The Stone Soup Leadership Institute opened its 19th Global Sustainability Summit with keynote remarks by Senate Marc Pacheco. This hybrid event empowers students to envision personal, professional, community and planetary goals – provided this year’s youth delegations from Massachusetts and Terceira, Azores intensive training on how to build a sustainable world.

Youth Delegates:

• Bristol County Agricultural High School
• Escola Secundária Jerónimo Emiliano de Andrade

The Summit also features prominent sustainability experts and professionals including: Professor Robert Rak (The Blue Center, Bristol Community College); Ana Sophia Mifsud (RMI - Rocky Mountain Institute); Kersey Sturdivant PhD. (INSPIRE Environmental); and a number of emerging leaders featured in the Stone Soup Climate Education Curriculum and the book, Stone Soup for a Sustainable World: Life-Changing Stories of Young Heroes. See full Summit schedule.

“Providing students accurate facts and information to our ongoing climate crisis has consistently proven to yield significant benefits and I am very pleased to support this Global Sustainability Summit for climate education and international collaboration,” said Senator Pacheco. Read press release.

At the Graduation, Massachusetts youth delegates presented Senator Pacheco with signatures in support of in support of Curriculum Based Service Learning and Climate Corps: Amendment 701.  “Many thanks to the Institute’s Founding Director Marianne Larned, her seasoned global team, and all the impressive students participating in this 19th Global Sustainability Summit,” added Senator Pacheco.

At the Institute’s Sustainability Summit this week, youth delegates made presentations on six of the 17 U.N. SDG goals on how climate change affects this issue in their communities as well as the sustainability innovations being developed –Sustainable Agriculture (2); Clean Water & Sanitation (6), Renewable Energy (7); Sustainable Cities/Communities (11); Responsible Consumption (12), Climate Change (13), Life Below Water (14). See all presentations.

Each afternoon, students explored sustainable workforce development opportunities and developed their Sustainable Career Pathways on the Institute’s SustainWDN™ portal so they can pursue meaningful good-paying jobs, while helping to rebuild our planet.  

Sustainability in Action Project: Plastic Free Pledges

Youth delegates pledged to invite others to join them in creating plastic free schools and communities.

Jasper Ralph

Terceira Youth Delegates

Plastic Free Massachusetts

Sena Wazer, The Climate Reality Project, presented her findings on Climate Education in the U.S. New Jersey and Connecticut are the first two states to legislate a mandate to require schools to teach climate education – which will implemented in all schools in the fall, 2023. Other states are following in their footsteps and others are pursuing alternatives to mandates. Read article in The Nation.

The Institute announced their new report on Climate Education in Europe and Asia by K.C. Shreya, Nepal, Stone Soup Global Ambassador.



European and Asian countries are years ahead of the U.S. with climate education.  In 2015 at the Paris Agreement, the U.N. Framework Convention on Climate Change was developed to encouraged everyone to develop climate education initiatives. EU and Asian countries took this challenge very seriously and use the UNESCO framework: The Education for Sustainable Development: Towards Achieving the U.N. Sustainable Development Goals (UN SDG). It been 8 years since the Paris Agreement – how are they doing?

Portugal has the best track record in Europe. In Terceira, Azores, they even have the UNSDG goals prominently featured in their school lobby.

Given their track record, why are more EU countries not farther along with implementing climate education goals. The survey identified the main reasons why teachers might not incorporate climate education into their lessons.

• 66% respondents: a lack of expertise or training.
• 51%: a shortage of climate education resources.

"The transition to a sustainable economy is the most challenging issue of the 21st century,” says Marianne Larned. “Young people deserve the best educational tools to prepare them for their future. They are eager to learn about climate education and how to pursue their sustainable career pathways. It’s up to each one of us to respond and to take action with the urgency of NOW."

The Stone Soup Leadership Institute is a Massachusetts non-profit organization founded in 1997 on Martha’s Vineyard. For over 25 years has been a leader in developing climate education and sustainable workforce development tools, trainings, and initiatives (Case Studies). The Institute’s Stone Soup Climate Education Curriculum features 100 Lesson Plans that bring to life the stories in the book, Stone Soup for a Sustainable World: Life-Changing Stories of Young Heroes. It is aligned with Massachusetts state standards, NGSS (Next Generation State Standards), as well as the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (UNSDG).

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