Climate Actions—Under 18

— Find out what type of energy your school uses for heating and cooling. If it is based on fossil fuels, challenge your school to use less energy. Also work with school administrators to research renewable energy options like a Power Purchase Agreement or Renewable — Energy Certificates.

— See if your school can become LEED certified.

— Encourage your school to transition to EnergyStar appliances that use less energy.

— Make sure all paper and wood products your school uses are certified by the Forest Stewardship Council (FSC). It’s easy, just look for the FSC logo.

— Make your school idle-free for cars and buses.

— Influence a transition to electric bus fleets at school.

— Encourage your school to adopt a composting program.

— Encourage your school to adopt a 50% plant-based cafeteria that both helps the planet and provides nutritious food options.

— If your school has an investment portfolio, encourage them to divest from fossil fuel-related assets.

— You can make our communities more fun to live in while reducing emissions by encouraging your neighborhood to build out bike and pedestrian infrastructure that connects areas where people live to local businesses, community centers, parks, and more.

— You can also advocate for expanded public transportation to connect your community to neighborhood resources. Find out who determines your local public transit and attend a public meeting to share your suggestions.

Public input is an important part of local land use planning and regulations, and you can advocate for the expansion of green space in your neighborhood. Community gardens promote sustainable agriculture, reduce runoff, and create critical habitats. Public parks regulate water cycles and local temperatures while supporting biodiversity and connecting people to nature. Planting new trees reduces air pollution.

— Allow and encourage native plants and wild lawns. Not only do these use less water and fertilizer, they provide habitat to local wildlife like pollinators and birds while helping reduce carbon emissions.

— Allow and encourage homeowners to leave grass clippings and fallen leaves on their lawns (they return nutrients to the soil and save on fertilizer instead of rotting and emitting greenhouse gasses in landfills!).

— Encourage electric mowers and leaf blowers that don’t use fossil fuels.

— Start or join a community garden

Submit a letter to your local or regional newspaper. Letters to the editor are important advocacy tools because they can reach large audiences and are often monitored by elected officials. Keep it short, focused, and reference previous articles in the publication, if possible. Climate XChange has tips here!

Check out these examples:

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If you have expertise on a certain issue, write and submit a guest essay to a print or online publication. Also known as opinion editorials (op-eds), guest essays are an opportunity to share your opinion—supported by your expertise and evidence—with a broader audience. Scientists are far from the only people with authority to speak on climate change so add your unique experience to the climate conversation.

Check out these examples:

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While social media is prone to echo chambers, it can still be an important platform for sharing ideas and talking about the challenges polar bears and people face. Use your channel(s) to share why you care and collaborate with a larger community. Key elements of an effective post include a clear call-to-action, emphasis on solutions, and inclusion of an image when possible. Follow Polar Bears International's channels for ideas and inspiration.