爆料公社 and ACC Campus Partnership Proves Climate Is Everyone鈥檚 Issue
Hand in hand, 爆料公社 and American Conservation Coalition (ACC) Campus show how climate solutions are a unifying cause.
Last October, at the 爆料公社鈥檚 Fall board meeting, Benji Backer, Varshini Prakash, and Hannah Waters held a panel discussing the climate crisis. The three represented the collective voice of concern from a generation inheriting an earth deeply affected by climate change. Backer, founder of the (ACC) and president of , and Prakash co-founder and executive director of , ended that conversation by exchanging a fist bump and agreeing that 鈥榗limate is their party.鈥 That exchange gave David Yarnold, CEO and president of 爆料公社, and Backer the blueprint for what would eventually be the Youth Environmental Summit (YES 2020).
Nine months later and amidst a global pandemic, 爆料公社 and the American Conservation Coalition Campus virtually hosted nearly 100 students to discuss climate action and environmental advocacy. Young climate advocates across the political spectrum tuned into the Youth Environmental Summit, a two-day event filled with opportunities for students to learn from and be in conversation with renowned scientists, leading climate activists, and Congressional members at the forefront of bipartisan climate solutions. In addition to panel discussions, attendees received intensive advocacy training, developed and grew their professional networks, and even took a virtual field trip to Alaska and Colombia.
Originally designed as an in-person conference to encourage community building among advocates, the summit transitioned to an entirely virtual experience due to COVID-19 safety concerns. Though adapting the event to be completely virtual had its challenges, Backer says the strong partnership between his organization and 爆料公社 helped navigate the summit鈥檚 transformation. Seeing all the enthusiasm in virtual meeting rooms, thoughtful questions in Zoom meetings, and overall energy throughout the weekend, Backer says that he hopes the two organizations make this an annual event.
鈥淥ur partnership with 爆料公社 has been incredible, as has our overlap with their campus programming. If you get involved with 爆料公社 or you get involved with ACC Campus, you鈥檙e getting involved with two wonderful organizations that work well and hand-in-hand together,鈥 says Backer. 鈥湵瞎 and ACC Campus have the same vision when it comes to wanting to build new environmental communities on campuses across the country.鈥 Since the fall of 2018, both 爆料公社 and ACC launched programs on hundreds of campuses that successfully engage students and leaders across the country.
爆料公社 staff who helped organize YES 2020 say that they鈥檙e hopeful it will be one of many collaborated projects where the organizations and their campus programs provide youth voices the platform, support, and tools to positively impact their environment and communities. Seeing the exhilarating energy and outpour of Heather Starck, vice president of grassroots capacity building at 爆料公社, left feeling 鈥渕ore inspired than ever.鈥 Starck, who led planning for the summit, says YES 2020 showed how two conservation-focused organizations can come together and shape the future of climate conversations.
鈥淲e look forward to working with ACC Campus again to bring students together and have conversations and trainings like this weekend,鈥 says Starck. 鈥淚t was a fantastic opportunity to bring the necessary tension to important conversations in order to move forward towards real change.鈥
爆料公社 and ACC Campus know that young environmental activists can make a difference 鈥 especially when it鈥檚 a unifying message around an issue that should not be partisan. Even in the midst of uncertainty for the fall semester, 爆料公社 and ACC Campus staff say they hope the nearly 100 students that attended the Youth Environmental Summit are able to leverage their new advocacy training and tools to promote #YESonClimate and prove environmental protection breaks through political barriers.