Issue link: http://educator.cta.org/i/1463867
in 2016 with his two children, then students at the school. Mem- bers of the after-school club met with leaders of school boards and the California Association of School Psychologists, asking them to speak up for climate justice. In 2017, Guthrie founded Schools for Climate Action (SCA), a nonprofit that helps school boards, teachers unions, student councils, and other educational organizations draft and adopt climate action resolutions. ese resolutions acknowledge the threat of climate change and offer plans to reduce impacts from carbon emissions. Two Salmon Creek students, along with 150 other SCA youths, traveled to Washington, D.C., in 2018 to engage in nonpartisan advocacy for climate action. They delivered more than 50 climate justice resolutions from school boards and education organizations across the country to lawmakers. e resolutions call for creating a paradigm shift to recognize climate change as a generational justice and equity issue — and for elected leaders to support commonsense climate policies, including transitioning to clean energy. Guthrie is proud to see students pressure lawmakers to take action. In his classroom they write letters, create artwork, and ask school boards, student councils, school environmental clubs, PTAs and other organizations to speak up and pass res- olutions. ey planted redwood trees on campus as a carbon sequestration project. "We all have the chance to use our voices for the better," says Savanna Conwell, a former Salmon Creek student who is now a high school sophomore. "Despite the ominous chatter about the climate crisis and its drastic effects, there is still great silence among those in power to do something about it. is is why it is so important to educate our youth about the climate crisis. We will be the generation to change our world. We will be the generation to fix the mistakes of those in the past. We will be the generation of innovation and sav- iors. We are our planet's last hope." Oakland students step up Students at Oakland Technical High S chool persuaded the Oakland Unified school board to make teach- ing climate change a higher priority. To accomplish this, they enlisted support from AP environmental science teacher Joseph Schools for Climate Action students address the State Board of Education in Sacramento in November 2019. 18 cta.org Veronica Garcia Feature