Helping youth find hope in the face of climate change
“I am motivated to confront the climate crisis today because it’s really not fair that a bunch of people, animals and environments are suffering and being destroyed without a care in the world.”
“I am motivated to confront the climate crisis today because it’s really not fair that a bunch of people, animals and environments are suffering and being destroyed without a care in the world.”
“Climate change will affect my family. My papa’s from Puerto Rico and my nana is from Guam. They’re both islands. My papa’s family’s farm that’s been there for generations won’t exist anymore. Most of my nana’s family still lives in Guam. Both my nana and papa are native to their islands. We’d lose so much culture and history if they went under.”
“In summer 2022 I was affected by climate change … It got to the point where there were wildfires and very smokey air and caused me to have asthma attacks more often."
— Written reflections from youth as part of a Youth Engaged in Sustainable Solutions program.
Climate change is an increasing challenge for our world — one that is especially important to younger people who have grown up in a time when the risk of climate change has turned into visible realities.
Youth Engaged in Sustainable Solutions (YESS) understands the enormity of this problem and is supporting high school and college age youth who want to make a difference in their local communities. The group is based in Pierce County and is working to develop solutions to some of the area’s most pressing environmental problems.
YESS educates young people about climate change and inspires them to take action. Photo courtesy YESS.
YESS started as a youth summit in 2018, which brought students together to take meaningful action and create conversations around climate change impacts. Over several years, the program has evolved into a network of youth and youth-serving organizations dedicated to building climate resilient communities across Pierce County.
YESS hosts several events including Climate Café’s, a Youth Film Festival and Youth Climate Summits in partnership with EarthGen. The program also supports individual youth in developing their own climate actions, like the recent formation of a South Sound Youth Environmental Council.
Hannah and Nicole seek input from youth to shape these events, taking into account young people’s identities and the shared perspectives they’ve gained through living in Pierce County.
“I’ve heard students walk away from the Climate Café’s seeing the other youth in attendance as allies in this work,” Hannah said.” Students from the same school that didn’t know each other previously have come together and found a common story, common worries and common hopes among each other. It is powerful to see community being formed around you.”
YESS helps youth practice storytelling as part of their work to combat climate change. Photo courtesy YESS.
Building off the work of Dr. Ayana Elizabeth Johnson, Climate Conversations Trainings by Yes and Nature, and the Climate Emotions Wheel by Climate Mental Health Network, YESS creates spaces for youth to build community as they consider climate change impacts. Youth are constantly exposed to information and misinformation that feed them with fear, anxiety, anger and other emotional responses. YESS offers youth a place to express their emotions about local climate impacts in a healthy way. YESS helps youth support each other to move from a state of complacency and into a sense of power and action where the group can become the solution to the problem.
“Our lessons focus on blending social emotional learning with climate action. The goal is to prepare youth with the skills to navigate climate anxiety through understanding emotions, creating connections with others and determining what climate action best suits them and their communities,” Hannah said.
In the past year, YESS has held Climate Cafes with themes on storytelling, practicing difficult conversations through improv, and healing connection to nature.
The students at these events are joining with different levels of understanding of climate change — but they all have emotions to express about climate impacts. These events are a space to educate and to inspire joyful, community driven action.
YESS aims to educate students about climate change and encourage them to reflect on their personal experiences and connection to climate impacts.
Some of the questions the team asks students:
- What is your comfort level in talking about climate change with your peers/family/etc?
- What is your connection to climate change impacts?
- What does an environmental community member look like to you?
- Where do you find hope?
- What emotions come up for you when thinking about climate change?
- What does a just climate future look like to you?
- How can the county be more effective in climate change messaging?
- How does the future generation want to learn about how the environment has changed due to human-driven climate change?
YESS helps connect youth to resources in Pierce County to help them learn about climate change and other environmental issues. Photo courtesy YESS.
Hannah and Nicole are inspired by the youth they work with to continue the journey to a just climate future. They find hope through seeing youth involved in climate work.
As an educator, “social emotional learning is essential in building community efficacy. We have to come together as a community to build a more climate resilient home for ourselves. These programs provide students the opportunity to explore their identities and share their perspectives and experiences they’ve gained through living in Pierce County. We are such a huge and diverse county and there is so much wisdom that is shared through our residents and our youth who are a part of the variety of communities who call this place home.”
If you’d like to find out more about the YESS Network and the events they host, check out their website at PierceCountyWA.gov/YESS.
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