The 1420 Foundation for Sustainable Development Education

A foundation establishing collaborative, Internet based, experiential learning programs for students in the U.S. and overseas. Their project based learning encourages students to become involved in creating sustainable communities, including sustainable business initiatives and micro-entrerprise opportunities. At the center of their approach is the notion of a teacher and his or her students getting fully engaged in a particular project of sustainability, local or global, that has direct and concrete implications which they can see and can directly and concretely influence. This works best toward's both engaging students and teachers, as well as helping students to learn as best they can. Examples of this would be a physics teacher working with his or her students and not only designing a solar car, but also building it. Or take the example of an urban chemistry class not only analyzing the composition of water in a classroom, but actively investigating and testing the quality of water in the ponds and rivers in their local environment. Another example would be a group of students who venture forth and carefully consider the social, economic, and environmental issues at play in their community, seeking out partnering relationships with other public agencies to engage in project of change around targeted issues and/or problems.

The Sustainable Village is working closely with the 1420 Foundation to help provide more resources and projects for their students, more funding for them to expand into other countries, and networking to other groups like Engineers Without Borders. For more information see 1420 Foundation.