Seniors Katie Stabb and Kate Wallace traveled to Dubai this month for COP28, the annual United Nations climate summit–building on student efforts to fight climate change at home.

Stabb and Wallace went to Dubai with It’s Our Future, which is part of an Oak Park environmental group called Seven Generations Ahead. Last year the same group sponsored Oak Park and River Forest High School students Manolo Avalos and Tori Evans when they traveled to COP27 in Egypt.

Protecting the environment is “an urgent need for everyone and especially young people because it’ll determine the world we’re going to inherit and pass on,” said Stabb.

Wallace “learned so much about how climate change is impacting people in other areas of the world and the countless solutions being implemented,” she said.

Students back home got to see a little bit of the COP28 conference during a conference call on Dec. 6, held in the library on the learning stairs. Featured on the call were eight of the American student attendees for the conference: Yvonne Mongare, Sabrina Deriche, Monica Nelson, Avery Smith, Tasha Bhatia, Danica Sun and OPRF’s own Stabb and Wallace, who shared their firsthand experience about the climate change efforts in Dubai.

One of the events they described was a panel at the China pavilion, where people acknowledged the amount of world economy that’s put into fossil fuel production and how that decision affects our environment. They also expressed a need for fossil fuel phase-out and fossil fuel subsidies.

The students also discussed the importance of the Loss and Damage Fund, a way for developed countries to provide necessary funds to nations that are negatively affected by climate change in order for them to recover. Right now there isn’t enough money supporting the cause, the students said.

Students attended other events, watched negotiations between delegates from different countries and met many climate experts. “The best part of COP in my opinion is doing interviews with people all over the world with so many different backgrounds and jobs,” said Stabb. “It’s amazing because everyone is so passionate about what they do.”

COP stands for Conference of the Parties of the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change. At COP28, 198 countries committed to participate in climate change efforts. The conference ran from Nov. 30 to Dec. 12 and had more than 70,000 attendees.

The COP28 conference was a global extension of the climate efforts students are part of here at OPRF. For example, OPRF’s Environmental Club also works to spread awareness and take action against climate change. The club does monthly stewardship days where they go into Thatcher Woods to cut down invasive species and clean up trash. Over Thanksgiving break, the club collected more than 100 pieces of garbage in Thatcher Woods, according to Cindy Wong, the club’s sponsor.

OPRF has built partnerships in the community as well. Wong and administrators have collaborated with District 97 and Trinity High School of River Forest to inform them of the ways that OPRF has increased its sustainability efforts.

Stabb said she is also working with It’s Our Future to get sustainability resources to students in other schools.

“I am the co-lead of this resource directory where we are compiling lots of links, articles, toolkits, podcasts, TED talks and everything for high schoolers to learn about the basics of climate so they can get more invested and organize their own sustainability plan like the one at OPRF,” Stabb said. OPRF’s Sustainability Plan was approved by the Board of Education on July 14, 2022. Its goals include reducing greenhouse gas emissions by 45% from 2012 levels by 2030, 80% by 2040 and 100% by 2050.

“The sustainability plan holds students and faculty accountable for their environmental efforts,” said Avalos, who was one of the students involved in creating the plan. “Within this plan we want to include the environmental awareness aspect throughout our day to day school experience.”

To that end, a project team is working on thin-film recycling, making OPRF a drop-off site for recycling the type of plastic used in grocery store bags, bubble wrap and other items. They are making flyers to spread awareness and will set up cardboard bins in various areas within the school including the Welcome Center, according to Wong.

Another outcome of the policy is the hydroponic system, which will produce lettuce and other varieties of produce for the cafeteria, Wong said.

“We have a lot of resources at the school and it’s great to show what can be done,” said Wong. “Hopefully other organizations and schools can start their own journey…in a similar way.”