the d.c. climate rally “every day counts,” was hosted in collaboration with more than 30 climate advocacy groups. attendees held signs such as “stop oil now,” “green new deal now,” and “off fossil fuels,” while chanting “yolo joe” and “climate justice now.” speakers urged president joe biden to enforce stricter climate regulations and pardon climate activists — and to do it now.

acting at an inflection point

keanu arpels-josiah, a youth organizer with fridays for future nyc, the group founded by greta thunberg in 2018, urged the crowd to demand actions like designating federal lands as off-limits for drilling, canceling new oil and gas projects, and reallocating mass transit funding from the ira and bipartisan infrastructure law. 

hours after the 2024 presidential election was called for donald trump, the biden administration announced limitations to oil drilling in alaska’s arctic national wildlife refuge. although the leasing of land in the refuge for oil is mandated under a 2017 law, signed by then-president trump, biden’s outgoing government moved to lease the bare minimum amount of land before the deadline of the end of the year.

but protestors at sunday’s rally remained anxious about the signals from the incoming administration.

arpels-josiah criticized trump’s nomination of chris wright, an oil and gas executive, to lead the department of energy, calling him a “fossil fuel ceo.” he also condemned trump’s choice for epa administrator, former new york republican representative lee zeldin, describing him as a “deregulatory champion” whose plans would “tear apart” the future of the planet.  

“that ain’t right,” arpels-josiah said. “that’s not the future we deserve.”

in a post on x, wright has defended his appointment to lead the department of energy, claiming he would “better human lives” by ensuring energy is “affordable, reliable, and secure.” in a video posted on linkedin, wright denied climate change: “there is no climate crisis and we’re not in the midst of an energy transition either.” 

zeldin, trump’s pick for epa administrator, pledged in a post on x to restore “energy dominance” while ensuring access to clean air and water. he also criticized biden for canceling the keystone xl pipeline, a proposed extension of an oil pipeline system running between canada and the united states.

trump, through his agenda47 and the republican national committee platforms, has pledged to undo biden’s climate policies. his plans include withdrawing from the paris climate accords again, restarting oil production in recently restricted areas, and pulling away funding from the inflation reduction act. 

charting the path forward

keya chatterjee, executive director of the us climate action network, also spoke at the rally. she warned attendees against participating in “anticipatory obedience,” which she described as abandoning the fight against climate change out of fear that a second trump administration will roll back regulations. 

“we are not going to anticipate in fear and not do things,” chatterjee said. “we’re going to live big and we’re going to do big.” 

among the rally participants, mechanical engineer nick tatnall, 29, said trump’s appointments reflect his self-serving interests. tatnall’s own passion for the environment was sparked by visiting national parks, and he expressed concerns that a second trump administration will weaken regulations and expand drilling on public lands.

“i just hope the next four years are not as bad as we think they will be,” he said.

julia barnes, 30, a podcast producer, said she had hoped vice president kamala harris would win the election but was not surprised by trump’s victory. barnes criticized trump’s track record on the environment. 

“climate is incredibly low on his agenda,” she said, adding that her biggest fear is seeing no progress on climate issues for another four years.

organizers said that through the event more than 470 people signed up to participate in training, movement-building efforts, and continued organizing over the next 60 days, with plans to sustain their actions through trump’s inauguration.

salmon is one of the most-farmed fish in norway’s aquaculture industry, which works by raising fish offshore in large open-net pens. norway’s salmon farms produce the highest amount of farmed salmon in the world at about 1.2 million tonnes each year. 

but tiny organisms known as “sea lice” are infecting farmed salmon populations at high levels. 

for the salmon industry, “sea lice is the number one problem here in norway,” said jelena kolaveric, a professor and researcher at the arctic university of norway in tromsø. 

a growing problem for arctic salmon farms

first prevalent in salmon farms along the southern coast of the country, the lice have spread to affect farms along the northern coast. and the climate change connection is clear: warmer water temperatures allow sea lice to reproduce faster. so as northern waters rise in temperature, even just a few degrees, the problem is spreading into the arctic.

monica eide, a community contact for gratanglaks, a salmon farming company based in the grantangen municipality in troms, norway, said this summer was particularly bad for salmon farms in northern norway.  

