With the climate crisis jeopardizing our children’s future, it’s time for Arlington Public Schools to follow the lead of Fairfax County and commit to becoming carbon neutral by 2040. Carbon neutral schools mean highly energy efficient, all electric buildings, replacement of dirty, unhealthy diesel buses with electric ones, and maximizing rooftop solar on school buildings. APS has already demonstrated the feasibility of meeting this goal with the construction of three nationally-recognized net zero energy schools–Discovery, Cardinal, and Fleet–and the first three electric school buses begin operating this month. Nevertheless, the draft revision of APS Policy F2-Facilities and Operations Goals makes only vague reference to environmental sustainability and more troublesome, APS planning staff have announced that the new Arlington Career Center will use fossil gas-fired boilers for its heating system, which would lock in use of methane gas for 15 to 20 years!
EcoAction Arlington, Faith Alliance for Climate Solutions Arlington Hub, and the Sierra Club Potomac River Group have recently sent two joint letters to the Arlington School Board and the APS Superintendent asking for firm commitments to carbon neutrality, including making the new Arlington Career Center (ACC) high school building all electric for key systems, to protect our children’s future and to offer inspiration and experiential learning for students who may one day work in green economy jobs. We urge you to send letters (see sample letter) to the School Board (school.board@apsva.us) and Superintendent Duran (superintendent@apsva.us). To amplify your impact consider signing up to speak at a School Board meeting or during School Board Open Office Hours.
If you would like to become more involved in advocating for climate action in Arlington Public Schools please fill out this form to let us know of your interest.
Read the letter on Letter on Facilities and Operations Policies
Read the Letter to the Arlington County Board to reconsider the use of fossil fuel boilers at ACC
Sample Letter [consider personalizing for greater impact]
This content originally appeared in The EcoAdvocate newsletter produced by the EcoAction Arlington Advocacy Committee.
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