A cohort of 60 students who gathered in Green Mountain, Vermont last summer researched and strategized climate change solutions. They cross-referenced the types of influences, passions and skills they have access to as young people. They identified climate challenges in their area and communities. They wrote their plans, detailed their timeline, imagined their influence, and then presented their ideas to field experts for feedback. They then returned to cities and towns and began to carry out projects.
We checked in with three of these students to see how their project unfolded. Their reflections uncover the fundamental challenges and strategies for creating change amid an urgent global crisis.
Anna P., Vaishnavi S., Katana K. Columbia Climate School in Green Mountaina two-week campus-based program for high school students interested in understanding climate challenges and key solutions. At Green Mountains, students learn with like-minded peers and work closely with Colombian experts through lectures, fieldwork, activities and field trips. Ultimately, they will create a climate action project that will be implemented in their own community after the program is finished.
Anna, a Virginia high school sophomore, was fascinated when she learned about Inflation Reduction Methods (IRAs) during a lecture from a Green Mountains instructor. “We’ve learned there are a lot of incentives, tax credits and rebates, but many people aren’t making use of them because they’re complicated. It’s all on different websites.” Anna’s desire to correct this issue has influenced her climate action project. She envisions creating a website that will allow users to access the benefits of an IRA via incentive calculators, search tools and newsletters.
Vaishnavi, a senior at high school, has already worked with the energy manager in his hometown of Washington, helping to identify the county’s solar survival buildings when he arrived at the Green Mountains. “Installing solar was something I really wanted to do, even if it was difficult,” she says as she reflects on the development of the project. She had already identified her passion, but was pushed against expert feedback during the program, and she looked into implementation details. She continues to advance her climate action project with the goal of installing solar panels at her local K-12 schools.
Second Grade Katana applied climate change ideas and lessons from climate change during the Green Mountains program to her Climate Action Club at her school. She originally wanted to replace plastic tools in her cafeteria with reusable silverware, but she soon encountered obstacles that included key components in the adoption of sustainability initiatives, such as community participation and lack of financial feasibility. She is currently focusing on other cafeteria projects, including researching biodegradable cooking utensil options and expanding composting capacity for schools currently with single bins and fewer pick-up days. In her words, “It’s not going to cut it down for long-term change.”
Vaishnavi also encountered a challenge. The Sun’s approval process took time and the responsiveness of school officials did not match her own urgency. “As a young person, what I learned when working with state and city agencies is that your priorities may not be the same as their priorities. I have learned that I can be flexible in my goals and take on the pace of government agencies until I am in a position of power and influence where I can make decisions. The best way is to do what I can and push while I’m on a schedule,” she says.
Katana agrees. “You’ll run into a lot of problems when you’re trying to make changes in a very fixed system,” she also recommends “balancing things that are persistent, but not too claimed.”
Still, all three students found a way to make progress. They learned that change happens through collaboration. “Find influential people who have the same goal and determination to accomplish what you have,” advises Vaishnavi. She also suggests setting clear goals. “List all schools [with potential for solar energy generation] And having it in front of us has encouraged us more to know what our goal is. And now we have to take steps to get there. “She turned to becoming an environmental engineer working for renewable energy.
Katana continues to work with her Climate Action Club and plans to take over the club’s leadership next year. She promotes schools to make them better. If they expect this from us, then they shouldn’t be surprised when we actually want to change. ”
Anna launches her website aimed at demite IRA incentives.,’ In spring. She continues to look for ways to increase user traffic to her site through both social media and community relationship building. Being in high school is “a force I think I have. There are so many more things I want to learn and have to learn. But that’s also one of my strengths, because I don’t work full time and I have time to meet people, hold meetings and talk about projects,” Anna says.
“Young people are incredible in the climate movement, stepping up as community leaders and moving forward with positive solutions,” said Laurel Zaima-Sheehy, assistant director at K12 and assistant director of continuing education at Climate School. “We want to support students in developing our framework with a specific next step, so the climate action project will become a reality. The goal is that we will continue to work on climate since the program is finished. This is our lifelong work!”
For more information about Columbia Climate School in Green Mountain Program, explore us Website and FAQ. Sign up here To ensure that the University and University Mailing List is up to date with summer and grade offerings, please email Learn@climate.columbia.edu.
