
Civic education empowers students to be active in communities
'It's important to be civically engaged.' That's what an Indiana Area High School junior told our Joshua Byers at the second Democracy Bowl at the University of Pittsburgh at Johnstown.
Students from seven school districts went head to head in a social studies competition that tested their knowledge of congressional acts, notable court cases, founding documents, treaties and amendments.
Representatives from the Bill of Rights Institute, the National Constitution Center and Fair Districts Pennsylvania also attended.
Chris Janson, the Bill of Rights Institute's senior project lead for civic learning initiatives, said he was inspired by the students' enthusiasm.
He told the students that civics education is not just about memorizing dates and reciting historic figures. It empowers citizens to be active members of their communities.
Students also presented civics fair projects that would improve the region's image. Among them were a project from Homer-Center School District students on addressing homelessness, which took first place; Greater Johnstown High School students' ideas for revitalizing the Hornerstown neighborhood playground; and Portage Area School District students' plans for building a pickleball court and expanding CPR training.
Mark Conlon, a Pitt- Johnstown professor and event organizer, described the bowl to Byers as bet- ter than his 'wildest dreams.'
And Portage teacher Tyler Johnson said, 'I think anytime we can get kids out of the building and engage them in those important subjects is a good way to show them how to take part in their communities after (graduation).'
We agree.
Pitt-Johnstown alum and Democracy Bowl donor Douglas Weimer is credited with helping to make the event a success with his generosity.
He said, 'It was a privilege to give back.'
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Boston Globe
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CBS News
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- CBS News
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Yahoo
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Opinion - In-office work mandates are bad for the environment
Office buildings across the country are filling up again as the air outside grows thicker with climate-warming gases. Federal agencies, state governments and many corporations now require employees to commute five days a week, reversing the remote-work flexibility adopted in 2020. Mounting research shows that those mandates carry a heavy environmental cost. A new satellite analysis by Mark Ma at the University of Pittsburgh, Betty Xing at Baylor University and Ling Zhang at Rowan University tracks carbon dioxide and nitrogen dioxide over the 10 most and 10 least flexible U.S. metropolitan areas. Using both NASA and European satellite instruments, the authors measured concentrations within a 20-mile radius of each downtown from 2017 to 2023. The flexible metros — places where remote and hybrid schedules remain common — kept carbon emission levels roughly flat between 2019 and 2022, whereas the least flexible metros endured a marked uptick. Nitrogen dioxide, a traffic pollutant, plunged everywhere when lockdowns began but rebounded far faster in rigid, office-centric cities. Those findings highlight the commuting tailpipe as a decisive source of urban greenhouse gases. Independent laboratory research aligns with the satellite record. A 2023 study in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences calculated that moving from full-time office work to full-time work from home slashes an employee's work-related carbon footprint by as much as 58 percent. Employees who stay home two to four days a week still cut emissions 11 to 29 percent, whereas a token 'one day remote' policy trims only 2 percent because extra errands and higher home energy use cancel most of the advantage. Modeling by Cornell University and Microsoft echoes those numbers: fully remote staff register a 54 percent smaller footprint than in-office peers, and hybrid schedules deliver double-digit savings when adopted for at least two days per week. 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Taken together, these studies dismantle the assertion that full-time return-to-office orders are climate neutral. The federal government's own sustainability plan pledges to cut agency emissions 65 percent by 2030. Yet more than 400,000 federal employees faced requirements to appear in person, the vast majority full-time, due to the new presidential administration's policies. States such as Texas, Ohio and Tennessee have matched that strictness, while giants like Amazon, JPMorgan Chase and Goldman Sachs adopted five-day mandates. Each decree forces millions of additional car trips at a moment when the transportation sector already contributes 28 percent of U.S. greenhouse gases. Remote work is no panacea. It strains public transit budgets, shifts some emissions from city centers to suburbs, and can blur work-life boundaries. 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Requiring five days at a desk is no longer just a question of management style; it is an environmental decision whose consequences swirl above city skylines and linger in the atmosphere for centuries. Science delivers the verdict: flexible work shrinks carbon footprints. Policymakers and business executives now face their own test — whether to heed that verdict or watch tailpipe exhaust erase hard-won climate progress. Gleb Tsipursky, Ph.D., serves as the CEO of the hybrid work consultancy Disaster Avoidance Experts and authored the best-seller 'Returning to the Office and Leading Hybrid and Remote Teams.' Copyright 2025 Nexstar Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.