Category: News and Events

1. NAAEE Annual Conference: Forward Together

Date: November 3-6, 2025 Location:  Virtual Description: NAAEE’s Annual Conference is one of the largest professional EE gatherings worldwide. This year’s theme—Forward Together—reflects the power of collaboration in tackling the world’s most pressing social and ecological challenges. Engage virtually with more than 1,000 professionals from 40 countries, all working to advance environmental literacy and civic engagement. With more than 200 engaging sessions and keynotes, we’ll explore how education can inspire action, build environmental stewardship, and create healthier, more resilient communities. There couldn’t be a more urgent need to come together, harness our collective wisdom, and keep moving forward. Register HERE.

2. Green Schoolyards America: Embracing Risky Schoolyard Play for Exploration, Learning and Growth

Date: November 6, 2025 Location: Virtual Description: This lecture series, hosted by Green Schoolyards America, discusses emerging topics and provides guidance for creating and stewarding high-quality green schoolyards and schoolyard forests. It serves as a continuation and expansion of our previous Schoolyard Forest Design Lecture Series. Sessions feature presentations by subject-area experts including Green Schoolyards America’s staff, along with time for audience Q&A. This month, GSA welcomes Dr. Mariana Brussoni, from the University of British Columbia. Register HERE.

3. Natural Start Alliance and NAAEE: Presenting Discover the Forest: Outdoor Learning for Everyday Life

Dates: November 12, 2025 Location: Virtual Description: Join NAAEE and the Natural Start Alliance for an inside look at Discover the Forest! The refreshed program inspires families and educators to connect young children (birth–age 8) with nature through everyday experiences. In this webinar, they will share the program’s new direction, explore the updated website and social media platforms, and highlight ways to get involved. They will debut resources that take the guesswork out of outdoor learning in early childhood, including expert guidance on how to get started, dozens of activities aligned to learning outcomes, and rich examples of the ways nature enhances learning and development starting at birth. Register HERE.

4. CAELI Meetup at Green CA Schools & Higher Ed Summit

Dates: November 12-13, 2025 Location: Pasadena, CA Description: For the past three years, district leaders have hosted CAELI meet-ups at the GCSHE Summit and have recently expanded to include a pre-summit gathering. In 2025, the summit will include a pre-day meet-up, as well as a networking breakfast and lunch event on November 13. Join your CAELI colleagues at this event. Registration is now OPEN.

5. CAELI CBP Community of Practice

Date: November 18, 2025 Location:  Virtual Description:  The Community-Based Partner (CBP) virtual Community of Practice brings program leaders and staff from environmental education organizations together to engage in collaborative learning and build capacity. Join colleagues from around the state to share resources, explore best practices, and build connections to strengthen our respective organizations and increase our collective impact. Register HERE.

6. AEOE Virtual EE Career Fair

Date: December 2, 2025 Location:  Virtual Description: Calling all job seekers and employers! Join us for a virtual environmental education career fair. Site leaders will be grouped into breakout rooms, where they will make a pitch for their organization/worksite, share any current or upcoming employment opportunities, and end with Q&A. Job seekers will choose several rooms to attend. Interviews will not be conducted during the event, but if you make a connection you can exchange contact information and plan to follow up. Find your next dream job in environmental and outdoor education! Register HERE.

1. CAELI District Community of Practice

Date: October 3, 2025 Location:  Virtual Description: CAELI invites district office staff from across California to join the District Environmental Literacy Community of Practice (CoP). The District CoP brings together professionals committed to integrating sustainability principles into district operations, instruction, and culture. Through collaboration, shared learning, and resource exchange, members work toward districtwide innovation and systems-level change. Register HERE.

2. AEOE Fall Meetups

Date: October 5, 2025 Location: Varies across the state Description: Join environmental and outdoor education professionals from across your region to explore a local site and meet colleagues working in a variety of settings. The event includes networking activities, snacks, and a tour of the site. Make new connections and learn more about a local program in your region! Meetups will be held in multiple locations throughout the state. To learn more, visit the AEOE website.

