CELEBRATING TWO TEENAGERS, THE BECHDEL TEST—AND MAYBE A NEW PARLOR GAME PART 1

THE GOODGOODGOOD WEBSITE POSTS TWO FASCINATING ITEMS: Kamrin Baker’s “A New Law Requires Illinois High Schoolers to Learn About Climate Change. It Was Written by Two Local Teens,” and Meghan Cook’s “These Movies Pass the ‘Bechdel Test’ for Climate Change,” both appearing February 17, 2026. Curiously, this coincides with our president ignorantly calling climate change “a hoax” yet again. 

Timely, or what? ’Tis a pity he doesn’t read.

Tidbits follow today and tomorrow in Parts 1 and 2  illuminating these two items from Good³. (The abbreviation is my shorthand, not this fine website’s). I also offer a related parlor game. (“What’s a ‘parlor,’ grandpa?”)

Kudos, Illinois! And for Iris Shadis-Greengas and Grace Brady Too! Kamrin Baker recounts, “Starting in the 2026-2027 school year, a new state law in Illinois will require every public high school to include instruction on climate change and the impacts and causes of climate change for grades nine through 12.” 

“The law’s journey began,” continues Baker, “when Iris Shadis-Greengas, a senior at Naperville Central High School submitted a proposal to Rep. Yang Rohr as part of a capstone course. Then, her state representative decided to sponsor it.” 

Baker quotes Shadis-Greengas: “I was really happy. A bill that was written by a high schooler, I thought that was really cool a legislator would actually do that.”

“Another student at Neuqua Valley High School, then-senior Grace Brady, was working on a similar project,” Baker reports. Brady is now studying climate policy at the University of Illinois-Urbana Champaign. 

Brady observes, “There’s so much misinformation everywhere. I really want people, when they encounter these things, to say, ‘Oh, well, in school I learned that this is the science. This is what’s correct.’ They’ll be able to be mindful of the content they see and know that science is real.”

Baker notes, “The duo teamed up with Rep. Yang Rohr, and despite some debate on the House floor, it passed. The state’s Board of Education and Environmental Protection Agency are creating the curriculum now, with a rollout planned for the upcoming school year.” State Senator Adriane Johnson also championed the bill.

Students and lawmakers celebrate Illinois HB 4985 being signed into law. Image courtesy George Tulley/Climate Education 4 Illinois.

Joining Other States. A bit of Internet research lists New Jersey (2022-2023 school year), Connecticut (2023), California (2023), Oregon (2025), Illinois (2026-2027), and New York (2027-2028) as those enacting laws or mandates requiring climate change education in public school systems.

“Additionally,” it’s noted, “over 20 states and D.C. have adopted the Next Generation Science Standards (NGSS), which include climate change as a core component of middle and high school science.”

Tomorrow in Part 2, we’ll examine the Bechdel Test and its impact on climate change education. ds

© Dennis Simanaitis, SimanaitisSays.com, 2026