The California Environmental Literacy Initiative (CAELI), led by Ten Strands, supports efforts to increase awareness, build capacity, and strengthen the statewide ecosystem for prioritizing and implementing high quality environmental education in California’s TK-12 Schools works statewide to create systems change ensuring that all students have access to high-quality environment-based learning. The members of this collective action network include a wide array of expertise and contributions from educators, governmental and non-governmental agencies, scientists, sustainability professionals, and experts on the environment and systems change.
CAELI’s history has evolved over time. In 2014, former Superintendent Tom Torlakson appointed an Environmental Literacy Task Force to create A Blueprint for Environmental Literacy, which was completed in September 2015. The co-chairs of that task force, and Ten Strands, were then authorized to create the Environmental Literacy Steering Committee (ELSC), to create and lead an implementation plan for California’s Blueprint for Environmental Literacy. Ten Strands successfully led the ELSC from 2016-2018 and was encouraged by the California Department of Education (CDE) to continue to evolve that work into the California Environmental Literacy Initiative (CAELI) in 2019 under Superintendent Tony Thurmond.
Based on the desire to center equity more fully and to accelerate the rate at which environmental literacy advances across California, CAELI was re-envisioned in 2020 to grow the number of people and representation of those directly involved with the initiative. The initiative is now structured as a collective action network that includes multiple ways for Members to engage as participants, activators, leaders, advisors, and guests.
CAELI Members meet quarterly with the whole network, and in between these quarterly meetings, CAELI members participate in affinity and topical based communities of practices or networks. Visit our Get Involved page to learn more about a CAELI event or program.