“we had a marine heat wave in the arctic this summer, and the temperature increased by 4-5 degrees,”  said elisabeth ytteborg, a senior researcher at nofima, whose research focuses primarily on climate change impacts to aquaculture. all that heat, says ytteborg, has led to “a sea lice explosion in the north”

but the process of fighting off the lice has its own challenges. the salmon farming industry in norway, and across the world, has received criticism for some of its negative environmental impacts. these include dumping chemicals into the oceans to get rid of the lice, diseases spreading to wild salmon populations, and farmed salmon escaping and interbreeding with wild salmon.  

delousing: harder than it looks

a longstanding method of treating the lice is to take the salmon out of the sea, remove lice in tanks on land, and return the salmon to their offshore pens. but this method isn’t ideal. 

“we’re hoping to find a system where we don’t have to take them up because that’s stressing the fish,” said eide. “what we really would like to do is to get rid of lice without handling the fish that much, without taking it out from the sea.” 

another, more recent method, which is employed at gratanglaks, is to use lasers to detect lice, and once detected, the lasers shoot at the lice to kill them off one by one. according to kvaroy arctic, a salmon farming company, the salmon aren’t hurt by the process. however, individually killing off the lice is time consuming. 

kolaveric’s research aims to address some of those environmental concerns with salmon farming. what if salmon farming could be done in tanks on land kept free of sea lice or other pathogens?  her research is primarily on recirculating aquaculture systems (ras). this is a relatively new type of technology where seawater is recycled and reused to produce salmon in water tanks on land. a challenge this system faces is that trying to replicate on land the ecological needs the salmon receive from ocean water can be expensive and energy intensive. however, kolaveric hopes it will push the industry forward to a more sustainable method of salmon production. 

“these recirculation systems, they give you an opportunity to better control the environment, and also give you flexibility,” said kolaveric. “because in a ras system, you can adjust your temperature, you can adjust your oxygen.” that control, she says, can prevent lice from infesting the pools. 

seeking holistic solutions

ytteborg emphasizes that it’s important to keep in mind that the fish aren’t solely affected by rising temperatures, but also the various stressors associated with salmon farming in general, such as viruses, bacteria and parasites. there is also the stress coming from the production itself, vaccinations, transportation and treatment. 

she emphasizes the value in doing more research to try to understand how a fluctuating environment will affect the fish on top of other stressors.  

“we need to work more trans-sectoral. biologists like me need to work with the climatologists to understand how the environment will change and how it may impact the animals, and then we need to work with the industry to see what kind of measures they have and what kind of procedures they do,” said ytteborg. “and then it’s not like one size fits all because climate change will affect one area very differently from another one and different strategies are needed.” 

eide, whose company aims to find more sustainable methods of lice treatment and salmon production, highlights the relationship between salmon farmers and the fish themselves. 

“we want them to be healthy, we want them to have a good time. we don’t want to hurt them, but there’s also a lot of things happening in the industry that aren’t good,” said eide. “not all of us are aware of what we’re doing to the fish so i think we have a lot of things that we could be better on, and i think we should be open about that too.”

the policy and advocacy subcommittee has decided to pursue a year-long project on equitable land use in d.c.’s waste infrastructure. this project will further focus on waste systems in d.c., looking at the distribution of waste facilities and practices over the eight d.c. wards. the team is currently in the process of gathering further background information on the history of waste in d.c., current procedures, and the different stakeholders involved. they are hoping to combat the discrepancies in this system that disproportionately affects poorer neighborhoods in d.c.. ejan’s co-presidents kaitlyn gang and jonathan lippolis spoke on the importance of advocating for the environment in the political sphere.

ejan is a relatively new organization at gw. “it’s kind of a complicated story, originally ejan was started in 2020 by a group of students,” lippolis said. “they came into the first year with the idea of having subcommittees, i think that was kind of from the jump, and then that first e-board came about and founded ejan.” after the original e-board graduated, gang and lippolis continued the club with the rest of the subcommittees.

gang and lippolis share a strong passion for environmental advocacy. “coming into gw i was undecided, i didn’t know what i wanted to do, i was actually more interested in stem before this, like biology. then i took the society and environment class and just loved it,” gang explained. “that entire class i feel like really made me fall in love with environmental studies which is why i ended up choosing the environmental studies major.” gang is also a political science major at gw, making a policy and advocacy subcommittee perfect for her skillset. lippolis first became interested in ejan out of a desire to participate in climate groups. “i wanted to get involved in climate related issues and movements.”

