All we have to do is provide a link and incidental learning happens. They can find out how to create a sustainable butterfly garden, for example. Students have demonstrated the ability to collect real data - they do it every day. And when people do something themselves, they have ownership of it and responsibility for it. Basic systems are interacting components forming a web.
History is patterns of the past.
Environment education is patterns of the environment and how they interact. An issue always starts as a problem and then values make it an issue. Awareness, understanding, and action are a progression. Different values create different outcomes. In Florida, school children managed to get the government to purchase and protect a swamp.