The major tenets of a pedagogy of place are that nature teaches; understanding place is indispensable to community; where and how a student learns is as vital as what a student learns; and respect is integral to learning. Environmental literacy is the capacity to perceive and interpret the relative health of environmental systems and to take appropriate action to maintain, restore, or improve the health of those systems. This kind of environmentally literate "grounding" begins close to home, where the home, community, and school can encourage and provide connections between the student and the land. Only a pedagogy of place can elicit this place value among future generations. A pedagogy of place enables us to see how ecological principles such as climate, symbiosis, succession, niche, and community apply to humans and school. A pedagogy of place is committed to civic responsibility in that students learn to balance the rights of individuals and the ecological rights of place within the larger civic order. One goal of a pedagogy of place is to develop the skills and enthusiasm for lifelong learning. Tools for implementing a pedagogy of place include cooperative skills, encouragement, and praise. Assessment should involve self-evaluation, presentations and projects, a portfolio conference, and a community evening highlighting learning accomplishments. The sustainability of a learning community depends upon an attitude of mutual trust and a willingness to suspend judgement while different ideas mingle freely. (TD)