the associated press called the race in the early morning of nov. 6. the final battleground state of arizona was called saturday evening, leaving trump with 312 electoral votes, including all seven swing states, and harris with 226 electoral votes. 

based on trump’s 2024 campaign platform, known as agenda47, the republican national committee (rnc) platform, and trump’s past denial of climate change, trump’s second term in office is likely to have far-reaching implications on climate change efforts.

energy production:

“republicans will unleash energy production from all sources, including nuclear, to immediately slash inflation and power american homes, cars, and factories with reliable, abundant, and affordable energy,” the rnc platform states. 

the rnc agenda also stated their goals of making america energy independent again and achieving lower energy prices than during trump’s first administration. 

on trump’s agenda47 website, regarding energy, they cited research from the heritage foundation, an organization “mobilizing” the conservative movement, stating biden has increased the cost of gas and oil by 50%. 

the agenda47 website also states biden’s climate regulations have caused the u.s. to surrender its economy to china. it also identified what they considered negative outcomes of biden’s climate regulations, including stopping drilling for oil in alaska’s arctic national wildlife refuge and canceling the keystone xl pipeline. according to agenda47, the pipeline would have “created 830,000 barrels of oil per day” for american refineries and “created high-paying jobs.”

paris climate accords: 

trump’s campaign website stated that if he wins the 2024 presidential election, he will exit the paris climate accords again.

united nations climate change states the paris climate accords is an international treaty designed to combat climate change. the treaty was adopted on dec. 12, 2015, by 196 countries, including the united states, at the climate change conference cop21 in paris, france. 

trump during his first administration announced his intentions to leave the paris climate accords on june 1, 2017, because of the “unfair economic burden” it left on americans. 

on his first day in office on jan. 20, 2021, president biden rejoined the paris climate accords. as part of rejoining the agreement, biden pledged to cut all greenhouse gas emissions from the u.s. electric sector by 2035 and make the u.s. a carbon-neutral country by 2050.

politico reported trump leaving the paris climate accords for a second time would mean the u.s. would no longer be among the 200 world governments that have made non-binding pledges to reduce their greenhouse gas emissions.

inflation reduction act:

one of biden’s main efforts to address climate change during his presidency was through the inflation reduction act (ira), signed on aug. 16, 2022, which provided funding for local projects focused on clean energy, climate mitigation and resilience, agriculture, and conservation-related investment.

trump said that if he wins the 2024 presidential election he would pull funds away from the biden administration’s inflation reduction act during his second term. trump did not specify what programs funded by the ira he would pull back on.

“it actually sets us back, as opposed to moves us forward,” trump said. “and [i will] rescind all unspent funds under the misnamed inflation reduction act.”

but in trump’s previous administration, the new york times reported that by the end of his presidency, trump had completed “rollbacks” on 98 environmental policies and was in progress on an additional 14. 

trump’s climate change denial:

before trump ran for president in 2016, he was known for calling climate change, or global warming, a “hoax”: “the concept of global warming was created by and for the chinese in order to make u.s. manufacturing non-competitive,” trump wrote on x in 2012. 

more recently, on sept. 29, three days after the impact of hurricane helene on the southeastern u.s., trump denied the existence of climate change, during a campaign rally in pennsylvania, calling it “one of the greatest scams of all time.”

trump did not address climate change in his victory speech. 

he will be inaugurated as president on jan. 20, 2025, on the west front of the u.s. capitol.

the reason you may want to: native plants support a greater abundance and diversity of wildlife by providing habitat that directly supports populations of butterflies, bees, and birds. native plants make landscapes more adaptable to future environmental stressors caused by the climate crisis, including temperature swings, drought, flooding, and pest outbreaks.

in martha’s vineyard, off the coast of massachusetts’ cape cod, the polly hill arboretum has spent decades creating an online record of more than 200 island native plants that you can browse using its plantfinder resource.

timothy boland, executive director of polly hill, says that planting native plants helps to prepare for the unknowns. “native plants are uniquely adapted to soils and stressors, and more so have a really tight connection with the animals in an environment,” boland said. 

polly hill not only informs, it sells native plant plugs to people interested in adding natives to their landscaping. some of the plants they propagate, like red columbine, which flowers in the spring, have had limited populations on the island, and polly hill has helped to restore them. 

