Trustees at the Upper Grand District School Board are taking steps to reduce their own carbon footprint after unanimously declaring a climate emergency.
The decision was made during a meeting on Tuesday night.
Board chair Linda Busutill stressed that the declaration does not speak for the entire school board system.
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“This motion was a declaration by trustees for trustees,” she said in a phone interview.
Busutill said declaring a climate emergency across the board is a larger process that will need input from education stakeholders, staff, parents and students.
“That’s not where we’re at,” she said, but added that it could be a topic that is discussed when they come up with their next strategic plan.
Busutill said the board already does great work when it comes to protecting the environment and pointed to the fact that all of its schools are considered “eco-schools” and many of them have solar panels installed and provide environmental programs.
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The motion passed by the 10 trustees will see the creation of a climate change committee that will look at ways trustees can reduce their carbon footprint and identify how climate change could be included in their decision-making process.
Busutill said the committee will look at what the trustees are already doing well, such as moving from paper documents to e-documents and having some meetings online instead of driving to them.
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The committee will also look at what more can be done, such as investigating public transit as a transportation option. That could pose a challenge given that half of the trustees live outside of Guelph.
“There’s space to do more, but we need to think about where we are now and what more can reasonably be done,” she said.
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