Wrnsbg. students devising initiatives to mitigate climate change

WARRENSBURG | A group of Warrensburg High School students are now busy developing projects that can be implemented in their school or their respective local communities to raise awareness about climate change and lessen its impact on the environment. Their proposals for such initiatives include resurrecting a school-based, extensive recycling program; starting a new composting initiative for the school district; and initiating a school district energy audit; as well as informing students how their families can reduce energy usage at home. Warrensburg High School Science Teacher John Burns said Dec. 1 that four local students, who attended the recent Adirondack Youth Climate Summit at The Wild Center in Tupper Lake, were now forming an environmental club to bring their proposed initiatives to reality. "They are actively working to create an environmental club to establish student-driven initiatives," Burns said. "Everybody has a part to play in the stewardship of the Earth." Burns said that Warrensburg High School juniors Elli York and Avril LaFountain asked him early this school year whether they could attend the climate summit, as they found it inspiring last year, and Burns agreed. Subsequently, York and LaFountain were joined by schoolmates Lillian Joseph and Calista Steves in attending the conference. The Wild Center's Deputy Director Hillarie Logan-Dechene said more than 100 students representing 20 high schools and colleges in the Adirondacks region attended the 2023 climate summit held Nov. 8 and Nov. 9 in Tupper Lake. The event not only included presentations from experts on climate change's effects on the environment, but it also featured presentations from former climate summit attendees who described the programs they were implementing in their communities. Logan-Duechene said these past summit participants helped plan the event's proceedings by choosing what topics to explore. "Our youth climate summit is a student-driven conference," she said, adding that it arms them with leadership skills including how to work with town or school officials to implement their environmental initiatives. "This is very much about empowering youth in devising solutions that can really result in environmental action and change," she said. She said that the Adirondack Youth Climate Summit has received recognition for its success from the White House as well as the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, and several of the climate summit's student participants have been invited to conferences in Washington D.C. Logan-Dechene offered her thoughts about how the climate summit has impacted its participants' lives. "It is providing a strategy for attaining hope for our future," she said. "It's not only developing leadership and problem-solving skills for the students, but it's also about getting them ready for their own future."

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Wrnsbg. students devising initiatives to mitigate climate change

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