“we knew it was here and only here, and now we can propagate it. from a conservation standpoint, with an endemic plant, what we’ve done here is kind of cool,” boland said.

orange butterfly weed is its most popular native plant due to its bright orange flowers and attractiveness to monarch butterflies, but boland encourages people to look beyond the beauty of a plant and consider what it can provide to the environment: “we tend to be enamored with just the beautiful, and don’t understand the functionality of what we would consider a grass. a lot of things have equal value, even though they don’t have the startling beauty.”

a convenient place to “check out” native seeds, the west tisbury library in massachusetts offers a seed library which contains a unique collection of seeds suited to the local environment, and the library hopes to create a locally adapted collection of seeds over time. 

the seed library there has been focused mostly on food seeds until recently. mary sage napolitan, the regenerative landscape manager at island grown initiative, has worked with the organization to create a native plants section.

“there’s a lot of energy behind it, but it’s really hard to get the plants. you can buy seeds from some companies, but they’re not always from the vineyard. the hope is that at least we’ll have some bank of seeds so that people can start,” napolitan said. 

although people are often hesitant to add native plants to their gardens, napolitan says you can still have a gorgeous, well-manicured garden made up of mostly, if not entirely, native plants.

“there are nonnative plants that aren’t bad; some of those plants are totally harmless. it’s just a matter of also making a point to incorporate native plants, because we know that they support so many insects and other wildlife,” napolitan said.

napolitan recommends native garden plants such as penstemon digitalis, a tall white flower, penstemon hirsutus, which produces a similar purple flower, and monarda fistulosa, a lavender flower that attracts a variety of bees and butterflies. napolitan herself is very fond of asters, which can be small blue, white, or purple flowers, and goldenrods, a tall golden flower that is natural bird food.

christine wiley, a horticultural expert and greenhouse grower for more than 30 years, owns vineyard gardens with her husband chuck, a self-proclaimed “plant-aholic.”

“we want to have a positive environmental impact and do anything we can to slow down climate change,” christine wiley said. “native plants have been here for a long time, and we know they do very well here.”

vineyard gardens hosted a garden worksop on june 22, 2024, where attendees were taught how to plant for climate resilience. the workshop was led by guest speaker andrea berry, executive director of the wild seed project in maine. “it’s nice to host a well-known speaker and to support ecology. we are a small island here, and it’s nice to support our environment,” wiley said.

wild seed project is a maine nonprofit that works to build climate-resilient habitats in northeast landscapes. its mission is to inspire people to take action in increasing the presence of native plants grown from wild seed that safeguard wildlife habitat, support biodiversity, and mitigate the effects of climate change.

“native plants are plants that have evolved in the place they are for millennia in relation to the creatures. therefore they are really critical parts to a healthy and vibrant ecosystem,” berry said. 

native plants have interrelated partnerships with insects. milkweed is a good example, as the plant is a select place for monarch butterflies to lay their eggs. those eggs hatch and the caterpillars feed on the milkweed exclusively, then as adults, the monarch feeds off the plant’s blooms. “they have evolved this beautiful relationship with this plant over time that is really critical,” berry said. 

berry included that native plants can be wonderful garden plants because they are adapted to the environment they are experiencing. “when you actually stop and slow down and take a look at a garden, the beauty of a garden is in all the different pieces moving within it, and all the life that it supports. a healthy, living place where all different creatures live and can thrive is actually what i define as beautiful,” berry said.

native plant adaptation continues. the island’s recent rainstorms and windstorms resulted in a great amount of erosion, and conservation efforts have turned towards native plants. 

“when plants evolve in parallel with stressors coming at them from our ecosystem, they develop adaptations that allow them to respond to or mitigate some of those outside challenges. if we have a biodiverse ecosystem, then we are going to have a population of plants diverse enough to be resilient in the face of whatever nature is throwing at us,” berry said.

this story was originally published in mv times.

to read the full story, click on the presentation below.

republican nominee and former president donald trump and democratic nominee and current vice president kamala harris will face off on nov. 5 for the presidency and have stated differing opinions on climate change.

the harris’ campaign

harris, with current president joe biden, has worked to address climate change through legislation such as the bipartisan infrastructure act and the inflation reduction act. 

both the bipartisan infrastructure act and the ira gave funding for local projects which will alleviate the effects of climate change and benefit other areas of the economy. the ira was signed on aug. 16, 2022, and a year after it was signed the biden administration stated it has made changes. 

within the first year the ira was signed into law, there was $110 billion in new clean energy manufacturing including $10 billion in solar manufacturing. the administration also awarded over a billion dollars to protect communities from the impacts of climate change when struck by hurricanes or droughts. the white house stated within the first year of the ira’s implementation american families were projected to save between $27-38 billion on electricity bills between 2022 and 2030.

in a speech regarding its second year anniversary, harris spoke positively about the ira while running for president, saying the legislation is also improving manufacturing and innovation. 

