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After 2 years of advocacy, a student-led green energy plan just became LBUSD policy
August 18th, 2022
On Wednesday evening, the school board unanimously approved Board Proposal 3510.1, better known as the Green School Operations – Energy and Sustainability Policy.
That action was the culmination of two years of activism by the Long Beach Green Schools Campaign, a dedicated group of LBUSD students across a number of high schools and middle schools. Green Schools Campaign founder Diana Michaelson, an incoming senior at Poly High School, has been at the forefront of the effort, working directly with district leadership on the policy while also organizing student activists to provide a consistent presence at school board meetings since August 2020.
LBUSD passes energy and sustainability policy to move toward using clean energy
August 18th, 2022
The Long Beach Unified School District has unanimously adopted a policy to implement goals aimed at reducing emissions and moving the district toward the use of clean and renewable energy.
LBUSD students and community members celebrated when the board approved the policy on Wednesday, Aug. 17. Among them was the Long Beach Green Schools Campaign, a student-led effort to address the climate crisis which has been advocating for the policy since 2020.
Long Beach Unified passes long-awaited green energy policy
August 18th, 2022
A nearly two-year journey of collaboration between Long Beach Unified and student environmental activists came to a head on Wednesday as the district approved the new and updated green energy policy at their regular board meeting.
The policy was originally slated to be approved at the board’s July 18 meeting but was postponed due to a motion by Board Member Juan Benitez to ensure the inclusion of stronger language and a tangible timeframe for 2045.
Board OKs Green Schools Policy
August 18th, 2022
After two years of collaboration with local environmental activists, including a student-led Green Schools Campaign, the Long Beach Unified School District has adopted a Green School Energy and Sustainability Policy that sets specific goals for limiting greenhouse gas emissions.
LBUSD’s Board of Education approved the policy at its regular meeting this week.
Students fought for green schools; now they’re on the verge of changing LBUSD policy
July 19th, 2022
There was a tempered celebration during Monday night’s meeting of the Long Beach Unified School District’s Board of Education, where board members were set to vote on a policy that would wean campuses off fossil fuels.
As has been the case for the last two years, a healthy contingent of kids representing the student-led Long Beach Green Schools Campaign was on hand. They hoped to witness the vote, which would’ve set a host of climate goals including “aggressively transitioning to zero-emissions vehicles and machinery” as quickly as the budget allows.
Long Beach Unified postpones approval of new student-led green energy policy
July 19th, 2022
Over the span of two years, Poly High School student Diana Michaelson grew two inches. What may seem inconsequential to some is symbolic for her, she said, because it represented her growth within the Long Beach Unified School District (LBUSD).
During that time, she went from being a sophomore in high school with hopes to create environmental change to a rising senior empowered by the experience of creating a policy to ensure her school district adopts clean renewable energy.
Facilities Master Plan forum highlights need for sustainability and equity at LBUSD schools
May 24th, 2022
Long Beach Unified parents, students, and community members gathered at Browning High School to provide suggestions for the district’s Facilities Master Plan at a community forum yesterday.
Through interactive and collaborative activities, around 40 attendees shared their thoughts as a group on what school buildings need to look like and provide to ensure an equitable and adequate education for all student populations. Some common suggestions included more green spaces, transitioning off of fossil fuels, and access to healthier cafeteria food.
Meet the LBUSD students pushing for a greener tomorrow
July 27th, 2022
Even with all the negative things we see in our world day in and day out, there are things we can be very proud of and excited about. One of those is the fortitude and resilience of young people in Long Beach.
We’ve seen Long Beach Unified students demand gun control laws, and now they are taking on climate change.
Long Beach Green Schools Campaign invites LBUSD students to create valentines for the earth
February 15th, 2022
The Long Beach Green Schools Campaign will be hosting a Valentine’s Day-themed craft-making session outside the Long Beach Unified School District board meeting on Feb. 16 from 3:30 p.m. to 6 p.m.
The public is invited to make Valentine’s crafts that express their “love for clean energy and the earth.”
