The Chicago Teachers Union Is Pushing to Green its Public Schools

Teachers and students in Chicago’s public schools are working to bring the Green New Deal to school buildings and classrooms. By Willy Blackmore Kevin Moore, a social studies teacher at George Washington High School in Chicago’s South Side, has a futuristic vision for the city’s public school buildings, one with links to the past but very much rooted in the climate change present.& In an era of record-breaking heat waves, Moore sees the city’s ancient school buildings — some of which were built in the early 1900s — retrofitted with new zero-emission heating and cooling systems. He imagines those buildings, which also function as community spaces, with solar panels and gardens on their rooftops. He wants to connect those greener buildings to the neighborhood and the city with environmentally friendly public transportation.& A Chicago Teachers Union member, Moore’s vision is part of the union’s new campaign, Green New Deal for Chicago Public Schools. The newly launched endeavor, which the union is working on with the student-led Sunrise Movement, aims to remake the city’s aging school infrastructure both for the era of climate crisis and the new green economy.& It will benefit the city’s schools, but will also pay dividends for...