Two predictions, one more certain than the other, looking forward 28 years:
By 2050, according to the Vermont Climate Assessment, global warming will have brought dramatic changes to Vermont’s natural, economic and social landscape.
By 2050, if Vermonters succeed in meeting the ambitious targets set by the Global Warming Solutions Act, we will have reduced carbon emissions by 80% from 1990 levels.
And a fact:
By 2050, today’s high school students will be in their forties. They will be running Vermont’s businesses and raising Vermont’s children.
It’s no wonder young people are often our most energetic climate activists. They have the most at stake.
Some student activism has been widely reported: rallies at the Statehouse, organized by the Vermont Youth Lobby, bringing students together from across the state to demand action from policymakers. Readers may be less familiar with students’ longstanding efforts, working alongside teachers, to make concrete progress toward sustainability on the ground, at their schools.
Schools are often the largest energy consumers in our rural communities, and will play an essential role as Vermonters pursue the Climate Action Plan. Our schools are also a civic training ground, presenting an opportunity for young Vermonters to lead through direct action, and to grapple with the complex challenges of implementing change.
The pandemic has pulled some of the momentum from this urgent work. Student journalism is one tool young Vermonters can use to refocus our attention.
This spring, the Underground Workshop, in partnership with the Vermont Energy Education Program (VEEP), is proud to offer a collaborative reporting project for Vermont’s students: “A Climate Report Card for Our Schools.”
The project invites students from across the state to collect data, stories and interviews, comprising an evaluation of their schools’ progress toward sustainability. Participation is open to students in middle school, high school and college.
The “report card” will use five criteria to evaluate progress: heat, electricity, transportation, food systems, and curriculum. Each of these criteria will be the basis for one in a series of articles, organized by the Underground Workshop’s student editors, to publish in May/June. Each article in the series will include a feature story about a specific school, along with data and examples compiled from all participating schools, providing readers with a statewide view of the issues.
Students will evaluate their schools’ progress toward sustainability in terms of five criteria: heat, electricity, transportation, food systems and curriculum.
The last installment of the series will present a collection of student editorials, in the form of a “report card” for each participating school. What are the bright spots? Where are the opportunities for change? What specific steps should be taken, in what order?
There are some important caveats. We aren’t out to compare schools, setting one above the other. Our schools are different sizes and serve different communities, with buildings of different ages, etc. And we need to be careful about some of the data we collect this winter: It’s not a normal year. The Climate Report Card seeks to open a conversation, not to issue a judgment.
The Underground Workshop’s collaborative reporting projects are an effort to explore the civic potential of student journalism. Our purpose is to empower young Vermonters, giving them the tools to shape our public discourse, with a focus on constructive outcomes.
We hope this project will give students leverage with policymakers and voters in their school communities. We hope teachers will use the published series as a classroom resource, to engage their students with these issues in a local context. And we hope the project can play a small part in affirming Vermonters’ commitment to sustainability. 2050 isn’t so far away.
How to participate
This project aims to be as inclusive as possible, accommodating different levels of involvement. The basic reporting assignment asks students to complete a google survey, with a list of questions about their school – like a scavenger hunt for essential facts – along with a few key interviews. This information will help us present a statewide view of the issues to readers. We encourage teams to go further, contributing photographs, short “snapshot” articles, or a feature story related to one of our five criteria – work that would require more in-depth interviews, research and writing. There is lots of room for creativity and leadership: We hope students will bring their own ideas, to help us accomplish the most impactful finished product.
Teams of students can participate under the guidance of a teacher, working for credit in an academic class; this can be a project for a school’s sustainability/environmental club; or students can join the project independently, without connection to an official class or club. We recommend students work with at least a partner, ideally in a team of 3-5 students, but a motivated individual could tackle the reporting. Every team of students is required to have an employee at their school signed on as an advisor – this role can be minimal, but we need an adult contact for each participating school.
Participating students have access to several resources for support. On the journalism side, the collaborative structure of the project will connect students with the Underground Workshop’s student editors and VTDigger’s two Report for America members, Emma Cotton and Shaun Robinson.
The Vermont Energy Education Program (VEEP) will support students with the technical aspects of the project – collecting data, etc. – and will be particularly important for students as they prepare their school’s “report card,” making specific recommendations. For example, with VEEP’s support, a team may choose to pursue a complete heat audit for their school.
We’re also eager to support teachers incorporating this project into their classes. The first contact for teachers is Ben Heintz, the Underground Workshop’s editor, at ben@vtdigger.org. Tom Sabo, Sustainability Coordinator for Montpelier Roxbury Public Schools, is also a resource, serving as the project’s teacher-advisor.
These resources are all available on an ongoing basis. We have built in a couple checkpoints along the way, in the form of evening workshops held over zoom, but students and teachers can reach out for help at any time, to set up a conference, etc.
