MOBILIZING UNION EDUCATORS FOR ACTION DURING THE WEEK OF EARTH DAY, APRIL 16th - 22ND, 2023

WHEREAS drastic improvements to school buildings in [NAME OF YOUR CITY/TOWN] and across the nation are long overdue, including a need to replace outdated and ineffective heating and cooling systems, improve ventilation and insulation, and remediate asbestos, lead, and mold that pose a risk to students, staff, and community members, and

WHEREAS [NAME OF YOUR SCHOOL DISTRICT] decisions about facilities follow a neglectful and racist pattern of leaving most schools in disrepair while privileging a few schools for improvements based on political opportunity, and 

WHEREAS climate change is an urgent crisis confronting people all over the world: extreme weather, forest fires, increased infectious disease outbreaks, rising sea levels, and pollution are wreaking havoc on the planet, and

WHEREAS [buildings are responsible for XX% of YOUR CITY’S greenhouse gas emissions] [and] YOU CAN USE THE FOLLOWING STATISTIC ALTERNATIVELY OR IN ADDITION [US school facilities emit about 72 million metric tons of carbon dioxide each year, the equivalent of about 18 coal power plants or 8.6 million homes, according to the climate advocacy organization Generation180], and

WHEREAS the deadly harms and injustices caused by continued fossil fuel use are interconnected and inseparable from the causes of other toxic environmental and school pollution, and we cannot have healthy schools without also having a healthy environment, and 

WHEREAS a just clean energy transition is an opportunity for educators and students to claim desperately needed public investment, to achieve healthy community schools free of legacy toxins and climate pollution, to make schools into hubs of resilience from extreme weather and other disasters, to create good union jobs, and thriving, sustainable communities, and

WHEREAS teachers and students across the country face the same issues of environmental racism and disinvestment and many teacher union locals are gearing up for a national week of action to demand green and healthy schools, therefore be it 

RESOLVED that the [YOUR UNION LOCAL] endorses and will promote the National Week of Action for Green Schools, April 16-22, and

RESOLVED that [YOUR UNION LOCAL] encourages members to participate in the National Week of Action for Green Schools by organizing creative actions and events including but not limited to holding union or community meetings to envision healthy, green school improvements; wearing green on Friday April 21; teaching lessons on climate and environmental justice; connecting and campaigning with youth and student-led movements; and rallying for green schools on Earth Day, Saturday April 22, and

BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that [YOUR UNION LOCAL] demands that [NAME OF YOUR SCHOOL DISTRICT], in consultation with the union and other stakeholders, institute a green and equitable facilities master plan that, in line with what science and public health demand, and with the union and community members meaningfully involved in the decision-making process, urgently creates modern, healthy, zero-emissions, sustainable green schools that improves working and learning conditions for educators and students alike, increases wages, creates good union jobs and pathways for students to good union jobs, creates hubs of energy and community resilience, creates zero-emissions transportation and safe routes to schools, institutes the teaching of climate change, sustainability, and environmental justice across curriculum, and which prioritizes disadvantaged, poor, low-income, frontline communities, and communities of color, and which prioritizes schools otherwise suffering the most cumulative, negative environmental and public health impacts. 

1. Start by identifying a couple of other co-workers who exemplify good standing in your union local and who would be good advocates for it with the union leadership or executive board. (Perhaps you are one of them!)

2. Once you have one or two others (or more) on board, then go to your union local leadership or members of the executive board that would be the best advocates for taking up the resolution. 

3. It’s important to do Steps 1 & 2 to get the resolution submitted to the leadership or e-board ahead of time so that it can get on the next meeting agenda for a vote.

4. Be flexible - encourage these leaders to help revise the resolution to make it fit the local situation that is best and most strategic for passage (without losing the main message that we must have healthy, green, fully-resourced public schools.) For example, try identifying and citing particular facilities problems at particular schools that would be key to making the case.

5. If you are having trouble getting traction, then please contact us at our contact info at the bottom of this page. We can help you trouble shoot the process.

6. See our resource on how to talk to your co-worker if you could use some pointers on starting a conversation.