Solar parking lots would preserve natural landscape

Solar parking lots versus solar farms. Turn massive parking lots into solar energy generators and preserve the natural landscape. Supply energy to adjacent facilities first. Distribute the surplus.

— Sidney Carlson, Superior

Help students learn about, prepare for climate crisis

I am a senior in Boulder Valley School District (BVSD), and I do not feel my education has adequately prepared me for the greatest challenge our generation faces: living with and combating the climate crisis.

I joined the Sunrise Movement — a national organization of young people fighting to stop the climate crisis — a year and a half ago, and I started a Sunrise Hub at my high school. I, and many other students, worked tirelessly to pass a Green New Deal for BVSD — a transformative policy to invest in sustainable infrastructure, implement climate curriculum, create pathways to green jobs, and provide climate disaster plans.

Now, we are working with state legislators to make similar changes to our schools at the state level. This initiative is fundamental to me and my peers because we are rarely taught about the climate crisis in school nor prepared with emergency response plans when climate disasters like the Marshall Fire strikes. And our schools themselves run on fossil fuels that are worsening the problem. This is in BVSD, where students are extremely advantaged compared to less privileged areas of the state that are also on the frontlines of the crisis. If you believe in students’ right to climate education and climate-prepared schools, call or write to your state representative and senator about the importance of supporting bills on preparing students to face the climate crisis.

My peers and I are growing up in a world defined by the relentless damage of the climate crisis — from fires to hurricanes to extreme heat. We are graduating high school with a potent fear for what’s to come next because we do not know if our generation will be able to survive the climate crisis. It’s time our schools give us confidence to answer that question.

— Molly Weber, Boulder