Zoe Berg, Senior Photography

In the fall of 2022, the New Haven Board of Education passed a climate emergency resolution with specific goals that aim to mitigate climate change, reduce carbon emissions and transition to clean energy and other sustainable operations. 

“Climate change can be an existential crisis for large numbers of people, and it’s going to be changing the world that our students are going to be living in,” Matthew Wilcox, vice president of the Board of Education said. “Of course, there’s never enough being done, but I’m reasonably happy with the things that the district’s doing.” 

Since the resolution passed, New Haven Public Schools has installed solar parking canopy systems to produce solar-powered electricity for two New Haven schools, Hill Central School and L.W. Beecher School. 

According to Wilcox, the school district has also replaced four heating, ventilation and air conditioning units and has plans for an upcoming energy audit.

However, with the climate emergency resolution pledging to reduce greenhouse gas emissions by 100 percent by 2030, the Board of Education has a long way to go.

“Recently the district applied for bus electrification with a federal grant and we’re hopeful about that,” Superintendent Madeline Negrón said. 

Electrifying all school buses was specifically mentioned in the resolution and would have significant impacts on the district’s efforts to reduce transportation carbon emissions. 

According to Wilcox, the Board is also hoping to replace more inefficient HVACs with more modern ones.

However, many students, particularly those involved in the New Haven Climate Movement, are looking to do more, especially when it comes to increasing climate education and bettering the district’s recycling and composting programs.

Snigtha Mohanrag, a student at Engineering and Science University Magnet School, interns for the Climate Health Education Project, one of the New Haven Climate Movement’s youth initiatives. As an intern, she works with teachers to introduce climate education into their curricula. 

According to Mohanrag, climate education is severely lacking at New Haven schools, despite the district’s promise to fully implement it in the emergency resolution.

Other students across the district have also worked to increase their school’s composting and recycling efforts. 

According to Rosie Hampson, a senior at Wilbur Cross Cross High School, her school started an environment club to start composting and help with food redistribution. Since then, the club has also done cleanups, gardening and fundraisers for climate action. 

“We just want to show the Board of Education that these projects can be done,” Hampson said. 

Hampson, a member of the New Haven Climate Movement’s Climate Education Committee, said that students at multiple schools in New Haven had taken on similar projects.

Wilcox said that the board has spoken with members of the New Haven Climate Movement about efforts to be less wasteful with food recycling as well as about limiting prepackaged food or using compostable packaging. 

The New Haven Climate Movement has also recently introduced a petition for the Board of Education to allocate $300,000 to hire climate staff. According to Hampson, many students have signed this petition, and they will be hosting an event soon to promote this petition and lobby for more signatures. 

In their own climate resolution, the City of New Haven is committed to the effort to end community-wide greenhouse gas emissions by or before Dec. 31, 2030.