By Alia Bonanno, Phillips Exeter Academy
Being a climate activist has become something akin to the likes of Chicken Little. In that story, Chicken Little alerts his town that the sky is falling. He stirs up a storm with his words and his town slips into catastrophe mode. In his story, the sky is not actually falling. His town scorns him for his claims, and he goes on a journey for redemption.
Unlike Chicken Little’s story, in reality the sky is falling. The climate crisis is real. Like Chicken Little’s town, the government has scorned and ignored climate activists’ pleas for help. Like Chicken Little’s story, climate activists are forced to make concession after concession to school administrations, politicians, and local governments around the world.
At a progressive environment like Phillips Exeter Academy, a place where students are heard and seen, there is a lack of concern for the problem at hand. The issue is the complete and total lack of common climate education, concern, or initiative to mobilize students against the climate crisis.
On the Phillips Exeter website, the school boasts of their 16 student environmental clubs. They also state they have eliminated plastic water bottles on campus and have highlighted student sustainability initiatives from years past. In the coursebook, there are four classes that focus on sustainability as a pillar of the curriculum.
There are currently five sustainability clubs operating on campus, two of which do not meet regularly (Campus Activities — Exeter Academy, 2022). None of the sustainability classes last for an entire year. Our principal, Bill Rawson, decided against adding a year-long sustainability course because, to my knowledge, the course would simply ask too much.
Ask too much of whom? Perhaps there is a concern for the teachers or the students. In my eyes, it has much more to do with the administration’s lack of motivation against the crisis and a desire to feature as many flashy projects as possible without making a real commitment to change.
At a meeting that my club, the Environmental Action Committee, had with Principal Rawson, he stated that divestment, the act of selling other assets, would simply not make a difference. Why have trustees halt their support of fossil fuel promoting companies to simply throw money at band-aid solutions?, Principal Rawson questioned.
Forbes contributor David Carlin states that “the most far-reaching threat to fossil fuel companies’ comes from increased social and political stigmatization of their activities and the resultant uncertainties around their long-term viability.”
Phillips Exeter Academy, with its $1.4 billion endowment, could spare some change in the climate vein (Exeter, 2021). Who does it hurt to simply ask trustees to consider divestment? Why are we constantly being supported, celebrated for our efforts, until it comes to the money talk? We’re all mature adults until they’d rather we stay kids.
It’s frustrating to be told at every turn that we are the future, that we have every tool to act, that all we need is motivation to truly change the world. It’s frustrating that the school administration has not made visible efforts to start back opportunities that COVID-19 has halted. It’s frustrating that the admissions office expects students to paste a false smile on a sugar-coated website page. Climate change is alarming; they’ll admit to that. However, for the school, it’s never terrible enough to truly make a difference, to help students develop structures and thinking habits to ensure not only the sustainability of Phillips Exeter Academy, but the world around us as well.
I would be remiss if I didn’t acknowledge the students’ role in this situation. The plague of performative activism is nondiscriminatory, and my peers aren’t much different than their administrative counterparts when it comes to the disparity between attitudes and action. To my fellow students: the title “climate change activist” requires dedication. This does not mean attending protests every Friday, or sending a daily letter to your representative. All it requires is mindfulness. I implore my fellow Exeter students (and any other young person reading this) to practice the art of thought.
Think about what you’re doing; the way your actions contribute to the climate crisis is the first step to making a change. After consideration and thought from administrators, their ultimate decision was to address the climate issue in a perfunctory way. We can do better than that. We can use the tools they’ve given us to inspire as much change and action as we can. The administration is perhaps beyond hope, but we most certainly are not.
It is time to stop hiding under the mask of a well-designed website and empty promises. Phillips Exeter Academy: it is time to make a real change, to present real solutions to the problems, to think about your actions and their larger ripple effects. It is time for our leaders to dedicate themselves to concrete plans to combat the crisis. It is time to take mindfulness to a worldwide level. It is time to acknowledge our doings or lack thereof. It is time to stop pretending. It is the only way to save our world.
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