Agency to Launch Global Warming Pilot Program at Milpitas Schools
Breathe California is proud to announce the launch of a new program to address global warming in the Bay Area: Youth for a Cool Earth. The program is designed to engage students in efforts to reduce greenhouse gas emissions in their community via school-based youth outreach.
Through partnerships with local schools and community groups, Youth for a Cool Earth will lead students in efforts to counter the effects of climate change. Breathe California will recruit interested youth to join the project, educate them about climate change and train them as community/campus activists. The agency will then assist the students as they design and initiate projects to reduce the causes of climate change in their community. Such projects could range from encouraging carpooling at schools to initiating a campaign to get homes to switch to energy-efficient light bulbs.
“The effects of air pollution and global warming will have the greatest impact on future generations,” said Margo Sidener, President & CEO of Breathe California of the Bay Area “So, Youth for a Cool Earth seeks not only do something to address the problem now, but also to empower youth to embrace clean air activism for years to come.”
Through a grant from the Bay Area Air Quality Management District, Breathe California will be launching Youth for a Cool Earth as a one-year pilot program in Milpitas this March. The agency has already secured the participation of the Greener Generation Club at Russell Middle School and will also be engaging youth at the neighboring Milpitas High School and Pomeroy Elementary School. In addition, Breathe California will be partnering with the Santa Clara Air Quality Resource Team, Sunnyhills Neighborhood Association, and former advisers of Gunn High School’s GO FAST alternative transportation/trip-reduction project in Palo Alto.
After the initial pilot period, Sidener hopes the experience in Milpitas will allow the agency to secure funding to implement the Youth for a Cool Earth at other schools throughout the Bay Area. She also has a vision of creating a Bay Area-wide competition among different Youth for a Cool Earth student groups. For the more students that can be engaged today, the greater chance we have of heading off the effects of climate change tomorrow.