Building Environmental Equity Literacy Where It Matters Most

Environmental Equity often enters higher education as an add-on—an isolated unit, a guest lecture, or a short-term initiative. At the Sustainable Environment Institute (SEI-LACCD), the approach is fundamentally different. Environmental Equity literacy is not supplementary to the work; it is the work.

That philosophy takes its clearest form in the LACCD Environmental Education Demonstration Project, an initiative SEI leadership describes as “core” to  the institute’s mission. Rather than asking faculty to add more content to already full syllabi, the project focuses on something deeper: supporting educators in embedding environmental equity directly into how courses are designed, taught, and experienced by students.

“Environmental equity education is not supplementary to the work—it is the work.”

Led by SEI, the Demonstration Project is a bold, practical effort to make environmental equity a permanent and meaningful part of higher education. Its aim is simple but ambitious—to move beyond isolated lessons and create a durable, scalable model for integrating climate and equity thinking into everyday curriculum across disciplines, campuses, and ultimately, statewide.

Professional Development Matters

The Demonstration Project is a comprehensive faculty professional development model designed to support real, lasting change in how courses are taught.

Faculty participating in the project receive layered, hands-on support, including:

• Targeted coaching that meets educators where they are, helping them rethink existing course materials through the lens of sustainability and equity.
• Communities of practice that bring together faculty from different disciplines—political science, English, science, and beyond—to learn from one another and share strategies.
• Experiential learning opportunities, such as field trips and culminating events, that connect classroom concepts to lived environmental realities for both students and educators.

Together, these elements ensure that environmental equity is not abstract or theoretical, but tangible, teachable, and relevant.

Designed to Scale

From the beginning, the Demonstration Project has been built with replication in mind. SEI’s goal is to document both the theory and the practice of embedding environmental equity into coursework—creating a roadmap that other colleges and districts can follow.

By showing how sustainability can be meaningfully integrated into vastly different disciplines, the project demonstrates that environmental equity education belongs everywhere, not just in environmental science classrooms. Scaled statewide, this approach has the potential to shape the learning experiences of millions of students.

“The Demonstration Project is building a scalable model for embedding environmental equity across disciplines, campuses, and statewide.”

A Blueprint for the Future

One way to understand the Demonstration Project is to think of it as a master blueprint for a new kind of educational structure. Instead of talking about sustainable design in the abstract, SEI is building a model—showing educators across the state ways that  environmental equity can be integrated into their own unique disciplines.

The Demonstration Project doesn’t just imagine a more sustainable future for higher education. It is actively constructing it—one course, one faculty member, and one campus at a time.