Environmental Education & Learning

Learning by living

Five residential environmental learning centers (RELCs) spread around the state of Minnesota came together to teach and demonstrate the concept of sustainability. Collaborating in EarthSense Alliance, the RELCs are poised to real models of sustainability where the participants live with energy efficiency, energy conservation and alternative energy generation. They experience rather than talking about quality food and waste reduction, water conservation, and quality of life through exposure to nature and good exercise.

National programs like STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering, and Math), participation in GLOBE (an international program of interactive monitoring and internet sharing by schools) and an active program of energy education all add to the experiences and knowledge of the biological systems that the RELCs are famous for. And perhaps most important - everything and every moment of these residential visits is experiential!

These education institutions want to inspire individuals and institutions. Providing educational tools that share their knowledge and experience to enable their clients and visitors to make sustainable lifestyle choices. Hands-on, experiential courses do not fully describe what is happening in each residential visit; the residential experiences incorporate eating, sleeping, use of toilets, and all the functions of a normal day which means that each person is surrounded In the lessons and impacts of the EarthSense Alliance commitment to the 100,000 annual regional visitors from Minnesota, Illinois, Wisconsin, Iowa, North and South Dakota and Canada.

And who are those visitors? You and 68,000 school groups, 32,000 weekend visitors and numerous adult groups, College course students, summer camp participants, and retreat and conference participants make up the RELC audience.