The decision comes at a pivotal moment in American history. For the second time, the Trump administration is withdrawing from the Paris Agreement, under which countries worldwide agreed to cut greenhouse gas emissions to curb the worst effects of climate change.
Thoyre sees the new requirement as part of local resistance to federal climate-denying policies.
“Local-scale change is a first step towards something bigger,” she said. “We’re not going to make good progress at the federal level in the United States for the next four years, so we’ll likely have a backslide. But so much of climate change innovation regarding policy movements and education systems is happening at a more local level.”
Isaac Barajas, a junior studying industrial design at the university, said that although he believes President Trump is already “doing horrible things for the environment,” he also has trust in local climate activism.
“There’s a lot of local people willing to show activism for it, and I think these classes might invoke more rallies and more people to get involved with it over the next four years,” he said.
Barajas said he would have loved to take a course in climate justice because young people face a barrage of climate misinformation online.
“I have fallen into the trap of believing things that weren’t real,” he said. “This climate justice requirement will allow more students to be socially aware and be more informed because there’s a lot of misinformation out there.”
Barajas, who grew up in the Salinas area, said he is well aware of the effects of climate change — droughts, deluges, and extreme rainfall — because his family and community have witnessed them in real time.
“Climate change is going to come for all of us,” he said. “If we don’t act now, it’s just going to catch up to us until we really won’t have a place to call home anymore.”