Bill Text: HI HCR178 | 2013 | Regular Session | Introduced

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Bill Title: Education; Curriculum; Sustainability

Spectrum: Partisan Bill (Democrat 8-0)

Status: (Passed) 2013-04-25 - Received notice of Agreement and Adoption in House (Hse. Com. No. 738). [HCR178 Detail]

Download: Hawaii-2013-HCR178-Introduced.html

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HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES	H.C.R. NO.	178
TWENTY-SEVENTH LEGISLATURE, 2013
STATE OF HAWAII

HOUSE CONCURRENT

RESOLUTION

 

 

requesting the board of education to incorporate SUSTAINABILITY EDUCATION into the science curriculum of public schools.

 

 

 

     WHEREAS, the ability to support and sustain ourselves in today's world requires an ability to adapt to global changes and educate ourselves about the need to find the right balance of growing our economy, keeping our land healthy, and preserving our natural resources; and

 

     WHEREAS, sustainable use of resources and clean energy are essential to Hawaii given its location in the middle of the Pacific Ocean; and

 

     WHEREAS, Hawaii's current dependence on foreign oil and non-domestic food threatens our ability to provide for ourselves; and

 

     WHEREAS, approximately seventy-seven per cent of the electricity consumed in Hawaii is generated by burning imported oil and ninety per cent of the food consumed in the State is imported; and

 

     WHEREAS, Senate Bill No. 937 (2013), currently being considered by the Legislature, would establish a new branch in the Department of Agriculture to increase food resiliency in the State to address the risk of food shortages in the event of natural disasters, economic disruptions, and other external factors; and

 

     WHEREAS, the United States is falling behind in the rapidly growing clean energy industry, and its educational system and workforce are not prepared to compete on a global scale; and

 

WHEREAS, the United States Department of Energy and Department of Education, the United Nations Decade of Education for Sustainable Development, and the Hawaii 2050 Sustainability Plan, call for the values, activities, and principles inherently linked to sustainability to be integrated into the educational endeavors of our schools; and

 

WHEREAS, sustainability education must incorporate the four main areas of sustainability: food; waste; energy; and water; and

 

WHEREAS, the current science curriculum for public high school students includes physical science, biological science, earth and space science, physics, chemistry, environmental science, marine science, plants and animals in Hawaii, human physiology, zoology, and botany; and

 

WHEREAS, the unique character and traditions of the State, including the ahupuaa system, provide meaningful opportunities to study and implement a sustainability education approach to promote the Hawaiian culture while providing security for generations of residents to come; and

 

WHEREAS, sustainability education should be incorporated into the current science courses and made available to all public school students in Hawaii; now, therefore,

 

     BE IT RESOLVED by the House of Representatives of the Twenty-seventh Legislature of the State of Hawaii, Regular Session of 2013, the Senate concurring, that the Board of Education is requested to incorporate sustainability education into the science curriculum of public schools; and

 

     BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that certified copies of this Concurrent Resolution be transmitted to the Chairperson of the Board of Education and the Superintendent of Education.

 

 

 

	OFFERED BY:	_____________________________

Report Title: 

Science Curriculum; Sustainability