As the climate crisis intensifies, Lick-Wilmerding High School — like many schools in the Bay Area — is confronted with the challenge of implementing strong, actionable climate education into its already rigorous curriculum.
However, many LWHS students wonder whether simply offering an environmental science class can be equated to a deep school-wide care for sustainability. Is one class enough to construct a flourishing culture and curriculum surrounding climate change and environmental action?
LWHS offers a wide array of natural, social and formal science classes, including Environmental Science Honors. In this class, students explore the impacts of anthropocentrism, or human impact, on the environment with a focus on vulnerable communities and living organisms.
“This interdisciplinary course will explore the complexities of environmental problems and dilemmas caused by environmental modifications and the human population explosion. Scientific principles, concepts and methodologies will help students understand the interrelationships of the natural world, the physical and social causes of environmental problems, identify and analyze the relative risks associated with these problems and articulate strategies to mitigate issues, adapt or propose alternative solutions for resolving or preventing them,” states the class description.
Don Rizzi, the teacher of Environmental Science Honors at LWHS, believes that it is crucial that students understand their individual impacts on the environment. Rizzi sees environmental science as more than just an earth science — in his mind, it is equally a social science. “[LWHS community members] are largely in the group of people that are causing the biggest harm with regard to environmental issues and are not suffering the consequences of that. I have a desire to highlight some of those injustices.” he said.
2023 is the fourth year that LWHS has offered Environmental Science Honors. Rizzi was surprised by the inequities that lie within the environmental movement when he began teaching about the class. “There is inequity that exists with our current systems — systems of recycling, systems of water management — and it really surprised me when I first started getting into those topics,” he said.
Rizzi believes that offering this class is a first step towards greater environmental education within schools, and previous students agree.
“It’s so important to learn about current events and climate change and working with what is the most pressing issue today,” Bruno Kai Ong ’23, LWHS alum and previous LWHS Environmental Co-Chair, said.
Ong believes that an Environmental Science Honors class is not enough to create an ingrained culture of sustainability in a school. Ideally, he would like to see a combination between sustainability education and sustainability culture. He believes that a sustainability class would lead to a value for sustainability becoming embedded in the way a school is run and the way students behave. “[School sustainability] cultures feel more genuine and less performative. In… the climate movement, there is a lot of greenwashing. I think a [sustainability] culture is definitely more prevalent, but a class can help build that culture,” he said.
Many LWHS students have a deep interest in environmental sustainability, yet Ong believes that there is a lot of performative action when students are not fully educated on the topic.
Ong also expressed his hopes for the future: that sustainability can be implemented into classes in an instructional manner so that LWHS students can change their own consumption habits and improve their impact on the environment.
Ong and Natalie Heller ’23 were the first Environmental Co-Chairs at LWHS, and in Ong’s time in the position, he felt that he was not able to accomplish all of his initial goals. “A lot of our job as the first Environmental Co-Chairs was figuring out what was feasible in our position and who to work with and meet with. That took up a lot more time and energy than we originally anticipated,” he said. “I think we were able to kickstart a lot of really interesting projects that will hopefully be furthered by [current Environmental Co-Chairs] Andrew [Chou-Belden ’24] and Sophie [Lee ’24].”
Ong feels that a big part of the role was focused on building a culture of sustainability at LWHS. Ong and Heller also became well-versed in the sustainability of LWHS’ campus, which prioritizes sustainability through the use of energy-saving and energy-efficient facilities, such as motion-sensor lighting and solar power.
“Lick is ultimately moving in the right direction [in terms of sustainability]. However, it is a tricky issue. A lot of people have differing opinions on what’s sustainable and what we want to prioritize as an institution. So Lick needs to establish what their priorities are and what they want to have,” Ong said.
1xbet промокод на бесплатную ставку 2024 1xbet промокод на бесплатную ставку 2024
1xbet est une plateforme de paris en ligne leader qui propose un large éventail d’options de divertissement. dernier code promo pour 1xbet Pour tirer le meilleur parti de votre expérience 1xbet, il est crucial d’utiliser un code promotionnel 1xbet. Avec le code promotionnel 1xbet, vous pouvez accéder à des offres incroyables telles que des tours gratuits, des paris gratuits et des bonus de bienvenue. Aujourd’hui, nous vous proposons le dernier code promotionnel 1xbet qui vous offrira des avantages exclusifs. Êtes-vous prêt à profiter de toutes les opportunités passionnantes qu’offre 1xbet ? N’attendez plus et utilisez notre code promo bonus de bienvenue 1xbet pour commencer à gagner. Inscrivez-vous aujourd’hui et profitez au maximum de vos paris avec le meilleur code promotionnel pour 1xbet!