Photo: Rodin Eckenroth / Getty Images
By: Myrna Castrejón / Special for Real America News Updated 16 Aug 2022, 9: 01 am EDT
Last week, my son 25 years old wondered aloud how our neighborhood and her school building would fare in the next Megastorm likely to hit California this winter, bringing massive flooding, mudslides, and destruction across the state: “Will that force us to go? to remote learning again?” These are priority issues for our young people. They are concerned about climate change and share a sense of urgency about what world they will inherit from the previous generation.
Recently, Governor Newsom introduced Californians their plan to address the environmental challenges facing our state as we grapple with climate change. It is vital that we look at the trajectory our planet is on and the impacts on the environment. I have seen the destruction of wildfires in our communities and understand that the years of drought we have endured in recent decades are becoming longer and more severe. As the Governor said, it’s time for us to start “accelerating California’s clean energy future”.
The best solution to prepare for that future is to instill in our students an ecologically oriented mindset, providing clear pathways and opportunities that match their concerns and interests. I am encouraged to see more and more schools offering programs that focus on the environmental challenges our state will face in the very near future.
In Environmental Charter Schools (ECS), which has four campuses serving grades 6-12 in Lawndale, Inglewood, and Gardena, the Caring for our environment is at the core of its mission to create a more equitable and sustainable world. ECS received the first Green Belt from the United States Department of Education in 2010, due to its ability to practice ecology in their schools while providing effective environmental and sustainable education.
At ECS, all students participate in outdoor programs that promote environmental awareness. It also has a Green Ambassadors program where students address critical environmental issues facing their communities, including water conservation and air quality.
These programs have real-world implications as students continue their education in college and become the next innovators in the clean economy.
An inspiring example of that next generation of innovators is Stephanie Orozco, a Latina graduate student at 2017 from Math and Science College Preparatory (MSCP), a public charter school located near downtown Los Angeles. MSCP students must participate in a community service project to earn their high school diploma. Stephanie, who took the engineering path, chose an internship with LA Sanitation for her project. There, he teamed up with an environmental engineer who taught him about landfill management, sustainability, and water conservation projects, like flower beds that capture, store, and filter rainwater in the LA
This led her to choose environmental engineering as her major at UC Merced. While earning her Bachelor’s degree, she became an active member of the university’s Ecology and Natural Resources Association, raising awareness among university students on how they can live a more sustainable lifestyle.
Stephanie is a shining example of how our public education system will help us meet our climate goals by instilling the importance of ecology and inspiring students to create the technologies that will create more sustainable communities .
As the world grapples with the impacts of climate change, we need to adapt our programs to teach students ways to respond to the environmental challenges, with an economy that focuses their desire to be agents of change. California has been at the forefront of the environmental movement for decades. We have seen the benefits of environmental advances through technology that allows us to better conserve water and energy. I have great hope that today’s students will become the innovators who push those technologies further and allow us to meet these ambitious goals.
Myrna Castrejón is the President and CEO of the California Charter Schools Association (CCSA).