The new “Climate Science and Social Change” course will combine both the social justice and science aspects of climate change.
One of the most currently relevant issues is climate change. While classes have previously addressed this issue scientifically, they have neglected the other half of the story.
The new course “Climate Science and Social Change” is a unique approach to the ever-more relevant topic of climate change. If approved by the Innovation Fund, it will merge science with social, political and economic perspectives. Roger Grande, who proposed the course alongside Briana Brown, believes that students will be more empowered to respond to these climate threats with the experience they will receive in this course.
According to Grande, Climate Science and Social Change will spend the first semester of the year discussing the fundamentals of climate science. Students will study how the earth is changing and why these shifts are taking place. Grande also said the second half of the course will look at climate change from a social perspective. For example, students will look at case studies and think about innovative ways to address the impacts of our changing climate.
Grande explained that Climate Science and Social Change will spend time focusing on how the climate crisis is being addressed in the media.
“The course would look at how people discuss climate change, truth, objectivity, news and newsmakers,” Grande said. “We’re really focusing on information literacy, arming students with some of the skills needed to decipher the things they’re hearing and to understand what is true and what is not.”
This new course will also have students think about innovative ways to approach climate change. By looking at case studies, students will be able to examine the effect climate change has on various groups of people.
“We will look at a lot of issues around racial equity, class equity and just equity around the world. Who suffers the most? Who will suffer the most? Who will be most impacted, in contrast to who are the largest consumers of fossil fuels?” Grande said.
Brown, who (pending funding) will teach this class side by side with Grande, said it is important to learn the societal impacts of climate change as well as the impacts it will have on the environment.
“I think it’s important to really emphasize that this is not just a science problem. This is an everything problem and every aspect of society is going to be impacted by climate change: food production, where people can live, migration issues, etc. You can’t look at science in isolation,” Brown said.
Without enough institutional support surrounding our ecological crisis, Grande looks at Climate Science and Social Change as a fundamental step in preparing students to apply what they learn in his class to their lives outside of BHS.
“I’m a little bit stunned that there has been zero messaging from school leadership to begin getting students to think about how they’re going to thrive, financially, emotionally and socially in the future,” Grande said. “We give students skills to prepare for work, to prepare for college, but the largest existential phenomena of probably human existence is before us and we have decided to not address that.”
Students, as well as teachers, believe in the importance of learning the social effects of our current climate crisis. Junior Niovi Rahme believes that the Climate Science and Social Change course will be an effective approach to addressing this issue.
“I think learning about the social and societal aspect of climate change makes it completely different from any science classes we have,” Rahme said. “It makes it easier to know what’s truly going on in our world today and to prepare us for the future of fighting a climate battle.”
Junior Kira Wu-Hacohen first heard about the Climate Science and Social Change course when Grande pitched it to her social justice class. She hopes to take advantage of this educational opportunity next year.
“Right now I don’t really know what I can do and what difference it will make. Climate change is something that affects everyone in this school and everyone on this planet. We have to learn the consequences of our actions,” Wu-Hacohen said.
According to Brown, the impacts of climate change will accelerate in the coming decades. By studying climate change from new perspectives, students will come out of the class with a well-rounded understanding of the world they will live in and how they can change it.
“I hope to leave this class with a new, reformed understanding of climate change, how it is affecting different people and cultures around the globe and what we can do to help,” Rahme said. “It’s important to be educated about this because it’s something we will have to deal with our entire lives, so we might as well be knowledgeable about it and understand what’s truly going on.”
Elsie McKendry, Staff Writer|April 10, 2020
GRAPHIC BY ELSIE MCKENDRY
The composting initiative has significantly cut down Brookline High School’s carbon emissions
The smallest actions sometimes have the greatest impacts, even here at the high school. Last year, Brookline High School saved eight metric tons of carbon after composting, reducing our output of greenhouse gases that are detrimental to the environment.
Social Studies teacher Roger Grande said that he believes the high school community needs to reevaluate how we think about our effects on the environment.
“For several years, I’ve been thinking that it’s not just me wanting change. The climate crisis is intensifying, and we as a school, along with all schools really, need to train students with the skills to be prepared and to be resilient to adaptation,” Grande said.
Grande applied to the Innovation Fund’s “Innovation Fellowship” two times before his third proposal was accepted. He plans to use the resources to make his sustainability initiative become a reality.
GraduateGreen is the term Grande coined for this sustainability initiative. He hopes that students will graduate from the high school with a green mindset, and that they’ll consider the impact they have on the environment as they move on to college or a career.
Grande is also the advisor for the Food Justice Club, who worked with the Environmental Action Club to develop lessons to be taught during advisories throughout February. The clubs collaborated to create three lessons: Recycling, Compost and Food Waste, and the Food System.
“As a school we have an opportunity to cultivate habits of the mindset. This is something that everybody can be involved in. It can be our culture change.” — Roger Grande, World History teacher
Seniors Grace Sokolow and Gigi Walsh are the co-leaders of the Food Justice Club, which is working with Grande to bring improved sustainable culture to BHS. Sokolow said that Grande wants this to be a student initiative.
“We have a composting system in place, we have a recycling system in place, and now it’s up to the students to use it correctly and effectively,” Walsh said. “There is always more progress to be made in sustainability and that both come from the actions of the students as well as actions and policies that are up to the administration.”
Some teachers are currently implementing lessons of sustainability into their curriculum. Grande believes this should be done on a larger scale, even in departments whose classes are less connected to environmental issues.
“It’s not the science department’s job. It’s no more their responsibility than it is for the rest of us,” Grande said. “Climate change is the consequence of economic and political decisions, and it’s going to take economic and political decisions to resolve the issue.”
Grande said that it will take a cultural shift in how we think about education in order to implement sustainability into all subjects. He thinks this can be achieved if the students can, keeping the larger impacts in mind, change their routines because of learning about sustainability in the curriculum.
“As a school we have an opportunity to cultivate habits of the mindset,” Grande said. “This is something that everybody can be involved in. It can be our culture change.”
According to Grande, the ultimate vision is to make the Brookline school system into designated Green Ribbon schools. The U.S. Department of Education Green Ribbon School’s aim is to encourage districts to start sustainability practices that reduce environmental impact and cost, and improve health and wellness with sustainability culture.
Sokolow is excited to start teaching the sustainability curriculum in junior advisories, and she hopes that students will be open to trying something new for the environment.
“People would be surprised how easy it is to make some of these switches, and how good it feels to know you have power over how much plastic you use in your life,” Sokolow said. “I want people to give this a shot, come at it with open hearts and minds, and try to do something sustainable.”
While global prospects can seem grim, Walsh remains optimistic. She believes students care about these issues, especially after demonstrating at the Boston Climate Strikes, and will feel empowered in understanding their impacts on the environment.
“I think students should care about sustainability because it’s an environmental issue, but beyond that it is a human rights issue and it’s an issue that is going to directly affect our lives in more ways than we can imagine,” Walsh said. “I think our actions and decisions we make now are going to directly shape the future we experience.”
Mira Donahue, Staff Writer|February 27, 2020
Jeremiah Levy
