Local Ripples,
Lasting Change

I started Ten Strands in 2012 with the simple idea that teaching students about the environment could ripple into environmental change at scale.

I could not have imagined then what we’ve built together today: a movement to help schools, educators, and young people imagine and create a future where having a healthy environment is a high priority.

Perhaps most exciting to me, I see the growth in young people finding their voices and realizing they have agency to create the future they want.

This year, I have the privilege of mentoring our fourth cohort of youth leaders. Watching more than sixty students learn to lead with curiosity, conviction, and hope has been incredibly meaningful. I hope the handful of their stories in this report give you a dose of hope, too.

I’m deeply grateful to our staff, board members, partners, donors, and supporters who continue to believe in Ten Strands and the movement we put in motion. We’re onto something, and it will take all of us playing our part to fully realize our vision.

Thank you,

Change across a system as large and diverse as TK–12 education in California rarely arrives in a single wave. Rather, a movement grows through hundreds of actions: a teacher bringing environmental learning into their classroom, a district investing in sustainability staff, a student advocating for change, or partners coming together to influence statewide policy.

The stories in this report offer a glimpse into that movement: local ripples that, together, create lasting change for our students and communities.

Our statewide data, combined with our experience with schools and partners on the ground, show that environmental literacy and climate action are taking hold across California. Ten Strands is proud to have played an important catalytic role in that progress. For fourteen years, we have worked alongside others to cultivate the conditions for a movement to flourish: building capacity, connecting people, developing and spreading promising approaches, elevating youth leadership, and advancing policy.

Still, our work remains. California has legitimized environmental literacy and climate readiness through laws, standards, and local commitments. Yet legitimacy is not the same as institutionalization. Our data reveals districts are more likely to name environmental goals than to dedicate the staffing, funding, and structures needed to actualize them.

We look back on this year with tremendous optimism — about how far this movement has come and the role that Ten Strands has played. Our work ahead is to continue growing this movement and translate its momentum into lasting change. Your support makes this possible — thank you.

With gratitude,