Using Civic Ecology Education to Foster Social-Ecological Resilience: A Case Study from Southern California

Environmental education that incorporates civic ecology can contribute to social-ecological resilience through programs designed to advance youth civic leadership and environmental stewardship. This research used an interpretive qualitative approach to study the environmental education activities of a Watershed Avengers at the Ocean Discovery Institute in Southern California that focused on urban canyon stewardship and restoration. The first author conducted ethnographic fieldwork with the Watershed Avengers from fall 2014 through spring 2015. Civic ecology emerged as a concept that resonated with what was observed on the ground and then informed the focus of our study. We found that Ocean Discovery Institute's strength in developing youth civic leadership was a defining feature that contributed to its other practices of collaborative urban canyon restoration and engagement in community priorities. These findings suggest that environmental education practices can build social-ecological resilience through a focus on youth leadership.