“What can we do?” This was the seemingly simple question that first grader Leo Blake asked his mom after watching an episode of Wild Kratts, a cartoon that focuses on animals and the environment. Blake was scared about the future of the planet, and this fear sparked his mom to do something. That something was to create the GreenZine, a magazine that gives young people like Blake, and other members of the Brookline community, a platform to express their thoughts and feelings about the environment crisis.

Blake’s mother Kathie Butler, a journalist and Lawrence parent, paired up with history teacher and adviser for the Food and Climate Justice Club Roger Grande to launch the GreenZine in June 2021. Since then, there have been five subsequent issues.

Each issue features articles, letters, stories, poetry and art. Grande said they encourage submissions to be creative and take all forms of expression.

“The GreenZine is a medium for all students. We’re not saying no to anybody, and if a piece needs work, we commit to working with them and developing those pieces,” Grande said.

As a club adviser and a social studies teacher, Grande said that he has seen firsthand the importance of having a space for student voices when it comes to climate justice.

“If we don’t create a forum for [climate justice] in schools, we’re not going to hear about it from students. But that doesn’t mean they’re not thinking about it pretty intensely,” Grande said. “I think the contrast between how many students are feeling about this versus how much they have an opportunity to speak and learn about it is pretty [large].”

Junior Elena Nikovski said she has taken advantage of the opportunities offered by the GreenZine. As a student co-editor along with junior Hattie Liang, Nikovski manages submissions, edits articles and works on their website.

Along with her responsibilities as co-editor, Nikovski regularly writes for the GreenZine. She said it allows her to write about her interests, including climate justice and public health through a public platform.

“I knew climate change was an issue, but I didn’t know specifically how it was affecting us. I especially focus a lot on health and I didn’t know the specific health effects that come with emissions, transportation and greenhouse gases,” Nikovski said.

The GreenZine’s most recent issue came out this December. Along with articles, it featured several drawings by elementary school students. Butler said drawings are a way to involve younger students, a demographic GreenZine hopes to amplify moving forward.

Grande said he wants to connect more with classes and assignments done around climate change at the high school level and below . He said that it is important for students to do work that will have an impact and reach others.

“You’re writing for a real audience, not an imagined audience. And that changes the nature of an assignment that changes the caliber of work that students do. So we want to create that opportunity to have a real audience,” Grande said.

Nikovski, Grande and Butler said they hope the GreenZine will gain more readership in the future because of how important climate justice is and how essential it is that younger generations are given a place to speak up.

“The future has arrived and you’ll be increasingly disrupted by climate change. We need to prepare young people for this, which includes both stewardship and being mindful and caring for what is around you,” Grande said. “But also understanding the complexity of climate change and how it’s going to affect everything.”

In addition to the GreenZine bringing attention to pressing issues, Butler said that working with young people and hearing what they have to say makes her more optimistic about the future.

“I have a lot of faith in your generation, I’m really inspired and hopeful. What we’re gonna have to adapt, we’re gonna have to change,” Butler said. “The world will not be what it was a hundred years ago, but I think it will be better in some ways.”