ECCLPs September 2025 Newsletter

Dear ECCLPs community,

Welcome to the new academic year! I hope you are entering the fall with a bit of summer’s energy still in your heart, the kind we felt at our Computing for a Just and Sustainable Future gathering, in new networks we built, and in classrooms where students turned questions into data and data into stories. That spirit of innovation and care is the heartbeat of ECCLPs, and you can see it throughout this issue, from the Climate Action Certification Program launching in Santa Ana to national conversations on climate learning convened by the National Academies.

The season also reminded us why this work matters. State officials issued extreme heat warnings across much of California, underscoring health risks and the value of early warning tools like CalHeatScore. Several communities also experienced air quality advisories and alerts as wildfire smoke affected large areas, prompting public health guidance to limit outdoor activity. These were not just headlines; they became culturally relevant learning moments as students compared sensor readings, noticed how heat pools in different neighborhoods, and asked what action looks like close to home.

As the advisor to ECCLPs, I take heart in how our community is meeting this moment. At the September educator conference, teachers designed lessons that braid computing, climate literacy, and environmental justice, from AI supported city design to micro:bit data walks and geospatial storytelling. In Santa Ana, our partners are formalizing a bilingual, community driven certification so youth and adults can monitor air, interpret evidence, and participate in civic decision making. At the National Academies’ summer meetings on Education for Thriving in a Changing Climate, we heard powerful examples of learning ecosystems, green and blue workforce pathways, and designs that center belonging and diverse human nature relationships. The committee’s report is in progress, but the workshops point a common theme: when learning is local, relational, and action oriented, we care and we want to act.

This newsletter is an invitation to keep building together. If you are trying something new, connecting sensor data to city council testimony, redesigning a unit with Indigenous knowledge, or creating work based learning tied to climate careers, let us talk. We are piloting conversation based features so we can co write your story and share it with the field.

Here is to a year when climate learning is more than a lesson, it is a pathway to belonging, problem solving, and collective action. Thank you for the care, creativity, and resolve you bring to your communities every day.

With gratitude and hope,

Asli Sezen-Barrie
Stacey Nicholas Endowed Chair of Environmental and Climate Change Education, UC Irvine
Faculty Advisor, ECCLPs

Photo Credit: Miguel Andrade

On September 13, educators from across Southern California gathered for a dynamic conference hosted by the California Science Project and the UCI Teacher Academy, exploring the intersections of computing, climate change, and environmental justice. Together, participants engaged in inquiry around pressing questions: How can computational thinking support our understanding of complex environmental issues in classrooms and communities? What connections exist between climate action policies such as Assembly Bill 285 and the California Science and Computer Science Standards? And how can students be positioned as problem solvers and changemakers in the face of technological and environmental challenges?

The conference opened with a keynote by Dr. Asli Sezen-Barrie, Stacey Nicholas Endowed Chair of Environmental and Climate Change Education at UC Irvine and advisor to the Environmental and Climate Change Literacy Projects (ECCLPs). She highlighted the role of data storying in advancing justice-oriented education and action. Breakout sessions followed, offering opportunities to design sustainable cities with AI, collect environmental data with micro:bits, investigate renewable energy, map urban heat islands, and explore creative approaches such as ecowriting and storytelling with geospatial tools.

Educators left with both inspiration and concrete strategies. One participant reflected that the most impactful part of the day was “helping students to become problem-solvers of environmental issues.” Another noted the importance of shifting paradigms toward a relational worldview: “We, humans are one with the environment.”This perspective shows participant’s reframing of how they see the human–nature relationship.

The impact of the conference was clear: over 90% of teachers reported that they acquired new approaches to integrating computer science in ways that support students’ understanding of environmental issues. The energy, collaboration, and innovative spirit of the event left educators inspired to integrate computing and climate change education in meaningful and hopeful ways.

ECCLPs is proud to partner on the new Climate Action Certification Program for Environmental Justice and Air Quality Improvement in Santa Ana—a year-long, community-driven training that will equip residents from the city’s five Environmental Justice clusters with hands-on skills in air monitoring, data analysis, climate justice, and advocacy. Led by OneOC as fiscal sponsor for GREEN-MPNA, and built from GREEN-MPNA’s resident-led CUAL (Comunidad Unida Aire Limpio) work, the bilingual (Spanish/English) program runs March 2025–March 2027 and formalizes a proven model of community science, leadership development, and workforce pathways in STEM and public health.

This effort is powered by a strong collaboration network. UC Irvine’s Research Justice Shop (RJS) serves as a sub-award partner coordinating participatory curriculum co-design and evaluation. In-kind partners bring deep technical and educational expertise: the Climate Justice Arts & Education Program (WUICAN), the CLIMATE Justice Initiative, AirUCI, the Air Pollution Health Effects Lab (APHEL) at UCI’s Center for Occupational and Environmental Health, and the UCI School of Education. As a partner, ECCLPs will help align the certification with statewide climate literacy goals and support scalable models for educator, youth, and community learning.

