Students at two Portland high schools organize climate justice summit

On Saturday, a climate justice summit will take place at Lincoln High School in Southwest Portland. The event is free, open to the public and is being organized by students at Lincoln’s environmental justice class and students at Ida B. Wells’ Eco Action Club. It’s the first time students at the two PPS schools have collaborated to create a climate justice summit, according to Tim Swinehart, a Lincoln social studies teacher who launched the environmental justice course in 2016.   

Lincoln and Wells students will moderate a panel discussion at the summit and present workshops such as one on lobbying and giving testimony, which they did at the state legislature in Salem earlier this year and last December during a Portland Planning Commission meeting. The students also invited advocacy groups such as the Braided River Campaign, Sunrise Movement and Neighbors for Clean Air to give workshops on how to organize a protest and other topics.

Lincoln High School senior Leah Almeida and Ida B. Wells High School junior Emma Lopez join us, along with Swinehart, for a preview of Saturday’s activities. 

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