Whereas, The students of Los Angeles Unified School District, a majority of which are children of color, suffer disproportionately from the mounting climate crises, especially those who live in L.A.’s neglected city centers, which are becoming more dangerously hot;
Whereas, The pollutants from the freeways and refineries in our neighborhoods increase as the climate gets hotter, causing more students, parents, and teachers to get asthma, heart disease, and diabetes;
Whereas, Drought deepens due to global warming, making our water supplies less certain and more polluted, becoming additional uncertainty for our students;
Whereas, Pandemics like COVID-19, which have killed so many, will happen more frequently because we are destroying the natural habitats of plants and animals;
Whereas, The increasing heatwaves, fires, downpours, and floods are due to burning fossil fuels, which continues despite humanity’s understanding, confronting students with increasingly unstable futures;
Whereas, Students’ families, cultures, communities, and experiences, as well as their friendships, are resources to face these difficulties;
Whereas, Students’ social and emotional health is supported by experiences in nature on schoolyards, parks, beaches, or trails;
Whereas, Our students’ mental and emotional health must be supported by learning about the climate crises, thinking through solutions for themselves, and by taking part in climate solutions to be implemented in their surroundings;
Whereas, Schools can teach these deep considerations since they are strategically placed as the “beating hearts of communities,” preparing students for the millions of jobs in the rapidly expanding green economy and for the work of realigning civilization to nature’s flows;
Whereas, With proper support, all teachers can infuse climate themes into all subjects, well beyond STEM, all of which affect culture and governance;
Whereas, Ongoing support and coordination are required at various levels to rapidly improve and increase climate teaching, especially because climate is highly related to equity, and both subjects are complex and emotionally and politically fraught; and
Whereas, The District has monies from both federal and state government that are specifically directed at improving schools’ ability to address equity and climate in curricula, money that must be spent in 3 to 5 years; now, therefore, be it
Resolved, That the Los Angeles Unified School District commits to transforming our teaching of climate change to meet the scale and urgency of the crises by implementing, infusing, and developing climate change education across all curricula, and in every grade PK-12, a commitment that will require the allocation of significant resources;
Resolved further, That the District will develop, streamline, and expand outdoor education with the goal of within three years having every student, every year, participate in an outdoor experience which includes climate literacy instruction;
Resolved further, That the District will create a comprehensive, flexibly constituted, school- and community-based Climate Literacy Implementation Task Force to coordinate all these efforts, which meets quarterly and as needed, and meetings should include public input;
Resolved further That the District designate an overarching Climate Literacy Implementation Task Force that will serve to convene and organize all other related working groups called for by previous initiatives and resolutions that will coordinate resources and support that are focused on school greening, gardening, outdoor education, and clean energy efforts and create a Districtwide effort that will include (i) staff development (including Schoology integration) using curricula across all disciplines, (ii) curricula development where needed, especially for climate justice lessons, local issues, trauma-informed activities and (iii) streamlining and expanding outdoor education and school greening at the District level; and (iv) organization of a resource repository and its promotion through Schoology Climate Literacy groups, folders, and resources;
Resolved further, That an existing staff member at each school, be designated as a Climate Champion who will monitor how climate literacy is built into language acquisition, English language arts, math, science, history/social studies, health, and other core subject areas; and, be it finally
Resolved, That the District commits to support staff to exploring future sources to fund positions in each Local District, Community of Schools, and every school to develop and implement the above programs.