Campus Prepares for Climate Action Day

By: Selim Kim, Max Mantel, Ariana Thornton, Chengyue Zhang

After two years of virtual Climate Action Days, Sustainability Coordinator Andrew McTammany and student climate activists on campus are excited to bring back the special day in its personal, authentic form on Monday, April 24th. 

The day will begin at 9 a.m. with a keynote presentation from the director of Harvard’s Center for the Environment Dan Schrag. The entire prep class will then travel to family farms in the seacoast area. Other students and faculty will attend a registered workshop, chosen from a selection of activities ranging from traveling to Hampton Beach to learn about marine and estuary health to painting a collective mural depicting human complacency amidst the climate crisis. 

Planning for Climate Action Day began in the summer and early fall. “It’s a large project where you want to cast your first net as wide as possible,” McTammany explained. “In the beginning, it was mostly about identifying themes and potential speakers that would lay a basis or a framework for understanding climate change. Then, from an academic perspective, finding individuals who could build on that in terms of creating opportunities for students to become advocates.” 

Climate Action Day this year will focus especially on Exonian’s involvement in climate activism beyond the campus. “There’s a group of speakers I'm super excited about inviting to campus. They really want to speak on how to get involved after Exeter, like how you can make bigger policy changes or have a larger impact,” McTammany said. 

The keynote speaker Schrag embodies the focus on long-term work. McTammany came across Schrag when Schrag’s work related to President Obama's science and technology team. “He's given a bunch of lectures and I was really intrigued by it. He was very willing to help, and his son actually came to summer school here too,” McTammany said. 

“There are many competing factors when you are thinking about a keynote speaker. One is the ability to speak to a high school audience, considering that a lot of students have not experienced a Climate Action Day in its previous form before the pandemic. Coming out of the pandemic, many students might not have the educational exposure to some of the aspects of climate change from a long-term perspective,” McTammany explained.

“I was looking for individuals who could do both scientific explanations and just be uplifting because I think climate change can be a real downer. You don't want people being like, ‘Okay, so it's hopeless. I just sat through 45 minutes for them to tell me this.’ I'm always looking for people that have messages of ‘Here's how we solve this really great problem,’” McTammany said. 

The programs this year also factored in existing COVID restrictions. “A lot of our buildings aren't able to house large gatherings of students. Thinking about the best way to balance both indoor and outdoor activities, I came to the conclusion that we're going to send a large portion of students off-campus,” McTammany continued. 

The shift to off-campus events also came with its own struggles. “It takes careful consideration and planning. Like any project that you're on, it's fraught with delays and unexpected events that make the planning process trickier. But I think that’s part of why it’s fun to plan,” McTammany said.

“I really hope that students commit to [Climate Action Day]. There will be some activities that not everyone will put all of their energy into, but hopefully, people realize the importance of the day. And it's not just the day. The day is supposed to bring awareness, but climate action is continued over an entire lifetime,” upper and cohead of Environmental Action Committee Alysha Lai said.

McTammany agreed. “It’s not just one day of service. It becomes an attitude or behavior. That's the first goal of this: to help students, particularly young students, to feel like they can make a difference, and then have opportunities for seniors to think about what they can do after they leave Exeter. It's called Climate Action Day and April is Earth Month, but it can't just be encapsulated in a 45-minute to an hour-long workshop.”

Environmental Stewardship Committee Member Jason Bremiller agreed, noting that Climate Action Day should aim to create long-term impacts. “I think that the Committee’s goals evolved in tandem with some of the diversity, equity, and inclusion goals and vision of the Academy,” Bremiller said. 

“Towards the end of my tenure as Sustainability Coordinator, we were really trying to be deliberate and explicit in how we were linking conversations about climate to conversations about equity. It’s my personal view that they are two inextricable conversations,” Bremiller said. “We know that people of color are disproportionately affected by climate change even though they are oftentimes the least responsible for producing the carbon that is causing climate change in the first place.”

Although Climate Action Day only lasts for a day, many hope that attendees will take away a lasting impression from the event. “You hope that you provide activities and education in the first few years that inspire students to then get involved with other activities on campus,” McTammany said. 

Lower Cee McClave agreed and stressed the importance of students being involved in climate action both in and outside of school. “You can play a meaningful role in a ton of different things without actually having tons of experience under your belt or even tons of training,” McClave said. 

“We have to graduate Exonians who are climate literate. It’s not an option in my mind for students to graduate from this school and not have a really fundamental understanding of the problems that we're facing,” Bremiller concluded.