Students support climate efforts at City Council meeting
Student representatives attended a City Council meeting in March to pass a resolution in support of House Concurrent Resolution 46 by Rep. Mike Thompson (D-St. Helena): “Expressing the sense of Congress that the United States is committed to ensuring a safe and healthy climate for future generations, and thus to restoring the climate.”
The group was part of Napa Schools for Climate Action (S4CA), a Napa County student-led enterprise focused on climate education, sustainable school practices and advocating for climate restoration policies.
Senior Kate Bit, S4CA co-president, urged the City Council to take action. “Our futures are in your hands. Climate restoration is a critical factor in how it will end the climate catastrophe,” she said.
Beyond passing the resolution that night, Bit proposed to the council to take further actions with maximum efforts: “In doing so, you will help us realize our dreams of a safe and healthy world for generations to come.”
Vintage High senior Aria Adhye, the group’s co-vice president, described American Canyon as a more progressive and responsive city than others in the county. She spoke in the City Council meeting alongside Bit.
One of the biggest ways for Napa Schools for Climate Action to gain publicity in American Canyon is through the high school’s AP Environmental Science program, taught by Jeanne Hillyard. In an announcement to her classes, she supported the students before they went to the City Council meeting.
“S4CA has been working tirelessly to bring us to this moment, going back to April 2024 when NVUSD passed its Climate Restoration Resolution, which calls for the removal of existing heat-trapping pollutants and returning to pre-industrial carbon dioxide emissions by 2050.”
Hillyard, a long-time environmental activist, said, “An American Canyon resolution endorsing the Congressional Resolution will make it the first city in the U.S. to endorse their cause and open doors for other governmental bodies to follow suit.”
Jim Wilson, an advisor and co-founder of S4CA, noted the passage of the resolution as a historical event, another step forward toward climate action. “They talk about how it makes them feel, and that’s important,” he said. “That’s important and it moves hearts, like what we saw here today.”
