Just around 50 companies are responsible for over 80% of the entire world’s fossil fuel emissions. How should voters hold them responsible for the irreversible damage done to the environment? Malana Schreiber, and a group of other students at Amador, are working to pass a Make Polluters Pay resolution through the Pleasanton City Council. The bill would require the top carbon emitting companies to pay a portion of their profit to a climate superfund. This fund would then help communities in need and provide them with wildfire relief, as well as money to mitigate flood damage.
“I think it’s really important for youth to speak out because it is our world that we will be going into…It’s our time to take the wheel…because it is our future that we’re fighting for,” said Malana Schreiber (‘26).
Schreiber has previously been involved in a variety of advocacy work, most notably organizing Amador’s school wide ICE walkout. However, Schreiber was first introduced to activism when she hosted a voter registration booth last November. Since then, she and a group of students at Amador, have been collaborating with Youthpower and Indivisible Tri-Valley, both organizations that focus on empowering youth, to pass the resolution.
“What I love about the Make Polluters Pay campaign is that it’s all about justice and what’s fair…Who should pay to rebuild Los Angeles? Should the victims pay? Or the taxpayers? Californians paid 2.5 billion dollars from our general fund last year to pay for the fires…and the oil companies, who have made trillions of dollars overheating the climate to the point of causing those fires paid nothing,” said Heather MacLeod, a Youthpower advisor.
Effort in Activism
MacLeod has been supporting students in different counties and helping them encourage their city council to pass resolutions in favor of the Make Polluters Pay bill. She meets with students to help them outreach by attending events and calling elected officials.
“I think a big challenge when trying to get a hold of City Council is that it’s hard to be taken seriously as just a couple of youth trying to pass this resolution, but there are definitely also people who appreciate youth and talking about what we want to fight for,” said Schreiber (‘26).
So far, students have met with a member of the city council to further discuss passing a resolution in Pleasanton. The group has also presented during public comments at the Energy and Environment Commission. The commission has the ability to give a statement to the city council, which could play an influential role in passing the resolution.
“I think that that was the first council or commission meeting that I spoke at and…it was really helpful because at the Commission meetings, they’re not recorded, there’s not a huge crowd there, so it was nice as an…entryway towards our future meetings where we’re going to go speak to the City Council,” said Schreiber (‘26).
Activism Across the Tri-Valley
Students from surrounding cities, like Livermore, have also been collaborating with students from Pleasanton to pass resolutions. They help each other develop speeches for city council meetings and plans for outreach.
“As a young person, it felt really incredible to have tangible legislation to advocate for…what excites me most is that this is an achievable action that directly addresses both climate disaster preparedness and environmental justice,” said Freyja Kirti (‘26), a Livermore student.
Students participating in this advocacy work have improved their public speaking, and collaboration skills, all while fighting for what they believe in.
