A Green New Deal for Schools
The Boulder Valley School District Board of Education unanimously passed the Green New Deal for Schools on Nov. 28, a resolution that requires the district to make commitments to mitigate impacts of the climate crisis.
The student-led initiative was supported by the Sunrise Movement, a youth climate justice organization that advocates for political action. More than 60 students attended the meeting wearing yellow armbands with “GND 4 BVSD” written on them. Ten young people spoke during public comment.
“I’m sharing my story tonight because I want my school to prepare me and other young people to grow up in a world that is greatly affected by climate change,” said Eira, a fifth-grader. (Editor’s note: Boulder Weekly does not publish the full names of minors without explicit permission from their parents or guardians.)
One thousand BVSD students and staff also signed a petition calling for the board to support the resolution, which includes commitments to clean energy, improved climate change curriculum and student pathways to green jobs.
It’s the first such resolution passed by a school district in the nation, according to the Sunrise Movement.
Editor’s note: A previous version of this online story misspelled Eira and underestimated the number of students who attended the board meeting.
Wildfire Partners expands service area
After providing support to residents living in the foothills and mountains since 2014, Boulder County’s Wildfire Partners will now support East County residents.
“In areas with higher density of homes, wildfire mitigation needs to be viewed as a community effort since what happens on one property will affect outcomes on the neighboring property,” Abby Silver, Wildfire Partners’ outreach coordinator, said in a press release. “We are excited to be on the cutting edge in developing relevant wildfire mitigation programs for plains communities.”
Wildfire Partners is a collaboration between community members, fire departments and municipalities that has a variety of programs to increase local wildfire-resilience like community chipping, home assessments, advising, education and outreach. According to its website, programs were expanded to East Boulder County after the Marshall Fire.
The County is hosting a virtual community mitigation information session on Dec. 12 from 5-6 p.m. Register at bit.ly/WP_Info_Session.
