Students learning about helping the planet on a micro level

The United Nations panel that studied global warming over the last year concluded that climate change is happening — and limiting its impact may require reducing greenhouse gas emissions to zero in the next 85 years.

A group of students attending Ysleta High School’s Environmental Sciences Academy is taking the findings to heart.

When ABC-7 stopped by the school this week, students were in their garden outside the academy building on the south side of the school.

“We grow green beans, currently we’re growing pumpkins,” said freshman Alphonse Ingo. “We are growing tomatoes and chile. And jalapenos.”

The students were pulling weeds, hoeing and adding compost to the plant holders, which are made of recycled tires.

“We get the organic waste from the cafeteria and we chop it down and turn it into compost,” said Ysleta HS sophomore Ronald Ramirez. “We focus on making our own crops, our own soil, and fertilizer.”

Students chemistry, biology and physics concepts in the classroom setting. They then take the concepts and apply them in the workshop down the hall. So far, students have created a greenhouse and a system that waters plants with water recycled from an aquarium.

“The purpose of the academy is to get students in issues that going on in our Earth right now,” said Jessica Bane, the academy’s lead teacher.

The academy is entering its fifth year on the Ysleta HS campus.

“I always wanted to be an engineer and when I heard about environmental engineering it made me excited that I could help the Earth at the same time,” said Ramirez.

Ramirez said the UN report — released in four volumes over the last year, with the final volume published Nov. 2 — is startling.

“To us, it’s a scare,” Ramirez said. “We’re young and we know if something doesn’t change, we know it’s going to be a sad future (for us).”

While the report warned that failure to reduce emissions could irreversibly impact the world’s climate and food supply, Ramirez remained optimistic.

“I believe it is reversible,” said the teen, pointing to his and his classmates’ efforts to convert a gas-powered go-cart into a solar-powered machine.

They hope to have the conversion completed by May 2015.

“If society changes the way of living, we can make reverse this and make the world a cleaner place,” said Ramirez.

The Environmental Sciences Academy is open to any and all students in the city.