3. Forestry Institute for Teachers (IT) Fall Focus Sessions

Dates: October 10-12, October 17-19, and October 31-November 2, 2025 Location :Nevada County/Plumas County/Mendocino County, CA Description: Where Environmental Literacy & Forest Stewardship Take Root. For 30+ years, FIT’s team of natural resource professionals and credentialed instructors have provided outdoor education experiences for teachers. FIT offers affordable programming that certifies and trains educators in standards-aligned environmental education curricula. By working together, we explore issues facing our state’s natural resources, and how to improve climate science and environmental literacy in the classroom. Apply Now.

4. California Association of Science Educators (CASE) Conference

Dates: October 17-19, 2025 Location: Palm Springs, CA Description: The California Science Education Conference is hosted and organized by the California Association of Science Educators (CASE). More than 1,000 science educators from around the state are expected to attend this year’s conference. The CASE Conference is well-known by science educators as the place to make connections, generate new ideas, energize their teaching, and learn, and grow as professionals. Join fellow educators for an inspiring weekend of learning, collaboration, and connection. This year’s theme, Science for All, celebrates inclusive, high-quality science education that empowers every learner. Registration is now OPEN.

5. CAELI COE Community of Practice

Date: October 23, 2025 Location:  Virtual Description:  CAELI invites County Office of Education (COE) leaders in any role who are champions of environmental literacy and advocates for vulnerable and marginalized students and communities from across California to join the COE Environmental Literacy Community of Practice (CoP).  The CoP provides a space for COE staff to connect with each other to share best practices and resources for advancing environmental literacy and sustainability in their county region. Visit the CAELI website for more information.

6. CAELI Webinar: Youth Leading Climate Action

Date: October 23, 2025 Location:  Virtual Description: In honor of the International Day of Climate Action (October 24), join CAELI for a celebration featuring youth voices from across California. Hear inspiring stories, learn practical ways to take climate action in your community, and discover how you can get involved. Register HERE.

7. CAELI Webinar: Agriculture and Natural Resources in the Classroom: Green Careers

Date:  October 30, 2025 Location:  Virtual Description: All Careers can be Green Careers! Join our panel of industry partners, K-12 educators, and community-based partners to learn about the sustainability trends in Agriculture and Natural Resources and how you can raise your students’ awareness of green careers. Register HERE.

8. NAAEE Annual Conference: Forward Together

Dates:  October 30, November 3-6, 2025 Location:  Virtual Description: NAAEE’s Annual Conference and Research Symposium is one of the largest professional EE gatherings worldwide. This year’s theme—Forward Together—reflects the power of collaboration in tackling the world’s most pressing social and ecological challenges. Engage virtually with more than 1,000 professionals from 40 countries, all working to advance environmental literacy and civic engagement. With more than 200 engaging sessions and keynotes, we’ll explore how education can inspire action, build environmental stewardship, and create healthier, more resilient communities. There couldn’t be a more urgent need to come together, harness our collective wisdom, and keep moving forward. Register HERE.

9. Green CA Schools and Higher Education Summit

Dates: November 13, 2025 Location: Pasadena, CA Description: For the past three years, district leaders have hosted CAELI meet-ups at the GCSHE Summit (see past meet-ups from 2022, 2023, and 2024), and have recently expanded to include a pre-summit gathering. In 2025, the summit will include a pre-day meet-up, as well as a networking breakfast and lunch event on November 13. Join your CAELI colleagues at this event. Registration is now OPEN.

1. Children & Nature Network Webinar –Appstinence: Less screen time, more green time

Dates: September 10,  2025  Location: Virtual Description: On average, U.S. teens spend 4.8 hours a day on social media. That’s 4.8 hours that could be spent on other experiences, like in-person interactions, time in nature and much-needed sleep! This event features Gabriela Nguyen, founder of the “appstinence” movement, a Gen Z-led social movement calling for us to walk away from our personal social media accounts. Rather than relying on digital detoxes, algorithm hacking and superficial tips and tricks that actually keep us tied to social media platforms, the appstinence movement calls for a lasting and comprehensive solution to the seemingly inescapable attention economy – opting out. Gabriela will discuss how to get off social media for good using the 5D method. She will also answer your questions about dumbphones, phone plans and departing from the digital world. The event is free but donations are suggested. Register HERE.

