A Virtual Policy Forum on Climate-Resilient California Schools

As the earth warms, Californians are confronting unprecedented heat, drought, wildfire, and flooding—among other impacts of climate change. For children growing up in California today, the impacts of climate change are as close as the air they breathe. And yet, the places where young people spend the majority of their days—California’s public school buildings and campuses—remain woefully under-prepared for heat, smoke, drought, wildfire, and other extreme weather events that have become increasingly frequent in California’s changing climate.

In this urgent context, a statewide coalition (including doctors, medical and environmental health researchers, educators, youth and community groups, and others) convened to examine the challenges climate change will present for children's health and education and developed the first report of its kind on how to mitigate the causes of climate change while centering climate resilience in the mission of 21st-century public schools. 

On April 21st, we discussed the recommendations outlined in the report, and were joined by State Senator Nancy Skinner, State Senator Lena Gonzalez, Dr. Mary A. Dewan (Santa Clara County Superintendent), Kim Patillo Brownson (State Board of Education), Leah Stokes (Rewiring America), Dr. Lisa Patel (Stanford University), Jeff Vincent (UC Berkeley Center for Cities and School), Jonathan Klein (Undaunted K12), and Andra Yeghoian (Ten Strands) to discuss the policy landscape and the path ahead to achieve climate-resilient schools in California. Policy-makers and their staff learned about opportunities for state leaders to prioritize climate-resilient schools in this legislative cycle. Education leaders learned about specific actions they can take in their schools by leveraging existing state and local dollars. 

Watch the full recording of the policy forum below!