“while taking on the climate crisis and lowering utility bills for families, it is helping us to rebuild american manufacturing and drive american innovation,” harris said.

but there is a question of whether harris will continue to address climate change in her agenda called new way forward if she wins the presidency. seth schuster, a spokesperson for the harris campaign, said there is not another candidate who will “fight harder” to combat climate change. 

“she’s proud to have delivered the most significant climate legislation in american history with president biden,” schuster said. 

according to her presidential campaign website, as president she will “unite” citizens to tackle climate change and build on president biden’s “historic work,” including environmental justice, increasing resilience to climate disasters, and lowering household energy costs.  

“she and governor walz will always fight for the freedom to breathe clean air, drink clean water, and live free from the pollution that fuels the climate crisis,” her website states. 

harris picked minnesota gov. tim walz as her running mate and democratic vice presidential nominee in early august. 

as governor, walz has championed many initiatives on climate change, including 40 during the 2023 legislative session in minnesota. one legislation included a law requiring all minnesotans to get all their electricity from carbon-free sources by 2040 to stop climate change caused by coal and gas pollution.   

a report from npr stated climate change activists have given “praise” to harris for picking walz as his running mate, including from jamie henn of fossil free media.
“tim walz had the best climate record of any of the vp contenders and has been unafraid to take on big oil,” henn wrote on x.

trump’s outlook

before trump ran for president in 2016, he was known for calling climate change, or global warming, a “hoax,” which he attributed to china in 2012. 

“the concept of global warming was created by and for the chinese in order to make u.s. manufacturing non-competitive,” trump wrote on x. 

during his first administration, the brookings institution said trump was more interested in stopping climate policy than addressing climate change, highlighting his 2017 executive order stating for every new regulation, two regulations have to be eliminated. 

the new york times reported that by the end of his presidency, trump had completed “roll backs” on 98 environmental policies and was in progress on an additional 14. 

trump’s agenda47, a plan detailing what policies he would enact during his possible second administration, does not state climate change as an issue which should be addressed. he instead focuses on making america produce more oil.

trump stated, “america must have the number one lowest cost energy and electricity on earth” through producing more oil. his website also stated this will lower inflation and allow america to become the manufacturing “superpower” of the world. 

“to keep pace with the world economy that depends on fossil fuels for more than 80% of its energy, president trump will drill, baby, drill,” his website states. 

during his 2020 presidential campaign, trump also spread misinformation on climate change, saying wind turbines cause cancer and sink property values by 75%. 

during a recent rally in pennsylvania on sept. 29 for his 2024 presidential bid, three days after the impact of  hurricane helene, trump denied the existence of climate change. 
jd vance, trump’s running mate and the vice presidential republican nominee, responded to hurricane helene in relation to climate change during the vice presidential debate between him and walz, hosted by cbs on oct. 1.

vance took a bipartisan approach to hurricane helene by saying he and walz’s “hearts” and “prayers” go out to those affected, calling it an “unbelievable, unspeakable human tragedy.” he said they both want the federal government to help people affected by natural disasters.

but vance said he and trump want to make the environment cleaner and safer since americans worry about these “crazy weather patterns.” 

“we want as robust and aggressive a federal response as we can get to save as many lives as possible,” vance said. 

the last day for u.s. citizens to cast their ballot is election day on nov. 5.

washington – only nine years after the signing of the paris agreement — a landmark treaty promoting international cooperation to combat climate change  — global carbon emissions are out of line with paris’ global warming targets, the international monetary fund (imf) reported in a staff climate notes report this month. 

the imf report calculated that greenhouse gas emissions must be cut by 25% to meet a 2 degrees target or 50% to reach 1.5 degrees. currently, national targets would result in only a 12% drop in emissions. 

they prescribed urgent action to avoid an “emissions cliff edge,” which would make limiting global warming to only 1.5 degrees celsius, and even 2 degrees celsius, unattainable by 2030. 

