Policy

🎉

Passed

🥳

Policy

🌎

Passed

🌲

Policy 🎉 Passed 🥳 Policy 🌎 Passed 🌲

DPSS4CA gives students a voice in climate action

DPS Students for Climate Action is an award-winning, nationally-recognized, and student-led organization with a mission to involve students in DPS’s Climate Action Plan (CAP).

Desperate times call for immediate action.

A group of students from across Denver Public Schools (DPS) has been working together since February 2021 to create a resolution for DPS to address the climate crisis.

The climate crisis impacts all people, yet disproportionately affects young people, people of color, and people in poverty, thereby exacerbating existing inequities and limiting opportunities. Social and racial justice is environmental justice.

DPS had no plan to address climate change and was not required to follow the City of Denver or Colorado’s climate goals. We, the students, believe that DPS had to pass resilient policy to ensure the wellbeing of our generation. After more than a year of campaigning, DPS passed our one-sentence policy in April 2022, followed by a 100+ page CAP in December 2022.

STUDENTS, GET INVOLVED! →

Vice President Kamala Harris, Northfield High School

“And as a result of your activism, I say to the young leaders: Last year, Denver Public Schools became one of the first school districts in our nation to adopt a climate action plan.”

Our Mission Statement

Denver Public Schools Students for Climate Action (DPSS4CA) involves students in the implementation of the Climate Action Plan (CAP) by educating, providing opportunities, and supporting sustainability clubs to address the climate crisis with urgency and effectiveness.

The Strategy

  • Clean Energy

    Use 65% renewable electricity by 2028 under DPS’ Climate Action Plan, with on-site rooftop solar, solar shades, solar canopies, and other non-solar alternatives.

  • Decrease CO2 Emissions

    Reduce overall greenhouse gas emissions by at least 90% of the levels of district-wide greenhouse gas emissions that existed in 2010 by 2050, in line with Colorado’s HB19-1261 Climate Action Plan.

  • Environmental Justice

    Prioritize sustainability actions in schools and communities facing greater inequity and environmental injustice.

  • Sustainability as a Core Value

    Make sustainability a core value of the district and consider sustainability when making decisions.