Youth Step it Up for Climate Change

Two hundred people, mostly students and a few dozen adults, kicked off the 8th annual YouthCAN Climate Action Summit on May 10th. The MIT Stata Center in Cambridge was buzzing with hands on energy exhibits, engaging workshops, an energy themed photo booth, face painting, hip hop performances by Tem Blessed, alternative fuel vehicles including an electric bike and a Tesla and much more. The Summit was focused on engaging youth to Raise Their Voice around climate change and take more action in their communities to lower emissions. In the afternoon program, students from four different high schools had the opportunity to present on what their green teams are doing that is innovative, engaging and changing their school culture. Each student group then had the chance to honor a local Climate Champion who is modeling what true leadership looks like through a deep commitment to climate change.

The Champions in this first annual award ceremony were:

• Rachel Gutter, Director of the Center for Green Schools at USGBC
• Brian Swett, Chief of Energy, Environment and Open Space for the City of Boston (pictured right with students from Boston Latin School)
• Jamie Eldridge, MA State Senator
• Next Step Living, local green business

The Alliance for Climate Education (ACE) spearheaded the event with planning and program support from Boston Latin School, Acton Boxborough Regional School District, MIT and event sponsors, Next Step Living. The event was a great success, reaching 45 different schools and 5 youth groups from MA, NH, NY, CT, RI.

Olivia Gieger, a Junior at Wellesley High School commented on the event, saying “I just wanted to thank the YouthCAN Team for putting together such an amazing event. I met so many inspirational people and got so many good ideas for new initiatives our green team can do. The program was awesome and really effective, so I just wanted to say thank you for introducing us to it and getting Wellesley involved in bigger climate action.”