“we’re in the greatest transition since the last industrial revolution,” said simon stiell, executive secretary of the united nations framework convention on climate change, at an imf climate panel in washington, d.c., wednesday. 

the paris agreement target

at the 21st conference of the parties to the un framework convention on climate change (cop21) in 2015, the paris agreement set a target of ideally 1.5 degrees celsius and “well below” 2 degrees celsius, beginning in november 2016. 

environmental economist and stanford professor charles kolstad, who was not present at the imf panel on wednesday, said it was not surprising that current national contributions were not aligned with the target warming rates. he added that, while the 2 degrees target is helpful in measuring progress, it was a political agreement, rather than a scientific goal. 

“it’s a helpful goal to have,” he said. “just because they didn’t meet the goal doesn’t mean it didn’t serve its purposes.”

“if we don’t achieve 50% by 2030, we’re going to see what we call a ‘climate cliff,’” imf deputy managing director bo li said at the imf panel. “we’d have to do dramatic reduction in the next 30 years after 2030, and that might be unbearable for the global economy.”

the panel focused on “mitigation,” or strategies to lessen the destructive impact of climate change. stanford professor rob jackson, who was not present at the panel, said mitigation is essential to “stave off the worst damages of climate change.”  

mitigation through carbon pricing

one of the mitigation strategies presented by the report was setting a carbon price of $85 per tonne, which would align emissions with the 2 degrees celsius target. in order to reach the 1.5 degrees celsius target, the price would have to be much higher. 

carbon pricing is a strategy that attaches a financial cost to carbon emissions, passing on part of the burden of emissions to polluters and consumers. currently, the imf reports the global carbon price to be only $5 per tonne. 

some u.s. states have adopted emission permit programs to indirectly raise carbon prices. climate policies, such as subsidies, can also impact carbon pricing, kolstad said. still, there is no comprehensive federal or international carbon pricing program. 

“carbon pollution is essentially free in the u.s.,” jackson said. 

during the panel, li suggested that large economies should take the lead on negotiating an international carbon pricing floor, adding that carbon pricing is critical to climate mitigation policy. 

the need for international collaboration

he also noted that climate action demands international cooperation, referencing last year’s sunnylands statement, in which the u.s. and china reaffirmed their commitment to working jointly against the climate crisis. 

“climate change is such an existential threat to humanity that we believe, and we hope, that countries can put aside their differences and collaborate,” li said. “we can collaborate on many fronts, including carbon pricing, including climate finance.”

the imf report also provides emissions targets aligned with the paris goals for 2030, averaging the reductions between countries based on their per-capita income. this design would provide for a more equitable distribution of climate responsibility, placing more of the burden on richer countries. 

during the panel, li highlighted how countries with lower levels of pollution are often most affected by climate change, such as island countries in the pacific and caribbean. he added that, even within countries, certain groups will be more disadvantaged by the transition to reduce emissions and urged domestic policymakers to support the affected groups.

next month, almost 200 countries are expected to attend cop29 in baku, azerbaijan. nicknamed the “finance cop,” the conference will center on funding climate solutions. 

cop29 hopes to renew ambition surrounding climate action and increase financial support for developing countries hoping to transition to cleaner energy, mukhtar babayev, cop29 president-designate said at the imf panel. 

at cop29, countries may also present updated national contributions, or emissions strategies. per the paris agreement, these are due by early 2025.

the city, located in one of europe’s most densely populated urban areas, is transforming its asphalt-covered schoolyards into fresh oases. this project, named oasis, aims not only to cool down the overheated playgrounds, but also to provide much-needed greenery in a neighborhood where less than two square meters of public green space are available per resident — far below the world health organization’s recommended nine.

at the joliot curie primary school, the transformation is striking. gone is the heat-absorbing sea of asphalt that would often send playground temperatures soaring past 40°c, making it dangerous for children to play outside. in its place are bushes, newly planted trees, and strategically placed benches to enjoy the vital shade. a thick beige cover has replaced the concrete, reflecting heat and cooling the air in the process. according to fabien benoit, a city official overseeing the project, temperatures in the renovated courtyards have dropped by 2 to 4°c, also cooling the surrounding school buildings.

