative environmental trends is reinforced. A recurring theme outlined in this section is the vital necessity for the curriculum to be designed around, and incorporate broader notions of sustainability, which encompass not just environ- mental science and protection, but cultural preservation and diversity, social justice, local and regional heritage and the overall quality of life.
The latter subdivisions of section four delineate the specific features that must be induded in the sustainability curriculum ultimately endorsed by the state Department of Education. Clearly specified is the need for DOE and DEC officials to tailor the instruction of these prin- ciples to each grade interval so as to ensure the accessibility and comprehensibility of disseminated knowledge and information. This section also directs the instruction of the program to be carried out within the existing curriculum framework which will encourage education professionals to fuse the principles of sustainability with existing lessons in math, science, English, history, physical education and studies of society and technology. This section also encourages creative teaching techniques and endorses the use of visiting experts, special projects and class excursions to reinforce the values and knowledge of sustainable living. Finally, the designed program must establish effec- tive assessment strategies to gauge the curriculum's success and rele- vance.
Justification
Developing positive strategies for the future involves thoughtful and effective planning today. As school districts embrace the principles of sustainability education, a growing need for guidance in effective plan- ning has emerged. Therefore, to assist schools in their efforts to maxi- mize sustainable education in their curriculum and in the everyday lives of their students, state government should assume the responsibility for developing a model curriculum to be made available to school districts throughout the state. Because sustainable education ties existing core curricula, subject areas and processes, together with the common. theme of systems thinking; for schools to embrace, move forward, and maximize sustainable education, they need the assistance and expert guidance of the state's environmental and education professionals. This need cannot be overstated.
In short, the best argument for implementing sustainability education in our children's schools is that it will free them from the destructive habit of pitting nature against people and of ignoring the ethical precept that everyone has an equal right to a clean and safe environ- ment. This proposed model curriculum for sustainability education takes into account all the assets, or forms of wealth, that provide the means for our livelihoods. It encompasses the many dimensions of well-being that matter to us, and embraces the full range of activities by which we derive well-being from the assets at our disposal.
Sustainability education provides the only feasible solution to environ- mental degradation and economic injustice. Not only will sustainability instruction sharpen analytical and critical thinking skills, but will foster an intergenerational ethic among students, one that combines a sense of gratitude towards those who preceded us, with a sense of responsibility to those that will follow. This ethic entrenches a deep commitment by our children to the well-being of present and future generations by embracing the goal of protecting the environment because of that fundamental recognition that the fates of humans and the natural world are inextricably woven together.
Legislative history
2017/18: S3258 - Referred to Environmental Conservation 2015-16: S.1437/A.5845 - Referred to Environmental Conservation 2013-14: S.1351/A.264 - Referred to Environmental Conservation 2011-12: S.1571/A.5581- Died in Environmental Conservation 2009-10: S.4561/A.9384 - Referred to Environmental Conservation 2007-08: S.5997A.8429A - Referred to Environmental Conservation
Fiscal implications
Minimal costs to State Department of Education and State Department of Environmental Conservation.
Effective date
This act shall take effect immediately.
Summaries, headlines and scores are AI-generated from the official bill text. How we score bills. Source: NYS Open Legislation.