Why it matters: communities like Madison Park face some of California’s highest pollution burdens. By training residents to collect and interpret local air-quality data (e.g., PM2.5 and toxic releases), and to use that evidence in civic and policy spaces, this program strengthens community capacity for healthier air, informed decision-making, and just climate action. We’re honored to stand with our partners and Santa Ana residents in this work—and we look forward to sharing stories from the first cohort as the program launches.

Please contact Project PI Erika RMayoraledmpnagreen@gmail.com for more information.

Photo Credit: GREEN-MPNA

Photo Credit: National Academies, Ali Rellinger of Mississippi-Alabama Sea Grant

From right to left : Martha Monroe, Asli Sezen-Barrie, Joseph Henderson, Leigh Peake, Anna Lees

What if climate learning felt less like a unit and more like a community project? This summer, the National Academy of Sciences Engineering, and Medicine (NASEM) convened an interdisciplinary group of educators, and researchers to explore how learning across K–12, higher ed, and informal settings can help people understand climate change and act for thriving futures. We’re also proud to share that ECCLPs Faculty Advisor Asli Sezen-Barrie (UCI) serves on the committee and helped moderated the “Frameworks of Thriving” panel during the summer.

From understanding to action: Open sessions in July spotlighted place-based programs that move from community data to community decisions, cross-sector networks linking schools, afterschool, and community science, and strategies to navigate misinformation through trust-building and media literacy. A culminating conversation on frameworks of thriving connected human–nature relationships, ethical engineering, wellbeing, and instructional design helping align learning goals with the futures students deserve.

Putting the pieces to work: In early September, a public workshop zoomed in on implementation: learning ecosystems that braid classrooms with museums and everyday life; work-based learning for the green/blue economy (including upskilling current workers); state policy levers that accelerate or stall climate learning; economic considerations for financing community resilience; and community & civic learning that turns curiosity into collective action.

What we’re hearing so far from the workshops and panels

• Place-based learning with civic links: Many speakers described pairing local air/water/heat data with opportunities to participate in community decision-making. Open questions include sustaining partnerships and ensuring data quality and student safety.
• Green/blue workforce pathways: There’s strong interest in work-based learning for youth and upskilling for current workers. The committee is probing what “high-quality” looks like while avoiding narrow tracking.
• Belonging and worldviews: Designing for diverse human–nature relationships (e.g., Indigenous, rural, urban) and “rightful presence” surfaced as foundational to relevance and respect.
• Information ecosystems: Rather than “fighting myths,” speakers emphasized media literacy, community trust networks, and educator PD that help navigate misinformation together.

The committee’s report is in development; ECCLPs will keep our community updated and share actionable insights as they emerge. If you’re piloting a climate learning project this fall, we’d love to hear from you—your work belongs in this national conversation.

We are excited to announce that ECCLPs is launching its very first peer-reviewed journal, Innovations in Sustainability Education. This open-access journal will publish original research and practitioner work focused on climate and environmental literacy in PK-12 education.

Our core goals are to connect research with practice, support educators, and inspire civic engagement and action. Themes include:

• Interdisciplinary perspectives on climate/environmental literacy

• Action & civic engagement in education

• Building preservice/in-service teacher confidence around environmental topics

• PK-12 projects addressing contemporary climate and environmental issues

  
  

This effort has been made possible by integral members of the ECCLPs committee — Adina Payta, Christine Lee, Megan Sulsberger, and Alexandria Hansen — who shaped this collaborative journal to connect research in PK-12 Climate and Environmental Climate, Justice and Action.

This fall, we’re trying something more human than a submission portal: a short conversation. If you’re leading a climate change education research project in California, we’d love to talk with you. Together, we’ll draft your story and share it back for your approval before publishing it in our newsletter and on our website.

🎙️ How it works
You send us a quick note → we schedule a brief Zoom or phone conversation → ECCLPs drafts a 600–800 word feature based on what you share → you review for accuracy → we publish and amplify it through our networks.

📩 Start the conversation
Email asli.sezenbarrie@uci.edu with the subject line “Let’s Talk: Climate Project Story.” In the body, include 3–5 sentences that cover:

· Your project title and location

· Who’s involved (partners included)

· The audience/setting

· One moment that mattered—an insight, dilemma, or impact you’re proud of

Add a link or two (resource, photo, short video) if you have them, and suggest a couple of time windows that work for a 30-minute chat.

🌎 What kinds of stories?
Example projects include ideas that:

· Connect local data (air/water/heat) to community action

· Honor Indigenous, rural, and urban knowledge

· Create green/blue workforce pathways for youth and current workers

· Build media literacy and trust

· Advance policy or partnerships that made learning possible

✍️ After we talk
We’ll craft the piece, send it to you for a quick check, and feature it in an upcoming issue. If youth are identifiable or quoted, we’ll confirm permissions (IRB/parental consent as needed).

We’re excited to learn with you—and to highlight the work that’s moving climate learning from knowledge to collective action.

Please use the comment button below to provide your suggestions, comments, or questions for the ECCLPs team. Your input is valuable to us and we appreciate opportunities to connect.