‘Uncharted territory’: declaring climate emergency

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This article was published 27/11/2019 (2110 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

Students at Seven Oaks Met School are hoping to make Seven Oaks School Division the first school division in Manitoba to declare a climate emergency following a presentation to the board Monday evening.

“We’re in uncharted territory. This hasn’t been done yet in Manitoba, as far as I can tell,” said Met School principal Nancy Janelle.

Students at Met School connected with trustees at a meeting in September, where they broke off into groups to discuss what issues matter to them. One conversation focused on climate change, which led to a meeting with the board.

On Nov. 25, Met School students were joined by peers from West Kildonan Collegiate, Maples Met School, Garden City Collegiate, H.C. Avery, Belmont School, and West St. Paul School, to present core recommendations related to climate issues to the board.

The recommendations included demands made by Manitoba Youth for Climate Action regarding Indigenous rights, reducing emissions, environmental rights, and conservation of biodiversity.

Additionally, the students suggested improved school waste and water management, increased support for student leadership opportunities involving the climate crisis, sustainable transportation options, and the development of schoolyards that contribute to climate mitigation and nurture biodiversity.

These recommendations would take shape in various ways at schools, such as transitioning to electric buses, installing solar panels, planting more vegetation, adding low-flow toilets and sinks, and designing and implementing an environmental learning curriculum.

But before any of this can happen the school division must declare a climate emergency, Janelle said.

Currently, only a few school divisions across Canada — in north Vancouver and Victoria, B.C., and Sudbury, Ont. — have done this.

“We think it would be really neat if Seven Oaks could be kind of the first division (in Manitoba) to do that.

“I think what it can allow for is for the division to be a showcase division; to say this is how we can do things, it is possible; to operate a school division sustainably and have a low carbon footprint,” Janelle said.

A 2019 study by Lakehead University and Learning for a Sustainable Future found that more than half of Canadians surveyed agreed that the education system should be doing more to teach young people about the climate.

Met School (640 Jefferson Ave.) has around 120 students in Grades 9 to 12, and nine teachers. Since the school moved from Garden City Collegiate to its new location down the street in 2014, staff have adopted a greater environmental lens in their classrooms, Janelle said.

Students study the mechanisms of social change and how political pressure works, as well as work on projects that have environmental connections. For instance, installing garden boxes, hydroponics, and a stationary bike charging station for phones.

Students also organized Strut for Shoal, a fashion fundraiser that happened in March. The purpose was to raise funds and awareness of Shoal Lake 40 First Nation, which has been under a boil water advisory for more than two decades.

Grade 12 student Meg Boehm helped organized Strut for Shoal, and has been involved with the climate emergency presentation.

“I think (climate change) is something that will affect us all at one point or another, so it’s kind of time to just face it and tackle it now while we still have time to,” Boehm said.

Depending on the Seven Oaks School Division board’s response to the students’ presentation, Janelle said they hope to book meetings with Mayor Brian Bowman and Premier Brian Pallister to pursue the next step of declaring a climate emergency.