teachers and the educational staff were invited to co-create the new schoolyards through brainstorming sessions and design proposals. “the point isn’t to copy-paste generic green playgrounds,” said benoit. “each school has different needs, and the school staff is best equipped to know what their needs are.” in true participatory fashion, one school included their fifth graders in the process — asking them to draw their ideal schoolyard, and pick between different possible infrastructures. 

but compromises weren’t always easy. in the case of joliot curie, some teachers initially resisted the removal of popular football fields to make room for greenery, leading to two months of discussion between the school and the city. 

to further build community support, the schools also open their doors to the public once a year, offering a glimpse into the transformation. on a recent visit, gaelle meynadier, whose five-year-old attends joliot curie, shared her relief that the once sweltering space now stays cooler. 

“my kid often complained about being too hot at school, and there was nothing we could do about it. as a parent, that was truly worrying,” she said as she walked through the redesigned courtyard. 

despite the generally positive feedback, not all aspects of the plan have been embraced. “a few parents expressed frustration over muddy shoes and coats,” the school’s headmaster sandra chamak said. “but there have been much less accidents since the renovation, which brought parents on board.”

the renovations in aubervilliers are part of a broader trend across france. paris started to experiment back in 2014, followed more recently by other big cities like bordeaux, lyon, and toulouse. in aubervilliers, the project started in 2022 and has now revamped six schoolyards, removing nearly 3,000 square meters of asphalt. 

and these new courtyards don’t just reduce heat. “they’re also a network of biodiversity havens that help bring back bees and butterflies that we don’t see anywhere else in the city,” benoit said. for him, the newly planted vegetation will allow for miniature ecosystems to thrive in the otherwise stark urban landscape. each school now includes educational gardens, where children can learn about gardening and have ‘class in the grass’. 

“the kids love to learn more about nature,” said roseline ricco, a third-grade teacher, as she pointed to a basket of hazelnuts, freshly picked from the school’s garden, sitting proudly in the centre of her classroom. “the garden has sparked the children’s interest, leading to wider conversations about food, plants…” this week, her students compared the unevenly sized apples they picked from the garden with the uniform ones sold in supermarkets, and some even spent time sketching their favorite leaves.

the new schoolyards are also intended to be multifunctional. aiming to “de-gender” the playground, the city has replaced single-use structures like football fields, often taken-over by boys, with more diverse sports markings, encouraging a wider range of activities.

but greening the schoolyards doesn’t come cheap. according to spending records obtained from the city, aubervilliers has allocated €1.3 million to transform just two schools during the summer of 2024, and with it being one of the poorest cities in france, the local government has been careful to balance costs with its ambitions. 

“we can only afford to do two schools a year,” said zakia bouzidi, the deputy mayor in charge of the environment. “it’s a slow process, but it’s great progress nonetheless.” aubervilliers’ schoolyard transformations are entirely funded by the municipality, though they are still awaiting state aid. 

however, the current plan is limited to preschools and primary schools, which fall under the city’s jurisdiction. the department and the region, which manage middle and high schools, are working on developing a comparable project, set to launch next year. 

while these green oases were initially designed for schoolchildren, the city plans to extend their benefits to the wider public. starting in 2025, some renovated schoolyards will be opened to the public during weekends and school holidays, offering residents of all ages a place to cool off during extreme heat. this initiative, which is still in its early experimental phase, could dramatically increase access to green spaces for thousands of residents in this low-income suburb, where many live in poorly insulated “kettle apartments” with no air conditioning. 

but opening up schools isn’t an easy task. concerns around security and the added costs of maintenance are still being discussed by city staff, while the local council’s opposition worries the initiative could lead to substantial wear and tear on playgrounds. 

for katia boutakhednit, headmaster of the jacques prévert kindergarten, “this project makes a real difference in improving the children’s quality of life — but it also doesn’t magically solve everything.” her schoolyard, in the process of being renovated, is trapped between high rise social housing buildings. 

but the schoolyards “aren’t the only thing changing in aubervilliers,” bouzidi said. “they are just one part of the colossal work that is greening the city as a whole.” for now, the town’s focus remains on creating green spaces where they’re needed most. as france braces for more scorching summers, these playgrounds offer a glimpse of what urban adaptation to climate change can look like — one playground at a time.