2. Xerces Society Webinars

Dates: September and October, 2025  Location: Virtual Description: The Xerces Society for Invertebrate Conservation is an international nonprofit organization that protects the natural world through the conservation of invertebrates and their habitats. As a science-based organization, they conduct their own research and rely upon the most up-to-date information to guide their conservation work. Their key program areas are pollinator conservation, endangered species conservation, and reducing pesticide use and impacts. Check out these upcoming webinars:  – 9/8: Imperiled Butterflies of the Central California Rangeland – 9/11: Bitter Nectar, Toxic Pollen: Pollinators and Plant Chemicals – 9/17: Volunteer Training for the Western Monarch Count – 10/2: The Secret Lives of Bumble Bees: Nesting and Overwintering.  Register for any of these webinars HERE

3. Take Me Outside Outdoor Learning Store Virtual Workshops

Dates: September and October, 2025 Location: Virtual Description: Free 1 Hour Virtual Workshop Line Up 9/23: Learning from the Land: Indigenous Teachings & Resources 9/30: Indigenous Learning across the Seasons 10/7: Learning through Lifecycles: A Spotlight on Salmon 10/14: Outdoor Learning in Parks & Protected Places 10/21: Taking Science Outdoors! Resources, Tools & Activities 10/28: Outdoor Learning in the Early Years Register HERE for one or all of them.

4. CAELI Webinar: Rising Temperatures, Rising Risks: Addressing Extreme Heat Impacts on Children

Date: September 25, 2025 Location:  Virtual Description: Join us for a timely conversation on how extreme heat is affecting children across California. Learn what schools, districts, and community partners are doing to keep students safe and supported, and walk away with practical tools and strategies you can use to support your own school community. Register HERE.

5. AEOE Fall Meetups

Dates: October 5, 2025 Location:  Varies across the state Description: Join environmental and outdoor education professionals from across your region to explore a local site and meet colleagues working in a variety of settings. The event includes networking activities, snacks, and a tour of the site. Make new connections and learn more about a local program in your region! Meetups will be held in multiple locations throughout the state.  To learn more, visit the AEOE website.

6.  California Association of Science Educators (CASE) Conference

Dates: October 17-19, 2025 Location: Palm Springs, CA Description: The California Science Education Conference is hosted and organized by the California Association of Science Educators (CASE). More than 1,000 science educators from around the state are expected to attend this year’s conference. The CASE Conference is well-known by science educators as the place to make connections, generate new ideas, energize their teaching, and learn, and grow as professionals. Join fellow educators for an inspiring weekend of learning, collaboration, and connection. This year’s theme, Science for All, celebrates inclusive, high-quality science education that empowers every learner. Registration is now OPEN.

7.  AEOE eeCourse: Accessible by Nature: Designing EE to Support All Learners

Dates:  October 20 – December 5, 2025 Location: Online – Moodle Description: This course uses the Universal Design for Learning (UDL) framework to guide the design of learning environments that are accessible and challenging for all, rather than making modifications for individual students. UDL improves and optimizes teaching and learning for all people based on scientific insights into how humans learn, giving all students equal opportunity to succeed. This course is designed to encourage you to reflect deeply on your practice to focus on how you plan and teach to support all learners. The course content and associated assignments are geared towards practicing environmental and outdoor educators. We hope this course will inspire you to strengthen your pedagogical practices so they are more welcoming, inclusive, and accessible.This 6-week course, moderated by Dr. Amy Williams, takes approximately 12 hours to complete. For more information and to register, visit AEOE.

