Miramonte grads leave behind climate change lessons

ORINDA — When carpooling Miramonte High School seniors roll into prime parking spots guaranteed to them this year, they can thank two graduates.

And if they start thinking about climate change a little more, they'll have Devin Finzer and Patrick Ouziel to thank for that, too.

Finger and Ouziel took the climate change issue to their peers as California Climate Champions, raising awareness about a warming planet and improving the school's carpool program.

"The young people are going to be the generation that are hit hardest by climate change as it increases," Finzer said.

"I think there are a lot of things we can do that are not only beneficial for the climate but are also beneficial for other aspects of our life."

California Climate Champions, one of 13 such programs worldwide and the only one in the United States, is a partnership between the state Air Resources Board and the British Council, the U.K.'s cultural relations agency.

Once selected as Climate Champions, Finzer and Ouziel were required to develop a project that would bring the issue directly to students.

They settled on the carpool program, which was already in place at Miramonte High, but limited.

Finger and Ouziel saw that the program could be expanded and streamlined, and successfully lobbied school administrators to increase the number of carpool spots.

And while there are more spots all around, seniors have extra incentive to carpool:

Finger and Ouziel also are promoting a Web site where students can connect with others to find a ride to school, which they hope will draw more into carpools.

Many teens see climate change as a personal, not political, issue, and it's important to tap into their passion, said Rebecca Filbey, climate change project manager for the British Council.

Climate Champions helps teens connect with others who care about the issue and engage their peers.

"We're seeing the importance of engaging people who are willing to stand up and say 'I care about this and I'm willing to do something about it.'" Filbey said.

Finzer can't remember when he first became interested in climate change, but Ouziel said he was motivated after seeing former Vice President Al Gore's documentary, "An Inconvenient Truth."

"He really makes it seem like it's not impossible, and it kind of leaves you with an optimistic feeling, which is great because you leave the theater and you're feeling empowered and you're ready to go do something," he said.

The goal of Climate Champions is to take young people who are passionate about climate change and turn them into ambassadors for the issue, Filbey said.

Finger and Ouziel were among 15 high school students selected for the program in 2008. As part of their application, the pair created a series of videos about climate change and posted them online.

"They sort of just started getting peoples' opinions on climate change and what it meant to individuals," Filbey said.

"They kind of blew everybody away with the quality of work that they did."

Both will be far from Miramonte High this fall — Finzer will attend Brown University in Rhode Island and Ouziel will attend Yale — but they hope carpooling to school will help remind the students back in Orinda about the little things they can do to battle climate change.

"The solution for a lot of people has to be a lifestyle change," Ouziel said, "so educating people when they're young or at any level of schooling is important."