The key to this project is a free tool created by the non-profit Community Climate Solutions called BrightAction. In 2021 Spokane City Council approved funding for a city-wide subscription with Community Climate Solutions that has established a branded, custom website called SustainableSpokane.org. Using this system helps the City of Spokane achieve many of its sustainability and climate goals while helping empower families to reduce their climate pollution and save money. (Sustainable Spokane online tool is open to anyone in Spokane, not just students!)
SustainableSpokane also includes dynamic features that makes it possible for students and teachers across Spokane Public Schools to create school-based groups and use positive competition to see which school can get the most “points” by reducing their impact on the environment. Students and families will be able to reduce their impact on the environment and save money. The idea for the Spokane Climate Cup was proposed and organized by the Gonzaga Institute for Climate, Water, and the Environment and has been developed in partnership with Spokane Public Schools (SPS), the student-led SPS Student Advisory Council on Climate Change (SAC3), and Spokane City Council’s Sustainability Action Subcommittee (SAS).
Spokane Climate Cup
(The 2024 competition will start in March 2024.) Starting Earth Week of each year and going through the end of May, all SPS high schools are invited to participate in the annual Spokane Climate Cup, a single, district-wide competition between to see which school collectively can complete the most climate actions, reduce their footprint, get the most points, and win the traveling Climate Cup trophy!
Students, want to help your school win the 2024 Spokane Climate Cup? Educators, want to help your students participate?
Rules & Ensuring Fairness
- Point calculations:
- One point is awarded per action completed. (Note: this is different than points within SustainableSpokane, which calculates points based on the tons of CO2 equivalent reduced by a given action).
- Score board:
- Point totals for each participating school will be published on this website on Monday during each week of the competition period (see Timeline below)
- Fairness and equity:
- To ensure population size equity, point totals will be calculated per capita, that is, the total number of points will be divided by the number of student participants, ensuring that larger schools do not have an unfair advantage over smaller schools.
- To ensure resource equity, the competition will be based on the number of actions completed, not the size of the impact of a given action.
Timeline
- Early spring team generation and recruiting
Teachers and club leaders are supported by Gonzaga’s Climate Institute in learning about how to create a team and lesson plans are provided for incorporation as a class activity. Each school will work to encourage students, clubs, teachers, and administration to create and join teams for the competition.
- April 22 to May 24 – Spokane Climate Cup Competition
Each school competes to see who can complete the greatest number of climate actions during this time period and get the most number of points.
- June 12 – 2024 Spokane Climate Cup award is announced by the Gonzaga Climate Institute. The winning school will display the traveling Spokane Climate Cup trophy until the next competition!
Want to join the Climate Cup?
Partners
The Spokane Climate Cup pilot is a joint project supported by the following groups:
- Gonzaga Institute for Climate, Water, and the Environment (lead organizer and sponsor)
- Spokane Public Schools (SPS)
- SPS Student Advisory Council on Climate Change (SAC3)
- Spokane City Council’s Sustainability Action Subcommittee (SAS)
Questions about the Climate Cup? ClimateCenter@gonzaga.edu