Students: Rebecca Gonzalez, Sofia Kekäläinen, Wes Moore, Erik Sternlof & Andrew Yum

 

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Over the summer, our team read Climate Optimism by Zahra Biabani, which inspired us to view climate action progress as a glass gradually filling, rather than one that can never be filled. This optimism drove us to set ambitious goals for addressing climate change in our community. However, we quickly realized how challenging even small actions could be. With climate change not a priority for many, we decided to take action ourselves.

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We embarked on a three-week challenge: Week 1 – reducing single-use items and recycling, Week 2 – cutting our transportation carbon footprint, and Week 3 – eating more plant-based meals and reducing food waste. We focused on reducing single-use items and recycling everything we could, walking or biking instead of driving, and adopting a plant-based diet while also limiting and composting leftovers. Though these actions seemed simple, obstacles like restaurant packaging, limited bike lanes, and few vegetarian options at school made them harder than expected.

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This realization led us to expand our project. We surveyed students to understand the barriers they faced when trying to form sustainable habits and spoke with school staff about efforts to reduce the school’s environmental impact. While some initiatives were in place, we found much more could be done to help students and the school overcome these challenges.

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We concluded that meaningful change requires community engagement. Climate action won’t happen without collective effort, just as global change depends on worldwide cooperation. To inspire action, we created a mini-documentary summarizing our findings and made posters to raise awareness at school. We learned that climate action doesn’t need to be overwhelming. Just as a glass will fill one drop at a time, small steps from each of us make a difference. Climate action starts with you.