A Guide to a Green School

INTRODUCTION

The reality of climate change can no longer be ignored. “Climate change is already affecting every region on Earth, in multiple ways. The changes we experience will increase with additional warming (IPCC Working Group I Co-Chair Panmao Zhai).” In addition, in a survey conducted with 10,000 young people it was found “that most respondents were concerned about climate change, with nearly 60% saying they felt ‘very worried’ or ‘extremely worried’. Many associated negative emotions with climate change — the most commonly chosen were ‘sad’, ‘afraid’, ‘anxious’, ‘angry’ and ‘powerless’ (see ‘Climate anxiety’). Overall, 45% of participants said their feelings about climate change impacted their daily lives. (https://www.nature.com/articles/d41586-021-02582-8).” With this knowledge, we know that our educational system is poised to be a change agent, combating the effects of climate change and helping to reduce the negative emotions and despair felt by many young people.

The vision of this guide is to create educational change through actionable steps to mitigate the effects of climate change by reducing greenhouse gas emissions, improving the health and wellness of the community and creating civically engaged environmentally literate citizens.

This guide will go through five focal areas of actionable change and provide space for schools and districts to create their climate action plan. The five focal areas include:

1) ways in which schools and districts can reduce environmental impacts and costs;

2) how schools can improve the health and wellness of their communities through environmental changes;

3. how schools can provide robust environmental and sustainability STEM education experiences for all students K-12;

4) opportunities to help students civically engage in environmental issues and solutions;

5) how schools can leverage existing and other funding opportunities to implement the action steps in their climate action plan.

**Throughout the guide there will be multiple Example(s) and recommendations for what may be included in the final climate action plan.

Finally, in addition to being a leader in combating the climate crisis and empowering our future leaders with the skills and knowledge to develop solutions and a better world, the creation and implementation of the climate action plan will provide a framework for the California Green Ribbon School Award and Civic Learning Award for CA Public Schools applications for schools and districts and the State Seal of Civic Engagement for students.