Kids and Schools and Climate Change

"Climate change is a children's issue!"  This has become a rallying cry throughout the country.Children who are 3 years old now, as my granddaughter is, will only be 85 in 2100.

According to a recent article in National Geographic (https://www.nationalgeographic.com/environment/global-warming/sea-level-rise/), the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change says we can expect the oceans to rise between 11 and 38 inches by 2100.  More dire estimates place sea level rise at 23 feet!  Children who are 3 years old now, as my granddaughter is, will only be 85 in 2100.

The fact that climate change primarily affects young people gained national awareness when a group of youthful plaintiffs filed a lawsuit in US District Court of Oregon in 2015.  On November 10, 2016, a motion to dismiss filed by the fossil fuel industry was denied.  In June and July of 2017, the case moved forward and a trial date of February 5, 2018, was set by US Magistrate Judge Thomas Coffin.  Oral arguments were held before a 3-judge panel of the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals on December 11.  The Trump administration argued that the case be dismissed and employed such drastic tactics to silence the voices of youth and keep science out of the courtroom that the trial will not begin on February 5th! 
But it is going to be very hard to silence the voices of our youth and keep science out of the courtroom.  Check out: https://www.ourchildrenstrust.org/.

In early January, 2018, a group of evangelical Christian youths calling themselves Young Evangelicals for Climate Action posted the following on their website (http://www.yecaction.org/):  "EPA Administrator Scott Pruitt recently announced a plan to roll back the Clean Power Plan – our nation’s most comprehensive plan to date for tackling carbon emissions from power plants – with few concrete details for a plan that will replace it. Meanwhile, climate change continues to fuel more severe and destructive extreme weather events that threaten God’s creation, our loved ones, and our neighbors down the street and across the globe. This is absolutely unacceptable." (Emphasis is theirs not mine!)

Closer to home, on December 4, 2017, the Sebastopol Unified School District unanimously passed a resolution that states unequivocally that "climate change is a children's issue".  This started a chain reaction among school boards, city councils and county boards of supervisors.

On January 21, 2018, at the CCL NorCal Conference, Schools for Climate Action presented a slide show that spelled out steps to be taken by school stakeholders, elected leaders, and institutions.  They gave as examples the Climate Change Resolution by the Sebastopol Unified School District, the Carbon Fee and Dividend Endorsement by the Sonoma County Board of Supervisors, and the interest taken by the West Sonoma County School Board.  (See: https://schoolsforclimateaction.weebly.com/.)

On January 25, the Ross Valley School District in Marin Co also passed a climate action resolution unanimously.  Then on Monday, January 29 it was announced that a climate change resolution is on the agenda of the Santa Rosa City Council.

The wave of awareness and the need to take action to address these issues continues.