By Rita Li, Staff Writer
The progression and acceleration of climate change has resulted in widespread attention from SMUHSD students, who spent months perfecting a Climate Emergency Declaration. The SMUHSD Board of Trustees approved the resolution unanimously after it was presented by the students on April 1.
The main objective of the declaration is to prioritize sustainability by encouraging all students to take action in their communities. The plan to achieve this involves coordinating climate emergency declarations in school districts across the country. Problems addressed by the declaration cover waste, consumption, transportation, marine ecosystems, green buildings, food, energy, air quality, and environmental literacy.
In the 20-21-22 SMUHSD resolution, it called upon School District Boards to adopt their strongest efforts to minimize greenhouse emissions. The San Mateo school districts are located between the Santa Cruz mountain range and the San Francisco Bay estuarine shoreline, one of the most ecologically sensitive locations in California that is vulnerable to floods, droughts, biodiversity loss, and heat waves induced by climate change. San Mateo County facilitated the Regional Integrated Climate Action Planning Suite (RICAPS) program which unites the County and its twenty cities to reduce greenhouse emissions, preparing San Mateo County for climate change. This effort is essential because solving climate change requires safety awareness, mass organization and collective action. Recently, SMUHSD formed a sustainability subcommittee that meets monthly to discuss plans and pass them.
The SMUHSD’s sustainability policy sets responsibilities for all staff and students in the district to significantly reduce carbon emissions by consuming less water, energy, and gas. There are commitments to recycling, sustainable disposal of hazardous waste generated by the campus, and encouragement of better transportation methods. Promoting sustainable practices within the staff, parents, and community is also very important according to the policy.
As a community that depends on ecological services that are quickly disappearing due to climate change, we must put in all our efforts to protect the earth and our future by following the objectives set forth by the SMUHSD Climate Emergency Declaration. Every individual effort to consume less and recycle waste matters in the big picture.
