Longmont Lessons: Silver Chips wins the gold for climate change coverage - Longmont Times-Call

Longmont Lessons: Silver Chips wins the gold for climate change coverage

As I write, there’s a copy of a publication next to me that may well be the first of its kind. It’s Silver Chips Climate Edition. Yes, it’s the student newspaper published at Montgomery Blair High School in Silver Spring, Maryland, where I grew up.

This time out, though, the award-winning periodical, which has been around since 1937, hoists a breathtaking new platform. In structure. In substance. In creativity. In meaning.

The product, a 32-page, full-color, full-gloss journal, brims with an urgency, a siren call, surrounding the creeping threat of climate change. Remember, the people responsible for this strikingly jaw-dropping publication were born when George W. Bush was in the White House. It’s crystal clear that these are old souls inhabiting youthful bodies, visionaries on the cusp of inheriting the reins of power.

Silver Chips serves up an editorial diet that would give anyone pause — even election and/or climate deniers. It has earned a place in the pantheon of required reading.

The topics cover the proverbial waterfront. This is a publication that should be required reading.

There’s one piece that outlines the effort to greatly enhance the state’s weather monitoring network amidst swirling weather events like tornadoes and flash floods. In the aftermath of May’s deluge of rain across the Front Range — and the threat of wildfires — residents here can relate all too well to what comes next.

The piece is accompanied by a meaty graph that tracks the number of tornadoes and the damage they leave behind, courtesy of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration. Last fall, the article continues, NOAA launched into geocentric orbit a satellite that feeds data regarding the Blue Planet’s dramatic temperature swings.

What’s offered within its covers only gets better.

Another story centers around sustainable farming practices in the U.S.

While the focus is on a farm in Maryland, the writers, Mandy Guo and Eliza Warren, bring a refreshing depth to their research that features quotes from a sociology professor at Iowa State University. He asserts the future of agriculture hinges on whether farmers will stop relying on using tools and techniques that harm the atmosphere. “We desperately need to get away from using fossil fuels because of climate change,” he declares. If his warning goes unheeded, it will lead “future generations to an unstable society.” Sobering. Scary.

Enough for you to digest? Almost? OK, one more.

There’s a revealing piece that examines the culture of hypocrisy within the clothing industry. It trains a questionable lens on what is advertised as environmentally conscious attire that, according to industry image-makers, doesn’t leave a big carbon footprint.

While behemoth outdoor clothing retailer Patagonia has turned over ownership to a trust that’s committed to climate change, multinational athletic apparel company Lululemon is boasting of its own push toward sustainability, which, the writers aptly state, “often back them up with little or to no evidence.”

The brainstorming that goes on at editorial meetings is always lively, recalls Jeremy Stelzner, one of the advisers who is also a popular English and journalism teacher. In this democratic setting, Stelzner brings his own sensibilities to the table, weighing in with story ideas.

“They are never afraid to shoot my suggestions down!” enthuses the New York native who earlier taught in the Bronx. The finalists for a theme were guns, mental health and the environment, he adds. They settled “on a specific area of concern that could support a larger issue with related stories. They landed on climate change.”

Stelzner, whose wife also teaches at Blair, is constantly reminded of the breadth and depth of students’ thinking. “I learn about what matters to them and what issues concern them, how hard they are willing to fight to remedy those ills. They are never afraid to take on the administration or board of members or county executives. That courage from people so young is inspiring.”

A word about Blair High, some perspective, is important.

While there are thousands of great high schools, this one has the whole package, with a veritable Who’s Who of grads who left its august hallways to carve stellar career in the arts, sports and business. Recently. One of them is Lisa Ann Walter, who plays on “Abbott Elementary.”

Much earlier was Ben Stein. You may recall his famous line — “Bueller … Bueller … Bueller,” in “Ferris Bueller’s Day Off.” Stein’s resume also includes lawyer, economics professor and speechwriter for U.S. President Richard Nixon.

Speaking of presidents who resigned in disgrace, yet another Blair grad, Carl Bernstein, was half of the dynamic Washington Post reporting duo that toppled Nixon.

Given that little window into such an outsize locale, it’s no surprise that Blair would be the school that steps into the light with a unique offering such as Silver Chips Climate Edition. While I graduated from nearby rival, Northwood, the menacing aura of Blair was palpable. It was good-naturedly akin to the stunt Donald Trump pulled at his debate with fellow presidential candidate Hillary Clinton, standing up, theatrically circling his foe, staring down at her with contempt and all the alpha male testosterone he could pump.

Sure, when it came to sports, my school’s teams a mile away couldn’t hold a candle (or a football, baseball, basketball or soccer ball) to Blair’s vast expanse of gifted athletes.

But more importantly, it seems to me, is the absolute necessity that a free press, woefully splintered though it may be, must continue unabated.

While it remains a lingering rumor that our school breathed the same air as the kids at Blair, the overarching truth is as clear as a mountain brook: Tragically, unless climate control is addressed civilly and constantly, there will be no need for future issues of Silver Chips.

“First, we need to hold corporations to account,” cried a neighbor after immersing herself in its relevant contents. “Capitalism has run amuck. What does this mean for my grandson?”

Kudos to all the inspired scribes, editors, photographers, artists and accountants who have joined forces to make Silver Chips the rare newspaper it is. You’ve scored again.

This time, play by play, on the existential field of dreams.

Tony Glaros, originally from Washington, is a longtime reporter and former educator. He says living on the Front Range sparks euphoria.