From composting in the cafeteria to confronting climate misinformation, students will take climate action into their own hands at a school fair.

The Climate and Food Justice Club will host a climate fair throughout the school day on April 14, bringing panels of scientists, journalists and local leaders to talk about the climate crisis. In addition to the panels, there will be activity tables in the STEM wing with arts and crafts, worm bins and local organizations.

Club co-adviser and social studies teacher Roger Grande said that the main goal of the fair is to educate students about the challenges that climate scientists are facing. Grande said the first of the fair’s two panels will be addressing misinformation regarding climate change in our current political era, with speakers discussing how to maintain informational integrity as federal budget cuts grow.

“The Trump administration is really doing everything possible to diminish, demean and weaken science: not just of climate change, but all science,” Grande said. “This is a part of a larger ecosystem of disinformation that has been around much longer than the Trump administration.”

The second panel will focus on a topic closer to home: the sea-level rise along the Boston coastline and how students can be involved in finding solutions.

“We’re a coastal community,” Grande said. “So we’re looking at flooding, for example. How do we address that? How do we make communities more resilient and prevent more flooding?”

Senior and club member Audrey Chang said that the reduced number of X-block meeting times shifted the club’s focus inward, to the high school community. In the past, the club has pushed for various changes such as metal trays, better composting and reusable water bottles. Outside of the high school, the club has been advocating for bike lanes connecting North and South Brookline, working alongside town meeting member Richard Murphy.

“It’s hard to get a project up and running because of this year’s schedule. So it has changed from big projects to promoting stuff within our community,” Chang said. “We’re focusing on just having students start composting or using sustainable methods of transportation to get to school.“

One recent result of the club’s community focus was the removal of some of the recycling bins from the cafeteria. With students frequently mixing trash and recycling, the club worked to simplify the choice to just compost and landfill. Chang said the change made a noticeable difference.

“I’ve seen more students starting to compost,” Chang said. “Just limiting it to trash and compost has made composting be used more.”

For senior co-president Becky Winickoff, the fair is about making that same kind of change feel possible for students who have not been involved in the club.

“It’s hard to feel like you can make a difference, but sometimes it’s helpful to have little manageable steps,” Winickoff said. “So you can be like, ‘I could walk to school one time this week instead of getting a ride’ or, ‘I could compost my apple in the correct bin instead of throwing it in the trash.’”

Grande said that getting more young people engaged in climate education and activism is one of the driving forces behind this year’s fair.

“Young people still, in many ways, are leading on climate [justice] globally, but it’s kind of been a little quieter in the last few years. I think COVID did a number on us,” Grande said. “I think it’s nice to have a fun community event so that people have a positive association in their mind with fighting against climate change. We really want to animate young people to understand that they need to take control of their future.”