This is just the 2nd call to action to education leaders (school board trustees, school boards, and their state and national associations).
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This video has the call-to-climate-action for all 3 groups:
1. Members of Congress and their Staff 2. Education Leaders, School Boards Trustees, and their Associations 3. Students Leaders and Student Councils The Climate Psychiatry Alliance signed a letter of support for the Schools for Climate Action campaign. We are so grateful! Silence from education leaders and organizations in the face of federal climate neglect is a form of climate inaction. The Climate Psychiatry Alliance believes that lack of climate action from institutions (like schools, school districts, and education organizations) "has multiple traumatic effects on children including demoralization, development of hopelessness and defiance, and experiences of neglect and abuse that are associated with poor long term educational and emotional outcomes." Fortunately, one easy, important step in responding to the climate crisis is to clearly articulate the will to end federal climate neglect. Any education sector leader or organization can quickly do so with an assertive climate action resolution that youth-adult teams with Schools for Climate Action will hand deliver to Congress. This can actually mitigate some of the psychological harm associated with the climate crisis and our national climate neglect. Speaking up for climate justice helps protect young people, today.
Below is video of statements given by Dr. Linda Darling-Hammond and four youth S4CA advocates at the California State Board of Education meeting on 11.6.19
Dr. Linda Darling-Hammond's statements start at 13:20, followed by Simi (HUSD 7th grader) 17:08, Juan (HUSD 7th grader) 18:19, Sabine (HUSD 7th grader) 19:24, Lola (10th grader, Credo High School) 20:34 Here is text of the statements along with additional statements given at a press conference right outside. Here is a media advisory we released before the event. At the State Board of Education meeting on Wednesday, November 6th, the President of the California State Board of Education, Linda Darling-Hammond honored the Schools for Climate Action campaign with a Certificate of Appreciation and Commendation. Thank you Dr. Linda Darling-Hammond, Superintendent Tony Thurmond, and the entire State Board of Education.
Two Lake Tahoe USD Trustees, Bonnie Turnbull and Troy Matthews along with parent Nick Eskline filmed our first Call-to-Action video to help amplify the message of their boards' climate action resolution from the fall of 2017. As mandated reporters, they call on Congress to act quickly and boldly on climate. They also call on fellow trustees and ed sector leaders to join them in speaking up for climate action. National climate inaction and ed sector silence about it undermine our most important shared values. By speaking up, these trustees can help prevent climate harm (by helping to move Congress to act) and reinforce our important ed sector values which are so threatened by silent witnessing of Congressional climate neglect. Thank you Nick, Bonnie, and Troy! Please email [email protected] if you want a copy of a template "Call-to-Action" for your school board, student council, PTA, or ed union. https://youtu.be/VbleT2B8gLA Save-the-Date: S4CA Congressional Advocacy Day on 3.28.19
Help Hand-Deliver Climate Action Resolutions from School Boards and Student Councils to Every Congressional Office On Thursday, March 28th, youth-adult teams with the Schools for Climate Action campaign will deliver a respectful, but assertive message to every of Member of Congress: Congress has both the moral imperative and the ability to act quickly and boldly on climate change. As mandated reporters, education leaders from across the country will no longer be silent witnesses to Congressional climate neglect which harms all our students. As those who will bear the greatest burden from unmitigated climate change, young Americans from across the country will not be silent and will hold leaders to higher standards of responsible climate behavior. In just over a year, 38 school boards, 8 student councils, 4 PTAs, and 2 educators' unions from nine states have passed climate action resolutions. In addition, 2 state/national education organizations---the National Black Council of School Board Members (a caucus of the National School Boards Assocation and the California Association of School Psychologists) have also passed resolutions. More student councils, school boards, and education sector organizations and associations are joining the effort and passing new resolutions each week. These resolutions frame climate change, and therefore Congressional climate inaction, as a generational justice, human rights, equity, and children’s issue. These resolutions bear witness to the unfair burden that unmitigated climate change creates for current students and future generations. These resolutions call on Congress to work together to enact commonsense climate policies which protect students and future generations from climate harm. Congress can take immediate, commonsense steps to help create a more sustainable, healthy, and prosperous future for all Americans. The Schools for Climate Action campaign invites your school or organization to send a youth or youth-adult team to join us as we walk the halls of Congress and amplify the non-partisan voices of the education sector calling for national climate action. We currently expect about 175 participants. We hope that we will have at least 2 youth for every 1 adult. We will host Zoom training sessions mid-March for all participants. You can donate to the travel fund for teams coming from out of town at the S4CA Gofundme site. We will kick off the day at 8:20 for a Meet and Greet, followed by a panel on the Climate Burden: Climate Impacts on Youth and Schools. The primary audience for this panel is Congressional staffers. Next, 100+ DCPS middle school students will join us for a panel on Climate Solutions with Representative Mike Thompson and Senator Sheldon Whitehouse and moderated by S4CA Co-Director Jonah Gottlieb. After this panel we will have a formal Call-to-Action by education leaders and youth leaders. Representative Eleanor Holmes Norton will give a final send off after which 150+ youth will hand deliver the resolutions to every member of Congress. We should finish in the early afternoon. Schools for Climate Action is a non-partisan, youth-adult, grassroots campaign to empower school communities to speak up for climate action. Since December, 2017, 30 school boards and student councils in 5 states have passed non-partisan climate action resolutions. For more information, please contact [email protected] or visit our website at www.schoolsforclimateaction.org. This event is co-sponsored by Young Voices for the Planet. To register, please complete this S4CA Congressional Advocacy Day 3.28.19 Interest Form. Thank you! |
Authors
Kai Guthrie is a ninth grade student at Credo High in Rohnert Park, a Citizens' Climate Lobby volunteer, and one of the founders of Schools for Climate Action campaign. Archives
December 2019
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