Team Marine Leads the Charge for Renewable Energy in Santa Monica Malibu Unified School District
On March 15, 2023, the SMMUSD Board of Education unanimously voted to switch the district to 100 percent renewable energy. This comes after years of advocacy from students and district officials ever since the Board opted to abandon its original renewable energy plan in 2020. Team Marine, a Samo club dedicated to environmental causes, reignited the conversation when it testified to the School Board on Jan. 19 and March 15, giving a presentation about sustainability efforts at SMMUSD and submitting a petition signed by over 800 Samo students. Co-Captains Maya Williams (’24) and Willa Ross (’24) headed this advocacy as they brought their case to the Board.
“Essentially, the Board told us that they were in favor of the switch [on Jan. 19], but they wanted to see how the decision fit into the district’s budget before making a definitive decision,” Williams said. “On March 15 we returned to the Board to testify before them as a reminder of the need for switching… and they approved the decision.”
The majority of SMMUSD schools are on a 40 percent renewable energy plan with the Clean Power Alliance (CPA), a not-for-profit organization that is committed to bringing affordable clean energy to communities across California. The district can be immediately upgraded to a 100 percent plan, but it will be a while before Samo, Malibu High School and Malibu Middle School see this switch, as they are currently on no CPA plan. The district approximates that the entire transition will take six months.
“To hear [the Board] approve the switch felt like a weight lifted off my chest,” Williams said. “There is still so much to be done, but we’re hoping that this decision will help motivate other school districts to follow SMMUSD’s lead and cause a ripple effect.
However, as SMMUSD committed to this renewable energy plan, the US government moved to approve the Willow Project on March 14, 2023. This new oil drilling operation in Alaska is expected to generate billions of dollars in revenue, but many worry about its environmental ramifications. Drilling destroys habitats and ecosystems, which can have long-term effects on the environment, and can release greenhouse gasses that contribute to climate change. Williams is just one of the thousands of activists against the project.
“I’m not going to lie, it’s incredibly disheartening to see these huge projects that lock us into decades of fossil fuel use still being approved during this vital period of time in which we need to be moving away from fossil fuels altogether, but I also have hope because I know a lot of amazing people that are doing everything they can to make the world a better place,” Williams said.
Team Marine has also made moves to promote environmental education in future generations. On April 21, the club gave presentations to Edison and Will Rogers Elementary School classrooms about actions individuals can take to combat the climate crisis, continuing the Team Marine tradition of visiting elementary schools on Earth Day. Because this year’s Earth Day fell on a Saturday, they opted to give the presentations the day before. Co-Captain Emery Cunningham (’24) helped organize the effort.
“Young people need to know A, what the problem is and B, what they can do about it, " Cunningham said. “Without that second part, there’s a fear of this problem, whether it’s climate change or something else, because they feel they can’t do anything about it… So [this] education aspect is really important and I hope can lead to a powerful environmental movement that can indeed protect us from climate change.
Williams shares this sentiment, and is optimistic about what these younger generations can do in the future.
“It was incredible to see how many of these small children knew so much about the climate crisis and actually cared, and so [while] I’m worried and I’m absolutely disappointed in our government for taking a clear stance against everything that we’re trying to do… I have hope in our young people that are going to change the world for the better, and I know that actions like these will not be tolerated for much longer,” Williams said.