We hope you’ll join us! And please help us spread the word.
Step 1: Register your team
Please preview the registration form before you fill it in. You have some homework to do before you can register:
1. Identify and establish contact with key sources in your school community (your principal, head of buildings and grounds, business manager, school board chair, and director of food service). Take care to maintain positive communication with these sources. Let them know you’ll need to talk with them more than once, and thank them at every turn.
2. Connect with the students and teachers in your school’s sustainability / environmental club (if one exists). One goal of this project is to celebrate and promote their work: What research have they done? What data do they have? What changes have already been made? Has there been notable progress at your school (or any kind of significant event or change) related to one of our five criteria?
The deadline for registration is Feb. 15.
Register here
Your registration will add you to an email list, which will keep you updated as the project evolves. If you have questions, or need help assembling a team, please email Ben Heintz, the Workshop’s editor, at ben@vtdigger.org
Step 2: Start reporting
Some details of this project could shift, depending on the number of teams that participate. On Jan. 30, all registered teams will receive a document with the full reporting assignment and a google survey for collecting essential data and interviews.
If your team is able to get started before Jan. 16, here are two initial reporting assignments:
1. Learn everything you can about your school’s history, in terms of work toward sustainability.
Talk with the leaders of your school’s environmental club. Contact the chair of the school board, and/or other school board members: Has the school completed a formal energy audit? Are there any official goals or plans in your district related to any of our five criteria? What has the discussion been like over the past several years, in terms of policy? Make sure to record your interviews (otter.ai is a good app for saving you time, by making a transcript). Make sure you have consent from your sources – tell anyone you interview that you plan to publish in VTDigger.
2. Collect these pieces of information:
– A map of your school, and the square footage of the building
– The precise number of people in your school (students, and adults in every role) on an average school day
– Your school’s budget report for the past 3 years
These first steps can help you get underway, and then you’ll receive the detailed reporting assignment on Jan. 16. Please plan to devote some real time to your reporting in the first two weeks of February.
Step 3: Reporting workshop, on Thursday, Feb. 17
At least one representative from each participating school should attend both the reporting workshop and the writing workshop.
The reporting workshop is a checkpoint, midway through our process of gathering data and interviews. We’ll meet in the evening on zoom, to take stock of our progress, address questions, troubleshoot challenges, etc.
After this meeting students have a full month to finish their reporting. They can touch base any time for support from the Underground Workshop or VEEP.
Step 4: Writing workshop, on Thursday, March 17
March 3 marks the transition from the reporting phase of the project to the writing phase. Students writing feature stories will still be conducting follow-up interviews, etc, but the main focus will shift to the question of how best to organize our work and present it to readers.
At least one member from each team should attend. We’ll have two goals:
1. To map out our process for organizing the 5 articles in our series. The Underground Workshop’s student editors will oversee the process, led by Anika Turcotte of Montpelier High School.
2. To clarify the expectations for the last piece of the project: each team’s “report card” for their school. VEEP will lead this portion of the workshop, to help students make the most informed and impactful recommendations.
*We will organize further workshops as necessary, as we work to produce the finished series. These will focus on specific articles, involving smaller numbers of students.
Step 5: Publication!
We aim to publish this series beginning in May, to close out the school year. This is an ambitious project, and will be a true accomplishment to celebrate. A big thank you in advance to students, and to anyone who encourages or supports their participation.
Reporter’s note: Our project in context
by Emma Cotton, VTDigger’s Environment, Climate and Energy Reporter
The Climate Report Card project is timely. Vermont’s Global Warming Solutions Act, passed in 2020, requires the state to dramatically reduce the amount of greenhouse gas emissions it produces in the coming years.
To that end, a 23-member Climate Council, made up of state officials, members of environmental groups and those most affected by climate change — including a youth representative — published the state’s first Climate Action Plan on Dec. 1. It includes more than 230 recommendations aimed to both reduce greenhouse gases and protect Vermonters from the impacts of climate change.
One recommendation calls specifically for “the reduction of municipal, school district, residential, university, and hospital fossil fuel use in rural areas through equitable best practices that address the unique challenges of rural communities.” That will involve big-lift efforts, like weatherizing buildings, changing the sources of heating and cooling, and rethinking how kids get to school.
While the Climate Action Plan is considered the most comprehensive strategy Vermont has seen on climate change, many of its details still need to be fleshed out. That means there are plenty of questions to ask: How do schools contribute to Vermont’s total emissions, and how can they be part of the solution? Which solutions can be acted on now, and which need more time, thought and money? How can schools shield students from the impacts of climate change?
These questions — answered by young reporters who will likely face many more impacts from climate change than the generations before them — can deepen that coverage through on-the-ground reporting.