Combating Climate Anxiety: How Young Activists in California Are Taking Care of Themselves, and Each Other
January 6th, 2022
Diana Michaelson is a 16-year-old junior at Long Beach Polytechnic High School who has been worried about climate change since her first year. That’s when she learned her hometown of Long Beach would be facing serious sea level rise by the time she’s 25.
"I've always been told to do it for your children, save the future for the next generation," said Michaelson. "And what I've realized is, at this current rate, there's no saving the next generation. We're seeing the effects right now."
Student-driven Long Beach Green Schools Campaign powers on
January 6th, 2022
While most of us are still fumbling with our 2022 resolutions, high schooler Diana Michaelson is laser-focused on 2030. That’s when she and her Long Beach Green Schools Campaign (LBGSC) student posse want the Long Beach Unified School District (LBUSD) to completely convert to using renewable energy instead of fossil fuels.
“Our goal is [for the board] to pass a 100% clean energy resolution,” she told the Signal Tribune.
These students want LBUSD to go green, and they’re keeping pressure on the school board
October 29th, 2021
Students from across Long Beach have become a consistent presence at the biweekly Long Beach Unified Board of Education meetings, making their voices heard in support of the student-led Long Beach Green Schools Campaign. And their persistence may be yielding some results.
Green Schools Campaign at Poly
January 22th, 2022
The Poly Green Schools campaign is looking to transition the Long Beach Unified School district’s electricity to 100% renewable energy by 2030. The student club’s goals extend outside of the electricity sector as well with the club hoping to get LBUSD off all non renewable energy by 2040. As of now, the school is running on between 15-20% renewable energy which is average according to club president Diana Michaelson, a PACE junior.
Although that may sound like a lofty goal, the club has made steady progress since their founding in August 2020. Michaelson said they have received their first commitment from LBUSD facilities director Alan Reising. Reising promised to work with the club provided they acknowledge funds must be available for the switch to work.
Youth Climate Rally Calls For Renewable Energy In Schools
October 18th, 2021
For decades, Long Beach’s Martin Luther King Park has played host to countless kids from the East Side and elsewhere across the city. Whether they were headed to the pool or out playing football, on any given Saturday one would expect to see dozens of local kids enjoying a day at the park...
But on a recent Saturday morning, a group of passionate Long Beach students went to King Park not for leisure, but to make their voices heard. The student-run Long Beach Green Schools Campaign recently held a Youth Climate Rally, seeking community support for their initiative urging the Long Beach Unified School District (LBUSD) to commit to 100 percent clean, renewable energy in its schools.cheer tea
Long Beach Youth Host Climate Rally to Raise Awareness of Demand for LBUSD to Move Away from Fossil Fuels
October 6th, 2021
The morning air intertwined with youth voices chanting, cars honking in support, and bystanders enthusiastically applauding as youth rallied through Orange Ave. on Sept. 18.
Their message was short but clear, “be part of the solution, not the pollution.” They want climate justice, now.
Long Beach Poly teen on national environmental campaign
June 7th, 2021
LONG BEACH
Out of the mouth of babes.
Diana Michaelson is a bit older than that — 15. But the 10th grade student at Long Beach Poly High School has become an environmental leader in the city. She is taking her campaign to Sunrise Movement Long Beach, the local chapter of a national crusade.
Poly High students rally for Long Beach Unified to go green
June 4th, 2021
Long Beach students are pushing for the local school district to go green.
A group of Poly High School students established the Poly Green Schools Campaign last summer, an initiative to transition the Long Beach Unified School District off of fossil fuels in the electricity sector by 2030 and in all other energy sectors by 2040.
These young climate activists are pushing LBUSD to go completely green by 2040
May 5th, 2021
Five months into a global pandemic—at a time when planning even a week ahead felt nearly impossible—a group of bright, passionate students was looking ardently toward the future. In August of 2020, a collection of students at Poly High School and other area schools launched the Poly Green Schools Campaign, with aspirations of transitioning the Long Beach Unified School District to 100% clean, renewable energy in all sectors by 2040.