Would you rather drown in a flood or burn in a forest fire? Fortunately, the Democrats and President Joe Biden have passed and signed the Inflation Reduction Act which earmarks $369 billion for energy initiatives to combat climate change. This gives some hope that you will neither drown nor burn. We have found more hope right here in Bennington.
Last January, our Climate Advocates of Bennington group helped start a student club at MAUHS called the Climate Change Initiative. We asked teacher Dylan Wajda-Levie to be the faculty advisor/mentor and we are so fortunate that he accepted. Students were recruited and the club began to meet on a weekly basis. Co-chair students Ella Saccio and Emily Maikoo emerged as leaders. Club membership increased.
Club activities resumed this fall, and on 9/26, I attended their afterschool meeting and found an ambitious irrepressible group of students. When asked why they had chosen to join the club, most replied that climate change was the most important issue that young people faced. If we don’t stop burning fossil fuels and convert to clean energy, then our planet may become uninhabitable. Severe storms, wildfires, droughts, flooding, oceans rising, extinction, famine and population migration have only just begun.
The students were developing plans in several different areas. Some realized that life would be more sustainable if we ate as vegetarians rather than carnivores, and they were hoping to institute a “meatless Monday” at the school cafeteria. Others were concerned about our consumption of fossil fuels when we transport students to and from school, and they planned to investigate carpooling and bus routes. Others were concerned with the increasing use of plastics production from fossil fuel and terrible environmental pollution. Still others wanted to learn more about how exactly their school was heated and cooled in the hope of making improvements. “Why are there no solar panels on the MAUHS roof?” they asked. Another wanted to have a column in the school newspaper and perhaps even the Banner.
I came away impressed and hopeful.
G. Richard Dundas
Bennington
