We are excited that at the January 13, 2022 PGCPS Board of Education Meeting Dan Daughtry-Weiss of Cheverly spoke in favor of having a PGCPS Sustainability Officer and the Climate Change Action Plan.  You can share your story too.  Sign up to testify.

On Thursday December 9, 2021 one of our volunteers spoke in favor of creating a position for a PGCPS Climate Officer (also called a Sustainability Officer) that would report to the CEO and work across the various departments to implement the forthcoming Climate Change Action Plan. There will be more opportunities to testify in January and February, so if you are interested please sign up here.

You can watch the testimony below:

Today our work for 100% Clean Energy Schools was featured by Aspen Institute K-12 Climate Action Program as part of the rollout for their School Climate Action Toolkit through a blog post co-authored by Board Member Pamela Boozer-Strother and lead volunteer Joseph Jakuta.

As climate change has become a more pressing and visible issue over the past decade, one thing we have learned is that we have the solutions available. What we need is to bring people along, to listen, and to involve all stakeholders in finding the solutions that work for all of us. This is certainly true in school systems, which are deeply rooted in communities and are charged with preparing today’s students for the future.

Communities around the country – often led by youth and parent activists – have been advocating for schools, communities, and governments to take action on climate change. One way schools can address climate change is to reduce their carbon footprints by transitioning to clean energy….

Read the full post: https://k12climateaction.org/blog/community-engagement-is-necessary-to-decarbonize-schools

In case you missed it, the Climate Change Action Plan Focus Workgroup met on October 20 to discuss how the PGCPS new school construction process works, how the build Net Zero and its benefits, the current buildings in the PGCPS construction pipeline, and the challenges ahead.

We heard from special guests Reilly Loveland of the New Buildings Institute, Shawn Matlock, Director of Capital Programs, and Antoine Taylor, PGCPS Building Services Operations Supervisor.

In case you missed it, the Climate Change Action Plan Focus Workgroup met on October 6 to discuss how the food production and distribution process works in PGCPS, the need for healthy, climate friendly food, composting pilot projects in PGCPS, the PGCPS recycling program, and the synthetic turf waste stream.

We heard from special guests Joan Shorter, Director of Food and Nutrition Services,  Sara Gillespie, Maintenance Technician for Recycling, Antoine Taylor, and Diana E. Conway, President, Safe Healthy Playing Fields Inc. and Kathleen Michaels, PhD, Advocate, Safe Healthy Playing Fields Inc..