Avana Andrade
Office of Sustainability Sustainability Specialist: Climate Action Planning, County of San Mateo
Avana Andrade is a Sustainability Specialist at San Mateo County. She leads a public environmental education program, called the Sustainability Academy, and the County's Climate Action Plan. She has worked on environmental policy, land conservation, and western land issues for over ten years in the National Park Service, the Northern Rockies Conservation Cooperative, the Yale Center for Environmental Law and Policy and the Public Lands History Center at Colorado State University. Her undergraduate degree is in Environmental History from Colorado State University and her masters degree is in Environmental Management from the Yale School of Forestry and Environmental Studies.
Building Cultural Relevance in Environmental Education
"After seeing the same demographic coming to events, Sustainability Academy staff began wondering how to be more responsive to diverse interests. This endeavor has unearthed a range of questions: what would environmentalism and environmental education look like if we expanded the kinds of topics we covered? What do we hope to get out of ÒeducatingÓ people about the environment? What are these kinds of programs really for? The Sustainability Academy is in the process of exploring these questions, expanding its reach and altering its curriculum to reflect deeper cultural relevance for more members of San Mateo County.
The Sustainability Academy started over 10 years ago and focused primarily on training and building up a composting community network. It is funded through the CountyÕs solid waste tax (AB939) and is oriented around solid waste reduction through public education and making resources available to community members to make changes in their daily lives. The program currently includes the following:
- Master Composter Course - 6 weeks
- Fundamentals in Climate Change and Natural Resources - 9 weeks
- Resource conservation workshops and edible forest at the Maple Street Jail
- 2-3 hour workshops throughout the year
- Socials, field trips, volunteer workdays
The key changes made to date in the program are:
- Transitioning into more dedicated partnership with community leaders and organizations
- Moving away from a "general public" marketing and curricular model
- Locating workshops in neighborhoods and centers where people already gather/where important community events already take place
Building Cultural Relevance in Environmental Education
"After seeing the same demographic coming to events, Sustainability Academy staff began wondering how to be more responsive to diverse interests. This endeavor has unearthed a range of questions: what would environmentalism and environmental education look like if we expanded the kinds of topics we covered? What do we hope to get out of ÒeducatingÓ people about the environment? What are these kinds of programs really for? The Sustainability Academy is in the process of exploring these questions, expanding its reach and altering its curriculum to reflect deeper cultural relevance for more members of San Mateo County.
The Sustainability Academy started over 10 years ago and focused primarily on training and building up a composting community network. It is funded through the CountyÕs solid waste tax (AB939) and is oriented around solid waste reduction through public education and making resources available to community members to make changes in their daily lives. The program currently includes the following:
- Master Composter Course - 6 weeks
- Fundamentals in Climate Change and Natural Resources - 9 weeks
- Resource conservation workshops and edible forest at the Maple Street Jail
- 2-3 hour workshops throughout the year
- Socials, field trips, volunteer workdays
The key changes made to date in the program are:
- Transitioning into more dedicated partnership with community leaders and organizations
- Moving away from a "general public" marketing and curricular model
- Locating workshops in neighborhoods and centers where people already gather/where important community events already take place