Our Impact
We are the leaders in youth environmental civic engagement. Explore the real-world impact of Environmental Applied Civics.
The Earth Force approach is named as a best practice in multiple frameworks from the North American Association for Environmental Education, including the Professional Development of Environmental Educators: Guidelines for Excellence.
IMPROVING THE FIELD
Bringing action to watershed education
We’ve partnered with NOAA to refine their signature MWEE (Meaningful Watershed Education Experience) framework and educator guides, embedding a focus on civic action-based learning into national standards.
NATIONWIDE TRAINING
National training partner in ee360+
With 24 other organizations, Earth Force is a Training Partner for ee360+ - a multi-year NAAEE initiative that supports a cadre of environmental educators to increase environmental literacy for everyone.
A RECOGNIZED BEST PRACTICE
A model practice in climate resilience
Earth Force is named as a model practice in Centering and uplifting youth voice in planning for a more resilient climate future in rural Colorado: a case study of a student resilience team asking for change (Front. Clim., 16 October 2024)
20+ years of data shows prepared educators and engaged youth.
EAC Impact on Youth
Consistently increases young people’s awareness of environmental issues in their communities.
Shows consistent gains in practical civic skills, including identifying issues, planning action, working with others, and communicating about community problems.
Helps young people learn how to find information, engage experts, and understand how policies and community decisions work.
Increases young people’s confidence that they can make a difference and strengthens their capacity to take action
“Community, collective, effervescence.” That’s how Colorado educator Julia Fliss described Earth Force. We’re proud to be part of a network shaping best practices in environmental education.
Julia Fliss
From Mapping Litter to Changing City Policy
At Wentzville Middle School, students turned classroom learning into real-world change — using data, mapping, and civic engagement to improve their community.
As part of their EAC-integrated curriculum, the students monitored a local creek, mapped conditions using ArcGIS, and discovered that much of the litter in the creek was recyclable — mostly plastic bags. Digging deeper, students uncovered a gap in local recycling access. While single-family homes had curbside pickup, multi-family residents did not — contributing to waste in waterways.
The students proposed a two-part plan to address the root issue. First, they worked with community partners to distribute 1,000 reusable shopping bags. Then, partnering with city officials, they developed and advocated for a Multi-Family Recycling Policy. In 2017, the policy was adopted.
Today, the program diverts hundreds of tons of waste from landfills each year. What began as a classroom investigation became real-world impact — demonstrating how integrating EAC into existing curriculum can empower students to drive lasting community change.
Impact on Educators
Increases educators’ abilities to implement student-driven, project-based learning in their classrooms.
Builds educators’ capacities to connect classroom learning to real-world issues and community contexts.
Enables educators to facilitate student engagement with decision-makers and real-world systems.
Strengthens educators’ ability to integrate youth voice and shared decision-making into classroom practice.
Impact findings are based on 20+ years of Earth Force program evaluations. Evaluation methods, questions, and data sophistication evolved over time, shifting from a focus on participant satisfaction to measuring changes in educator practice and student civic action. Response volumes were generally higher before the COVID-19 pandemic, which is reflected in some findings. AI-assisted analysis identified patterns that emerged consistently across multiple years and evaluation instruments, supported by educator and student feedback.
Collaborate with us!
Partner with Earth Force to bring real world learning to the next level. We empower districts and organizations to enact deep change through dynamic and impactful learning integration.
JOIN OUR MISSION
