WASHINGTON, D.C.—The Sustainable Forestry Initiative (SFI) and award-winning educational initiative Project Learning Tree (PLT) are proud to announce the release of Explora tu Ambiente: Guía de Actividades K-8, the Spanish-language version of PLT’s best-selling Explore Your Environment: K-8 Activity Guide.
Explora tu Ambiente provides environmental education and forest literacy resources to the more than 4 million Spanish-speaking students in U.S. public schools. Perfect for teachers and other formal educators, as well as informal educators like foresters and nature center staff, the guide contains 50 hands-on, multidisciplinary activities to connect Kindergarten through Grade 8 students to forests and nature.
PLT is also expanding bilingual training opportunities for educators, with successful pilot programs already implemented in states like Illinois. A webinar, organized in collaboration with Corazón Latino, is scheduled for September 18, 2024, to kick off Hispanic Heritage Month and share inclusive outdoor learning strategies.Corazón Latino generates social, environmental, and conservation initiatives that foster natural resource stewardship, with a focus on the important connection between forests and human health, particularly those suffering from health disparities.
“Forests are the heart of our planet and the source of our collective health. We firmly believe that educating our communities about the worth of forests is an investment in our future. Education is the bridge between indifference and action, between destruction and conservation,” said Felipe Benítez, Executive Director and Founder of Corazón Latino.
“This initiative is a crucial step in our mission to provide high-quality environmental education to all learners,” said Josh Brankman, Vice President of Education at SFI. “By offering our flagship curriculum in Spanish, we’re not only improving access to nature-based education but also supporting STEM and forest literacy skills for multilingual learners.”
The release of Explora tu Ambiente aligns with the new SFI 2025-2030 Strategic Direction to foster a lifetime of learning to create positive change with diverse communities. The guide supports outcomes of our strategic direction, including efforts to ensure environmental education and forest literacy are integral to student learning, as well as increased collaboration with a diversity of communities.
Foresters and conservationists are encouraged to support by:
- Purchasing and promoting the Spanish-language guide within their networks
- Participating in bilingual PLT workshops, in-person and online
- Engaging with local Latino communities to promote environmental education and sustainable forest management
- Supporting career pathway initiatives for diverse young adults in forestry and conservation
For more information about Explora tu Ambiente: Guía de Actividades K-8, or to get involved with PLT’s environmental education efforts, please visit plt.org/explora.
ABOUT SFI
The Sustainable Forestry Initiative® (SFI) advances sustainability through forest-focused collaborations. We are an independent, nonprofit organization that leverages four interconnected pillars of work: standards, conservation, community, and education. SFI works with the forest sector, conservation groups, academics, researchers, brand owners, resource professionals, landowners, educators, local communities, Indigenous Peoples, and governments. Collaborating with our network, we leverage SFI-certified forests and products as powerful tools to help solve sustainability challenges such as climate action, conservation of biodiversity, education of future generations, and sustainable economic development.
About Project Learning Tree
Project Learning Tree®️ is committed to advancing environmental education, forest literacy, and green career pathways, using trees and forests as windows on the world. Our award-winning resources offer a lifetime of learning from early childhood through adulthood, and our wide and diverse network provides professional development for educators and opportunities for young adults to explore forests and green careers. Together, we are growing future forest and conservation leaders. PLT is an initiative of the Sustainable Forestry Initiative®, a non-profit charitable organization with the mission of advancing sustainability through forest-focused collaboration. Learn more: forests.org.
About Corazón Latino
Corazón Latino is a national non-profit organization that seeks to generate social, environmental, and conservation initiatives that foster natural resource stewardship. Corazón Latino mobilizes the passion, love, unity, solidarity, and resources of individuals, communities, organizations, and government entities to advance the common good. Corazón Latino embraces the ONE Health approach by fostering collaboration and synergy among diverse sectors to address the interconnected well-being of people, animals, plants, and the environment.
Learn more: corazonlatino.us.
MEDIA CONTACT
Christine Leduc
VP, Communications and Government Relations
Sustainable Forestry Initiative
613-706-1114
media@forests.org
