CEI

Caretakers of the Environment International (CEI) consists of students, teachers, and educators committed to environmental education through hands-on participation. Acting locally, youth are challenged to improve their local environment by working with the community and other stakeholders to find solutions to local and global environmental issues. But how did it all begin?

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In 1986, a group of teachers and educators in Chicago (Illinois, USA) recognised that environmental education was not being fully taught in secondary schools across the world and was seen as inferior by many science teachers. At a time when the Earth’s resources were being depleted and pollution was becoming a serious problem, they recognised that simply talking about the issues in the classroom would not suffice; it was necessary to encourage young people around the world to take action and assume environmental stewardship for the Earth as a way to motivate youth to protect their environment.

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In 1987, the first CEI Conference was held in the Netherlands with more than 100 educators and students from over fourteen countries. It was there that the template for annual conferences, which could motivate students to work on local issues and then apply that knowledge to global problems, was born. This pioneering event led to further conferences in Spain in 1988 and the USA in 1989, and the establishment of the organisation we now know as Caretakers of the Environment International (CEI).

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Since those early days, 39 annual conferences have been held, giving thousands of students the opportunity to make a difference in their local community and share their efforts, as well as culture, worldwide. The introduction of Education for Sustainable Development helped form the backbone of our efforts until the United Nations (UN) Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) were adopted in 2015. Along the way, we’ve had the privilege of hosting high-profile guests, including royalty, former presidents, ministers, mayors, entrepreneurs, activists, academics, artists, UN officials, and more.

Over the years, CEI has grown into a vibrant international community, connecting schools and organisations across continents and establishing National Branches in many countries to expand our focus and reach more schools.

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Through annual conferences, workshops, and collaborative projects, we aim to nurture the young leaders of the future and promote young people not only as future decision-makers but also as present-day change-makers. Action projects help to create not only environmentally conscious citizens capable of fostering hope, knowledge, and action, but also global citizens capable of determining the way forward as we move towards a more sustainable world.