By Curran Neely
With catastrophic, human-caused climate change looming, we must invest in every way possible to mitigate its effects. The Minnesota GreenStep schools program offers a framework for educators, community members, non-profits, and government agencies to collaborate to combat the climate crisis, and promote healthy communities and sustainable economies. They provide a set of “best practices” for schools to follow and recognize schools that succeed in implementing environmentally-friendly changes. This program could help us significantly on our path to environmental and community sustainability, and has already been endorsed by the Minnesota Pollution Control Agency, the Minnesota Department of Education, both the Minnesota Design Center and the Institute on the Environment at the University of Minnesota, and the Minnesota Department of Health, among other organizations.
You might ask, what is the first step we can take? Precisely what we are doing at strikes! Making our voice heard as students, and calling on our school district and community leaders to take urgent and substantial action. What might our leaders in the District do? First, the program calls for the creation of a “green team”, designation of a district GreenStep coordinator, and the drafting and signing of a Green School resolution in the school board. From there, as a school district, we can work together to set goals, implement environmentally friendly actions, and evaluate their effects. This program will be an enormously valuable resource, and as students, we can be a strong voice of support. Just by being here, we are one step closer to cleaner schools.
With 12 districts and 32 schools throughout Minnesota formally demonstrating their interest in GreenStep programming, including our neighbors in Minneapolis, St. Paul, and Stillwater, we as a district should take this important opportunity that is available to us. By signing a green school resolution in the school board, we can become the first school in the state to earn GreenStep level 1 recognition, leading the charge in Minnesota to combat climate change.
Undeniably, the Earth is in a very, very bad place. Secretary General of the United Nations António Guterres put it this way— “I have seen many scientific reports in my time, but nothing like this. Today’s IPCC report is an atlas of human suffering and a damning indictment of failed climate leadership.” We must take bold, radical, and swift action if we are to ensure our future. Outside the local level, national and state policy is imperative to stopping detrimental climate change in its tracks. One of these policies is the Green New Deal. The Green New Deal pushes for a complete overhaul of our economy, transitioning to clean energy and urban development, and creating thousands upon thousands of green jobs in the process. There are upfront costs, but green energy is a long-term investment– eventually, it will pay for itself. A sustainable climate future is achievable, and a better world is possible.
Even as extraordinarily powerful vested interests push against climate change legislation, we can exercise our constitutional right to fight for the change in order to ensure our survival. But, with the International Panel on Climate Change issuing its “bleakest warning yet”, our time is severely limited. Unfortunately, at this point fighting for climate legislation is not an option, it is a requirement. We no longer have the luxury of sitting idly by, as generations have before us. Every day we don’t speak up is wasting precious time we do not have, so we must speak up. We must advocate for the future of humanity. We must fight against corporate interests. We must hold our elected officials accountable. We must stand up for powerful climate legislation. We must fight those who are apathetic towards our future, those who do not care about much other than their own interests, those who prioritize short-term economic gain over long-term survival. Only by taking strong action can we stop the destruction of our environment, society, and livelihood.
We need to push our leaders nationally to put people over profits, to put the survival of humanity over politics. Our national leaders have been far too timid, for far too long. To our leaders: you hold the power to initiate broad, institutional change. We are not just asking, we are demanding a clean and equitable climate future.
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