Summer has officially ended and was truly one for the records. Droughts, wildfires, dangerous heat indices, hurricanes, and floods – many of them destructive and deadly. While none of us want to dwell on these scary issues, we must keep the implications in mind as we navigate this school year. Together we can help our students, as well as their families and communities, learn and work toward climate change resilience, adaptation, and solutions.
We at Cooler Communities continue to participate in these efforts. Despite the pandemic, we held five virtual events during the 2020-21 school year. Kudos to all students, teachers, volunteers and administrators in Agawam, Springfield High Schools, Sherborn, Pittsfield, and Greenfield that came through in such a big way. We are applying what we learned in this virtual world to our planning for the 2021-2022 school year and look forward to running our program in eight to ten school districts, expanding our footprint throughout the state and doubling the number of events held last year. And we’ll continue to share our information and experiences with you. In this newsletter issue we highlight:
- Western Mass Youth Climate Summit
- A recent high school graduate’s creation of the CC Student Playbook
- What to do with seasonal leaf collections
- Time sensitive events and programs for teachers and students
We wish you all a safe and successful school year!