1. Justice Outside Community Workshops: Stronger Teams, Brighter Futures: Become the Place Everyone Wants To Work At

Dates: August 13, 20, and 27, 2025 Location: Virtual Description: Recruitment and hiring is expensive. This 3-part training series is for organizations that want to rethink the way they build and sustain Their teams—from identifying the most important skills, to crafting inclusive job descriptions, to onboarding staff in ways that make them feel welcome from day one and excited to celebrate many anniversaries with your organization. When you aim to bring in not just “the best and brightest,” but people who expand your perspective and add real value, you don’t just fill roles—you build a workplace people are proud to be part of.  Join Justice Outside staff as they explore how to think differently about job qualifications, broaden your candidate pool, interview for practical strengths, and retain staff by fostering a workplace culture that feels good to be part of. Strong teams don’t happen by accident. Let’s create a workplace people want to grow with.  To register, click Here. If you have any questions, email learning@justiceoutside.org.

2. Justice Outside Bi-annual Conference: Unite and Ignite 2025

Dates:  September 23-24, 2025 Location: Philadelphia, PA Description: Unite & Ignite 2025 creates a vital space for connection, solidarity, and strategic action. Through inspiring sessions, keynotes, and collaborative conversations, the conference will focus on organizing, mobilizing, and amplifying diverse voices to build collective power for lasting change in outdoor spaces. Attendees at this conference will amplify community voices to transform policies and change who makes decisions about the natural world, connect with leaders redirecting resources to where communities need them most, build networks that center excluded communities in the environmental movement, and transform solidarity into coordinated action for lasting structural change. For more information and to register, click Here.

3. California Coastal Cleanup Day

Date: September 20, 2025 Location: California beaches, creeks, and rivers Description: Coastal Cleanup Day is California’s largest annual volunteer event. It is an opportunity for people across the state to clean our creeks, rivers, lakes, coast, and shorelines of all kinds, to help restore our environment. Virtually every body of water in California ultimately flows to the ocean, and that water can carry a lot of trash. That’s why Coastal Cleanup Day takes place throughout the state – no matter where you’re cleaning, you are helping to protect our coast and ocean. California Coastal Cleanup Day is organized by the California Coastal Commission in partnership with many NGOs and local government partners around the state. It is part of the International Coastal Cleanup, organized by the Ocean Conservancy, which is the largest volunteer event on the planet! Join the Trashure Hunt! This year, California Coastal Cleanup Day will become the world’s largest scavenger hunt. Special “trash” items will be hidden at cleanup sites all across the state. If you find one of them, you can redeem it for valuable prizes! Learn more about the 40 year history of California Coastal Cleanup Day. Details to participate can be found Here.

4. AEOE Online Course: Climate Literacy

Dates: August 20 – October 5, 2025 Location: Online – Moodle Description: This rigorous online course is designed for communicators, educators, and community leaders who want to deepen their understanding of the science behind climate change and evidence-based, equitable solutions needed to address it. Participants will explore how climate systems function, how human actions influence climate, and how climate influences people and other parts of the Earth system. The course combines scientific readings, engaging videos, interactive simulations, systems thinking activities, and data visualizations to support a rich learning experience. While it does not focus on teaching strategies, it provides a strong scientific foundation to support confident, informed engagement with climate education materials. In addition to global climate science, the course incorporates California-based resources and data to ground concepts in real-world examples; while these materials are locally focused, they serve as valuable case studies that offer insights and applications relevant to participants from any region. Click HERE to register.

5. NAAEE 2025 Conference: Forward Together

Dates:  October 30, November 3-6, 2025 Location: Virtual Description: In the face of unprecedented global challenges, our 2025 virtual conference will highlight how we can move forward by harnessing our collective wisdom and diverse perspectives to create a more just and sustainable future. Environmental education is our foundation—it equips people with the tools to act, encourages new ways of thinking, and leads to positive change. As we confront environmental threats, misinformation, and division, our mission has never been more urgent. Progress depends on collaboration, innovation, and the collective power of educators, learners, changemakers, and communities. Our conference will bring together voices from across the field and around the world. Together we can support more educators, inspire more learners, and create lasting impact. Registration is now open.