A few months ago, Arroyo’s Earth Team was researching climate action plans and risks in their community when they realized that their school district, San Lorenzo Unified, does not have a climate action plan that is available to the public. With their research project successfully completed, the team decided to spend the rest of their year preparing materials to try to convince their district to implement a climate action plan.
When studying climate action plans from other school districts, the group was surprised by the level of detail the plans go into. They quickly realized a complete plan like this would not be feasible in only about a month of time to work on this project. With that in mind, the team is focusing on climate risks in the San Lorenzo community, the financial benefits of a climate action plan, and easy to implement policies that can make the most difference.
The short proposal will be published here and on social media, and will be sent directly to school board members upon completion. Over summer, the work may slow, but this project could be picked up again next year if the team wants to continue this push.
In any case, it is great to see young people invested in making their community more sustainable. Here’s hoping that the school board will be open to the suggestions and we will see a more sustainable SLZUSD in the near future!