Schools must prepare for climate change

OPINION: I can hear my next patient, an eight year old boy with asthma, coughing before I enter the exam room. “He had a cold, and then the wildfire smoke last week made things a lot worse,” his mom explains. I nod as I hold my stethoscope to his chest, mentally running through the breathing treatments I’ll order for him and thinking about whether he can return to school today. I wonder – does his classroom have an air filter? How will he fare the next time smoke blankets our community, or during the next heat wave, when heat makes air pollution more potent?

As a pediatrician and a mother, I am deeply concerned about the worsening impacts of climate change – particularly wildfires and extreme heat – on my patients and my children. Our schools should be safe places for our children to learn, thrive, and build community. But California schools are not equipped for the challenges that we are already experiencing as a result of climate change – especially heat and wildfire smoke.

Right now, Governor Newsom has an opportunity to change this by signing into law SB394, a bill that would help school districts in California ensure healthy, safe places for children to learn and create a master plan for healthy, sustainable, and climate-resilient schools throughout the state. He has until October 14th to sign the bill – and its urgency is mounting.

Wildfire smoke is up to 10 times more toxic than other forms of air pollution. For the millions of California kids who are already living in polluted areas, additional exposure to wildfire smoke only worsens their health. During the 2018-19 school year, more than 1,900 California schools experienced closures due to wildfire smoke, totaling close to 3,900 lost school days. Twenty percent of all K-12 students in the state were impacted. But it’s not just during smoke events that air quality in classrooms can be dangerous. A 2020 study showed that a mere 15% of classrooms met the state’s fresh air ventilation standards, a shortcoming that impacts kids’ learning as well as physical and mental health year-round.

In addition to not being built to withstand climate impacts like extreme heat and wildfire smoke, our school facilities themselves are also contributing to the pollution that is driving this crisis. Right now, nearly all of our schools use fossil fuels for energy to heat, cook, and cool – exacerbating climate change and worsening indoor air quality.

Upgrading schools with clean energy technologies is the answer. We can replace fossil fuel HVAC and water heating equipment with electric heat pumps that provide zero-emission heating and cooling. We can also upgrade ventilation systems to modern ones that can remove wildfire smoke as well as pathogens like coronavirus.

Equipping schools with better technologies will help protect kids and prevent learning disruptions during extreme weather events and disasters. Because schools often serve as evacuation centers in crisis, electrification with solar panels, batteries, and heat pumps will also allow schools to be climate resiliency centers for entire communities.

Right now, local districts across the state are grappling with how to update their infrastructure and protect students, teachers and school workers. SB394 will help support school districts trying to navigate upgrading their campuses and phasing out polluting fossil fuel infrastructure. These are critical measures to ensure our schools align with California’s law calling for carbon neutrality by 2045.

SB394 passed out of both the Assembly and Senate by nearly unanimous votes – and it’s now up to Governor Newsom to sign it. Climate change can feel overwhelming, but California can take steps right now to make a difference and protect kids. Please help by elevating your support by calling Governor Newsom’s office at 916-445-2841, or send an email at [email protected] asking him to sign SB 394 into law. Let’s make things better, for our children and for the communities in which they live.

Sonja Swenson, MD is a pediatrician practicing in San Francisco and a member of Climate Health Now