Hurricane Milton hit the west coast of Florida in Siesta Key in early October, marking the third hurricane to devastate the state in 2024. Following Stevenson’s Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED) certification in 2020 and these recent disasters, climate change has become a bigger topic at Stevenson.
The National Centers of Environmental Information reports that the average temperature in 2024 is 2.23 degrees Fahrenheit above the 20th century average, which has been stated to be caused by climate change. AP Environmental Science teacher Jason Carlson has noted that within the Stevenson community, people are talking about global warming more often.
“I have seen a change over the last number of years where more students accept that global warming is happening,” Carlson said. “Students want to know the impacts and what can be done about climate change.”
According to Carlson, climate change has been a growing concern within the Stevenson community, which is looking for ways to slow it down. Carlson adds that certain aspects of the school will be impacted by climate change, with sports being one of them.
“Climate change is going to impact how the coaches of Stevenson sports have to run practices,” Carlson said. “They’re going to have to give more breaks and make sure kids have a lot of access to water.”
A survey conducted by World Athletics found that 85% of the surveyed athletes believed that climate change is a concern to sports. This belief is shared in Stevenson with mountain climbing club sponsor Denzel Mitchem, where the members of the club have had to consider the impacts climate change can have on their hobby.
“A lot of our climbers climb outdoors on their own time, so making sure that they are very comfortable with the safety techniques that they practice regularly indoors is important for dealing with harsher weather,” Mitchem said. “I am thinking of having a mix of meetings where we discuss safety practices and awareness of climate conditions while climbing.”
Mitchem hopes to minimize the impacts of climate change on his club’s sport by cautioning students and ensuring they are confident enough to tackle the various problems that could arise when climbing. Due to this, Stevenson staff such as AP Environmental Science teacher Jill Lisius have also been actively trying to tackle climate change by conserving energy during school hours.
“One thing that my department does is we share our ideas of ways we could reduce our footprint,” Lisius said. “I did some calculations, sharing with the other teachers that if we all turned off our projectors in our room early and just one hour less a day that we would have a certain amount of cost savings, we would also save a certain amount of electricity.”
Lisius stated that her coworkers have taken note of her recommendations and have told her that they always remember her words before exiting the room. The Stevenson administration has also made adjustments to the school facilities to prevent climate change, with the additions to the east side of the building receiving a gold certification from LEED in the 2020 inspection.
“There’s solar panels all over the roof that’s generating all the electricity for the East Side of the building,” Carlson said. “They also have more energy efficient furnaces and boilers in the heating, ventilation and air conditioning system, are using more efficient light bulbs, and have more efficient ways of pumping water through the building.”
The Illinois Green Alliance states that Stevenson is the first building in Illinois to be net zero, meaning that the school is removing emissions to balance out the emissions they make. With the design of the school being more ecosystem friendly, Stevenson has reduced their carbon footprint.
Although many steps have been taken to slow climate change, Stevenson continues to combat the issue. Mitchem, who is also an English teacher, notes that in his classes, students are providing more intervention methods or changes that could be made to stop climate change. Lisius encourages the Stevenson community to continue discussing global warming as there is an influence people can have when they encourage others to mitigate their carbon footprint.
“Sometimes we think that the message about climate change is repetitive and people have heard it many times,” Lisius said. “However, that reminder helps us remember the little things we can do and the changes that we can make to have a larger impact on the world.”