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“We are running out of time”

SUHSD Youth 4 Sustainability schools push city to declare a climate emergency

Hilltop High freshmen and Youth 4 Sustainability members Faith Avila and Eric Boyels display a poster and pose for photos to promote the Climate Emergency Declaration event at Chula Vista City Hall. Both Avila and Boyels later spoke during the meeting to urge council members to approve the act.

Alexa Vazquez, Editor-at-Large
March 3, 2022

“Otay Ranch, Hilltop, Bonita and more all have kids aware that our earth and environment are slowly dwindling at the hands of people like me and you.”

On March 1, Otay Ranch High (ORH) junior and Youth 4 Sustainability (Y4S) member Zoe Rachow stood proudly before Chula Vista City Council members. She was determined to make her case for resolution 7.1, which would declare a climate emergency in the city of Chula Vista. A climate emergency classifies a situation as one where urgent action is needed to prevent the irreversible effects of climate change. Along with ORH senior and Y4S leader Roxanna Braganca, Rachow and Braganca faced Mayor Mary Castillas Salas, pressuring the city to take immediate climate action with the adoption of this resolution.

Students from the Y4S programs of Bonita Vista High (BVH), ORH and Hilltop High (HTH) attended the Chula Vista City Council meeting. They urged the city council to declare a climate emergency. BVH representatives collaborated with ORH and HTH to spread awareness and support for the act, which was initially proposed in 2020 by Sustainability Commission member Edward Legaspi. The resolution passed unanimously with a 4-0 decision, as council member Stephen Padilla was absent.

“It’s finally passed! I hope that now, we can start doing things to better our climate. We can start being more active,” BVH senior and Y4S leader Gabriella Bomjardim said.

Y4S is a program organized by Executive Director of South Bay Sustainable Communities Tina Matthias. The program is active in several South Bay schools and BVH is the newest addition. Although few BVH members directly organized the meeting itself, they showed support by promoting the event.

The City of Chula Vista Sustainability Commission and SanDiego350–environmental non-profit organizations–also attended the event. Y4S spoke out during the allocated public hearing period to encourage council members to “vote unanimously” for immediate action on the climate crisis.

“If council members and the mayor don’t feel like we have enough community support, it’s hard for them to take action. It’s hard for representatives to really understand what kind of change we need,” HTH Biology and Advanced Placement (AP) Environmental Science teacher and Y4S volunteer Gina Woodard said.

Y4S student members from ORH and HTH were empowered by Senate Bill 1383. In effect on Jan. 1, the bill requires all jurisdictions in California to provide organic waste collection services to all residents to reduce climate pollutants. Y4S wanted to “capitalize” on the bill’s successes in order to achieve a “greater effect.”

“Why not do it now? Why wait, when we have all this knowledge in our hands,” Braganca said.

The sense of urgency is shared by the BVH Y4S program. BVH AP Environmental Science and International Baccalaureate (IB) Environmental Systems and Societies teacher and Y4S leader Jennifer Ekstein emphasizes how recent years have been some of the “hottest on record. “

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Why not do it now? Why wait, when we have all this knowledge in our hands.

— Otay Ranch High senior and Youth 4 Sustainability leader Roxanna Braganca

“The point of all these rallies is to keep up the fight. You’re trying to get your politicians to enact cleaner policies,” Ekstein said. “This is their city, and the future is about students becoming activists, holding rallies and keeping people accountable for their actions, especially politicians.”

Going forward, Y4S program leaders at BVH, HTH and ORH agree that declaring a climate emergency in Chula Vista will “boost action” towards preventing climate change effects. HTH junior and Y4S leader Andrea Necoechea has faith in the effects the bill will have on Chula Vista.

“The [climate emergency declaration] is going to make monumental changes,” Necoechea said. “If we can further declare this climate emergency and start educating people about this, we can see people’s lives change.”