vision, mission & values

curiosity: We approach our work at Earth Friends with an open and curious mind. When we limit ourselves to what is right and what is wrong and only what has been done before, we are restraining the future creators and innovators who can lead us to a better world. We are here to live in a new way and ready to embrace different ideas.

sustainability: As Earth Friends builds the foundation for the future stewards of our planet, we model behaviors and practices that create positive human impact. Sustainability is at the core of our connection with nature and the understanding of how we impact our world. As we teach young children, we, as adults, schools, and centers will walk the talk.

equity: We recognize that not all young children have access to early education resources, and we aim to create a greener and brighter future for every human and being through Earth Friends Outreach. Our lessons, materials, trainings, and supports cannot be specific to any one school or community but will be accessible to all children in their formative years, which is the goal of Earth Friends Outreach.

However, while elementary and high school-age children are receiving this opportunity, the early education systems and communities are being left out of this narrative.

If educators agree that these are the formative years—when habits form, behaviors develop, and neuroplasticity is in our favor—then why leave out environmental education in early education curricula? In fact, 58 percent of U.S. parents believe that climate change should be taught as early as preschool, and the February 2022 “Report on K–12 Climate Change Education Needs in New Jersey” identifies environmental education in early education as a Key Need. “Explicit attention should be paid to foundational experiences in preschool learning environments and offerings in higher education to ensure that extends beyond the K–12 arena.”

Children around the world hold the power to rewrite the climate change story, yet environmental awareness is largely absent from education. This is known as the “climate education gap.” Today, in the U.S., more than 86 percent of teachers and 84 percent of parents support climate change education in schools, and in recent years this request is being addressed, as we are now seeing climate change and environmental education content voluntarily included in curricula for K–12 across the country, with New Jersey being the first state to make it a requirement. 

While it is arguably difficult to teach this subject to young children, when we explore our “why,” the path to the inclusion of environmental awareness in early education becomes clearer. Why is teaching young children about our environment and climate change so difficult during their formative years, ages 3–6? Well, because climate change is daunting. Because our diminishing natural world is dismal. Because we, the adults, are tired, overworked, and anxious. But that is our story.

It is not the story of our children. Imagine if we created an environment where young children can grow to love the world around them and give them the opportunity to make the connections that convenience and culture have stolen from us? Adults may operate from a place of “fight” and “flight” but young minds are eager to “learn” and “love.” This calls for a new approach to environmental education in early education that leaves the “adult” climate change topics out of it and focuses on becoming aware of all there is to love about Earth, all living things, and what Earth provides.

• integrates earth science, biodiversity, ecology, equity, and systems thinking into the current curricula

• builds on existing climate studies (Creative Curriculum’s Reduce, Reuse, Recycle) and nature school philosophies (North American Association for Environmental Education [NAAEE])

• addresses the early education needs for: play-based learning, DAP, SEL, whole-child development, and collaboration in community

• prepares young children for environmental and climate programs designed for older children, such as Earth Warriors and Earth Rangers

To put it simply, Earth Friends offers young children a foundation of knowledge about where we live and how we live.

We have heard the word “literacy” used often when it comes to reading (the ability to read and write) and more recently math

(competence or knowledge in a specific area), but what does it mean when we connect literacy to the environment? According to the North American Association for Environmental Education, environmental literacy is “more than what you know.”

An environmentally literate person, as defined by the NAAEE and National Science Foundation is “someone who, both individually and together with others, makes informed decisions concerning the environment; is willing to act on these decisions to improve the well-being of other individuals, societies, and the global environment, and participates in civic life.”

Through environmental awareness, Earth Friends fosters environmentally literate young citizens.