ABSTRACT
Living systems-minded school leaders educate themselves about the possibilities for leveraging the physical learning environment on behalf of learning and teaching. Where resources become available for designing and constructing new facilities, leaders build a case for providing high quality, sustainable school facilities. In cases where living systems-minded school leaders contend with older, existing facilities, they seek ways to bring nature inside by uncovering and augmenting sources of natural light, creating indoor gardens and scenes of nature, highlighting views to the outdoors where they exist, and exploring ways to increase the availability of fresh odor-free air. They also advocate for sustainability-focused renovations and retrofits when these are deemed necessary. In all contexts, living-systems minded leaders assess their learning ecologies, taking particular and careful note of their buildings as critical both to occupant well-being and local and global environmental health.
