The Generation Earth team can bring a variety of environmental topics into your classroom today. If you are a 6th through 12th grade teacher in Los Angeles County, then you have access to our amazing Generation Earth Project Coordinators. These environmental experts can visit your school, speak to your students and help guide a meaningful environmental service learning project. We offer a wide range of presentations and projects relating to water, waste and forestry. Below are a few of our most popular topics, but feel free to let us know if you have something else in mind.

Advocacy 101

• Students choose a cause, find their voice, research and write an effective advocacy letter to an administrator, local community leader, or elected representative.

Food Waste

• Students work in groups to become "instant experts" on the environmental and economic impacts of wasted food and create posters to share with their peers.

Let's Talk Trash

• Students discover the "final destination" of waste and how it impacts our environment, as well as simple steps to take to reduce our impact at home and school.

Native Plants

• Students find out how the native plants of Southern California save water, withstand fire and support native wildlife.

Water Pollution & Prevention

• Students learn how the urban watershed is affected by water pollution and explore an array of forward-thinking solutions to this issue.

Water Audit

• Students investigate how water flows on campus and identify potential water capture solutions like installing rain chains or rain barrels.

Book a Generation Earth Project Coordinator

Generation Earth offers three different workshops year-round in addition to our two-day Summer Institute. These workshops provide the opportunity to stay informed about local environmental issues, network and collaborate with colleagues, share experiences and gain valuable educational resources.

Building a Water Resilient Los Angeles County

• This workshop for teachers and students addresses crucial water issues including stormwater pollution and drought. Join us to explore solutions and student-led environmental action projects.

Building a Resourceful Los Angeles County

• This workshop for teachers and students covers waste management topics and student action projects including recycling, composting and more.

Taking Action: The Intersection of Education, Climate Change and Health

• This professional development workshop for teachers offers tools for incorporating climate change in the classroom and encouraging students to take action.

Summer Institute

• This two-day professional development workshop for teachers explores sustainable waste and water management solutions and resources to facilitate meaningful environmental projects.

To be notified of upcoming workshops, sign up for our newsletter!

Generation Earth will host our second annual Environmental Youth Summit on April 11th, 2024 at the Natural History Museum of Los Angeles County. The summit will offer an exciting and inspiring day of learning for over 200 students from different schools. Workshops will be offered on a variety of topics such as school greening, water pollution, and native plants. Our Green Career Panel will enable students to discover a variety of environmental career pathways and explore approaches to becoming leaders in their communities. Additionally, there will be a Resource Fair showcasing a range of environmental organizations, a photo booth, and fun activities like painting terracotta pots and planting native seeds to take home.

The true highlight of the day will be the student presentations. A few classes have been selected to share their Generation Earth projects with attendees. These presentations will showcase tangible examples of how powerful youth-led action can be.

The response to last year’s inaugural summit was incredible and we are looking forward to this year’s event. If you are interested in bringing your students to the Environmental Youth Summit 2024, please let us know.

Contact us for more information.

Generation Earth provides free bus transportation for field trips that support environmental service learning projects. In order to qualify for a bus the trip must relate to or enhance a Generation Earth environmental service learning project. The students attending the field trip must be between 6th and 12th grade at a school within Los Angeles County and the destination must be within Los Angeles County.

Buses are subject to availability and funds are limited, so contact us to request a bus as far in advance as possible. Please do not request less than one month before the field trip.

• Teachers are eligible for one bus per school year.
• Schools are eligible for two buses per school year.
• The school (or teacher) is responsible for booking and coordinating with the field trip destination site.
• A maximum of 56 people, including adults, can be seated on a bus.
• Schools may cancel the bus no later than 48 hours prior to the field trip.
• Late cancellations forfeit your bus for the year. You may be billed.
• Generation Earth is not responsible for lost or stolen items on any field trip.
• Passengers are required to follow COVID protocols per Los Angeles County Public Health orders and chartered bus company’s requirements.

Students from South Gate Middle School joined Generation Earth coordinators for a series of educational workshops over the course of six weeks. During the first three weeks, students focused on water pollution and prevention, the impacts of waste on the environment, and the benefits of trees. During the Water Pollution and Prevention presentation the students were quizzed using an interactive virtual board game and the winners walked away with eco-friendly swag. The game was a great success with many of the students expressing how much fun they had, so the Generation Earth coordinators decided to create games for all of the remaining workshops.

During the second round of the workshops, students learned about plastic pollution, the four R’s, and soil health. To assess students’ knowledge and encourage critical thinking, a Jeopardy-style game was utilized during the Plastic Pollution presentation. During the Four R’s presentation, an environmental loteria (bingo) game generated discussion and led to new insights. Lastly, during the Soil Health presentation students worked in teams to compete in a comprehensive quiz game which covered all the topics throughout the six weeks. These games were a fun and effective way to engage the South Gate students with these vital environmental topics.

This workshop series was coordinated with Ms. Jessica Mejia and the amazing teachers at South Gate Middle School. If you would like to coordinate a similar workshop series for your students, follow this link to book a Generation Earth Project Coordinator.

For any local education agencies located in County Unincorporated Communities, you can also receive a FREE waste consultation and additional resources to reduce waste and implement or enhance existing recycling practices on campus. If you are interested in a waste consultation, visit BusinessRecycling.com and submit your request today! For any questions or more information, please email BusinessRecycling@pw.lacounty.gov.