Student environmental organization urges Metro Nashville School Board take climate change action

Students from Nashville’s chapter of the Sunrise Movement urged members of the Metro Nashville Board of Education to be more proactive in the battle against climate change during Tuesday’s meeting.Hillsboro High School senior and Sunrise Movement member Sophia Payne told board members she was grateful for the environmentally conscious school renovations taking place and that it is crucial to continue addressing global environmental issues.“I was excited about the future of MNPS schools when I realized that current school renovation projects like the one at Percy Priest are strategically implementing LEED Certification and improved energy efficiency. I think it is crucial that we continue to take action to address many of the local and global environmental problems we are seeing like an increase in flash flooding in Nashville. With this in mind, there’s a need for further environmental initiatives in our school district,” said Payne.Fellow student and organization member Hillsboro sophomore Hayden Legins joined Payne in calling for more environmentally conscious action.Legins thanked the school board members for the way the district handled the gas leak at Old Center Elementary, but said situations like that will keep happening with climate change.“Despite handling it well, it is easy to imagine learning was affected for the students. And because of climate change, situations like this are happening more because of bad or harsh weather, but on a more personal and smaller scale,” said Legins.Payne and Legins asked the school for their collaboration to increase sustainability across the school district by using its current renovation projects and resources to make a more meaningful impact.The Sunrise Movement Nashville is the city’s local chapter of the nationwide organization that advocates political action on climate change. The organization has over 300 local chapters across the nation.“We’re part of a national initiative to ask schools and school boards to raise a bar on environmentally sustainable practices and provide a safe, eco-friendly place for students to thrive. This could look like locally sourced foods, disaster housing for students, and building new schools with the Lead Certification. Sunrise is about uniting for the good of our community and the health of our planet. We see that you’re already taking major steps in this direction, and we’d like to commend you yet challenge you all to do more,” said Legins.