To the editor:
Last February, I joined more than 250 high school students from across Massachusetts at the State House for a Youth Climate Advocacy Day. I spent the day talking to my legislators about climate education.
Massachusetts is a national leader in environmental policy. We set the bar. I am so grateful to have grown up in this state, but there is still more that we can do.
There are far too many students who get to high school without ever sitting through a lesson on climate change. It wasn’t until my junior year when I enrolled in AP environmental science that I received any formal climate education at all. That course isn’t offered everywhere. A student’s understanding of the world’s most urgent crisis should not be dependent on whether an advanced elective is offered at their school.
That is the core problem with how we handle climate education. It is unequal and inconsistent. Wealthier districts with more resources can fund these specialized courses and extracurriculars concerning climate change. Students in underfunded districts get next to nothing.
I’m a member of Mass Audubon’s Northshore Youth Climate Leadership Program, and we host annual summits to teach students about climate change and local solutions. But as the years have gone by, attendance has been declining, and our target audience isn’t being met. The students who need the education the most are not there.
Voluntary programs and electives are not enough. Climate education needs to be woven into the fabric of our education system from an early age, across subjects, in every school, regardless of its zip code.
Civics is required because we believe informed voters matter. Climate education deserves that same treatment. The students in classrooms today will be creating policy, casting votes, running businesses, and engineering the technology of tomorrow in a world that climate change is actively reshaping. They deserve to understand what they are inheriting.
The Interdisciplinary Climate Education Bill (H.560/S.391) would make that a reality. It would integrate climate education across grade levels and subjects statewide, so that learning about our environment isn’t a privilege reserved for students in well-resourced schools or those who can participate in climate-related extracurriculars or electives.
The bill is currently stalled in the Ways and Means Committee. If you believe the next generation deserves the tools to face the challenges ahead, I urge you to support this bill and ask your state legislators to do the same. The students are already showing up. It’s time for the system to meet them.
Jesslyn Roemer
Taft Street
