On Monday, May 8 all students presented the climate work they've been participating in this spring. Many environmental education and climate-focused community organizations (Families for a Livable Climate, Missoula Citizens Climate Lobby, Soil Cycle, Home Resource, Climate Smart Missoula, and Ecology Project International) were also in attendance with relevant activities, lessons, and information for students and visiting parents alike.
Kindergartners showcased the carbon cycle and how it relates to the cycle of wool. 1st-4th graders presented on their studies of human and animal migration. 5th/6th graders focused on how climate change affects animal species, and 7th/8th graders showcased the carbon cycle as well. This annual symposium is a culmination of work that builds upon science knowledge, respect of our local community and climate, and fuels confidence in future pursuits of science-based exploration.
Meanwhile Julian M. '25 (left) and Keira K. '23 (right) have won second place and first place respectively in the Families for a Livable Climate's The Changing Times youth writing contest. The submitted poems will be published in their upcoming issue. Each student was also awarded a cash prize. Read on below to enjoy excerpts of their work!
Crumbling Climate by Keira K. '23
Crushed A blackness suffocating the sky
Choking me
Never letting
Go
A place once called home
Now a barren landscape
A drop of water
Now nothing but a crack in the ground
When you try so hard
Get so close
But so close to the wrong thing
Too close to fading
Near destruction
Previously a thriving forest of life
Now a factory in the distance
Why can't we try
Try to feel the suffering
The struggles of the workers
Who have to pick through the trash
Through the despair
The Clark Fork River once running high
Running no more
Native species fighting for life
A bull trout
A grizzly bear
Once knowing how to survive
Tossed into the darkness
The bull trout with no oxygen
The bear with no food
A food web so intertwined
Unraveling like our very existence
Seeley Lake
Now
Sealed off
A world without beauty
A world without life
A place once so euphoric
Now forlorn and gloomy
A drop of water
Seeping into the ground
Giving a chance for life
Knowing it can make a difference
Make a change
A seedling blooming
Hope returning
Like the bitterroot flower
Pushing through the grime
For the future
For the climate
For us
Environmental Musings by Julian M. '25
they used to tell us that
things would be okay
just give the adults a couple of years to
figure it out
it's been forty-seven
after the world was considered
a goner
all the rich people descended
into bunkers to wait it out
money made sense back then
at first
the population of Missoula
didn't know what to do
wondering when it had gone so wrong
I was at home
reading a book
sipping lemonade
when the world turned upside down
people's lives had been uprooted
seemingly overnight
and the change was slow to appear
but when it did
it detonated in an explosion of color
graffiti started creeping in on the city
like a giant plant
mosaics covered the walls
of what used to be downtown
now and then
you would occasionally see an artist
covering the wall of a broken-down building
with images of the earth and how it used to be
when we cared for the environment...