We are E-Town Sunrise, a youth-led climate action organization that is committed to fighting for sustainability at ETHS and in the Evanston community. We are proud to have successfully advocated for a climate emergency declaration in Evanston, a sustainability coordinator at ETHS, and to have engaged hundreds of high schoolers in student walkouts and climate justice activism.
Consistently, we have found that discussions by city and school officials around climate change lack a youth voice. We feel that it is our responsibility to fill that gap, engage in important conversations with those in charge, and advocate for the next generation of Evanstonians.
We are ecstatic with the plans to build a new school in the Fifth Ward. We recognize that the school will fill a gaping hole left by decades of injustice and inequality felt by Fifth Ward residents. We are grateful to the City of Evanston and District 65 for acknowledging the systemic racism that affects Fifth Ward residents today, and for striving to fix the problem. Additionally, in recent months, a series of community discussions have given the City of Evanston a chance to be transparent with its constituents about its plans for the new Fifth Ward school campus. These discussions have also provided community members with the opportunity to give their input on the project.
However, within these community discussions, we have been concerned with the lack of specific conversations around making the school’s campus a green, healthy and environmentally-friendly site. We believe that this building should be the most sustainable one in Evanston, with key elements like excellent air quality and extensive natural lighting. The Fifth Ward school will house young scholars for decades into the future, and there’s no room for ignorance in the building process.
A green building can be defined as “a structure and the application of processes that are environmentally responsible and resource efficient throughout a building’s life cycle.” As the plans for the Fifth Ward school are developed, we believe that it would not only be ignorant, but harmful to not have the building meet these green standards. On average, by the time a student is 18 years old, they will have spent about 150,000 hours in school. Evanston’s Fifth Ward youth will be spending a large portion of their lives in this building, and deserve to have their health prioritized by those who are instrumental in deciding their futures. It is our responsibility to ensure that the school environment is not only sustainable, but also safe. An air filtration system is necessary in order to preserve the respiratory health of students, especially as outdoor air quality continues to decline with the rise of climate change.
Additionally, according to a report by the United Nations Environment Program, “40-50 percent of total flow of raw materials in the global economy is used in the manufacturing of building products and components, adding significant amounts and energy and greenhouse gas emissions to the life cycle impact of buildings.” In an effort to avoid contributing to sky-high construction emissions, the Fifth Ward school must be built using sustainable materials.
In order to meet the green building standards, the school would also need to eliminate the inclusion of a turf field. Turf is a chemical hazard, a disruptor to local ecosystems, and does not provide the necessary drainage provided by natural grass fields. As both a human and environmental health hazard, the inclusion of a turf field would be a large misstep in the creation of the exterior of the Fifth Ward school.
As high school students, we know that we might not be around when the Fifth Ward school opens. However, we believe in our civic duty to fight for the health and safety of the nation’s youth. Whether that means finding a smaller-scale solution like clean air in schools or a larger solution like ensuring that our children can inhabit the world that they’re born into, we are ready to take on the challenge. Now we call on the City of Evanston and District 65 to do the same.
Milo Slevin, E-Town Sunrise communications coordinator,
on behalf of the leadership team
To Milo and the E-Town Sunrise leadership team,
The power of this letter is not only projecting the voice of the next generation of decision-makers, but your fully researched and responsible perspective. That’s even more critical now that an interim superintendent will be in place shortly and the school board elections are over. I hope they are paying close attention. The design and construction of the school will reflect our intention as a community to honor 5th Ward students, staff and families by creating the best possible environment for learning and growing. I am so grateful for your continuing leadership on this issue and so many others. Thank you.
I really appreciate the thought and commitment to the future by E-Town Sunrise. They know they’ll never attend the 5th Ward school – they want us adults to plant trees for the next generation to sit under, as the saying (loosely) goes. I am personally horrified at the idea that children would be required to play on artificial turf, with all that is known about the toxins. The young people, not my generation, will be living with the consequences of the decisions we make today. We must have the foresight, respect, and integrity to listen to them.
Milo, thank you and everyone else from the Sunrise Hub who worked on this letter! It’s so critical that kids grow up with surroundings that prioritize physical & mental health, effective education, and community with nature. We’re continuing to push on this issue, and hope the Evanston community will join us in fighting for justice embodied in a healthy, sustainable school in the 5th Ward.
Milo, well said. Will anyone with power listen? Will the children and youth populations be the ones that make our society build healthier & safer schools, reduce the guns sold and used in America, return laws protecting women’s rights, telling the real history of Native and Black People in America and coming down hard on those whose racist actions affect Asia & people who choose to live their lives different from them.