BAYCS 2020
Our first ever Bay Area Youth Climate Summit happened on September 12, 2020!
75%
of attendees who plan to continue working on their Climate Action Plan
_edited.png)
88
280+
7
1260+
hours of live virtual engagement
participants
schools
timezones
By the Numbers
Workshops
Check out all of our amazing 2020 workshops below! Attendees chose one for each time slot.
Morning Session
10:30-11:15 am PST
Public Aquarium Partnerships Bring Hope For Reefs
with Bart Shepherd, Director of the Steinhart Aquarium at the California Academy of Sciences
Stunningly beautiful and awe-inspiring, coral reefs occupy just 0.2% of Earth’s vast oceans, and yet are home to 25% of all marine life. These vibrant ecosystems support the health and livelihoods of hundreds of millions of people globally through activities like fishing and tourism—generating billions of dollars every year. Today, reefs are in dire need of our attention; worldwide, about half have been lost in just the past three decades. Partnerships between public aquariums, zoos, research scientists, and concerned individuals are leading to new approaches to actually restore reefs, including harnessing the natural power of corals’ sexual reproduction to create a new generation of resilient reef-builders.
Youth Environmental Entrepreneurs Panel
with Sarah Goody (Climate NOW), Nicolas Lama (Grove Project), Shreya Chaudhuri (Project Planet), and Apurva Iyengar (Youth.ify)
Join this panel of youth who have founded their own climate-focused organizations for a Q+A session. Learn how and why these young people founded organizations to make a difference in their communities. This session focuses on how these youth used tools like citizen science, social media, education, technology, and policy as platforms to advocate for climate action, and how you can too!
Climate Justice: Local to Global
with Erin Griffin, Youth Climate Program Manager at the Wild Center
Participants will become familiar with the term “climate justice” and more comfortable discussing the justice implications of climate change in their local communities, across the country, and at the global scale. With a deeper understanding of climate justice, participants will leave the workshop ready to take action and lead climate change solutions with greater motivation, compassion, and effectiveness.
Looking Back on History, Moving Forward: the Youth as a Catalyst for Systemic Change
with members of Sunrise Movement Lowell
With the actions of historic movements at our fingertips and environmental crises all around us, the youth have a unique opportunity to create a movement that will reshape our present and define our futures. Using the Sunrise Movement’s tactics, an understanding of how to build people power, and the Green New Deal’s goals we will discuss what exactly is needed to ensure a liveable future.
This is Zero Hour
with Zanagee Artis, Founder & Deputy Advocacy Director at Zero Hour
The mission of Zero Hour is to center the voices of diverse youth in the conversation around climate and environmental justice. Zero Hour is a youth-led movement creating entry points, training, and resources for new young activists and organizers wanting to take concrete action around climate change. They will be talking about their #Vote4FutureCampaign, the Green New Deal, and how to pass School board climate resolutions.
Beyond Performative: How to Raise Your Voice Online
with members of Fridays for Future Digital
This age of the pandemic has pushed many of us to digital activism. Even when we return to in-person organizing, digital organizing will remain incredibly important for directing our voices at a common target—the fossil fuel industry and our inept government. Fridays for Future Digital has been organizing campaigns with dozens of climate groups from across the world, helping people do tens of thousands of actions from signing an Open Letter to ratify an environmental human rights treaty to awareness campaigns for indigenous justice. We've organized and failed a lot: come to this workshop to learn how to avoid the same mistakes we had early on in our digital campaigns, and how to join and make campaigns that actually make a difference!
Reduce, Reuse, Converge with Zero Waste Youth
with Freddy Coronado, Fundraising and Organizational Development Lead at Zero Waste Youth USA
Freddy lives in San Francisco and is an active member of the zero waste community. For the past six years he has worked in the San Francisco Bay Area implementing and improving recycling and composting programs. Freddy is also a founding member of Zero Waste Youth USA, a youth organization based in the San Francisco Bay Area that empowers youth to lead their communities towards a zero waste future. Freddy’s workshop will provide an overview of Zero Waste Youth nationally and internationally. His workshop will also provide an insight on how youth can become future environmental leaders by taking action as students, volunteers, and involved community members in the zero waste movement.
Fighting Injustice Creatively: Activism Through Poetry
with Aniya Butler of Youth Vs. Apocalypse
Join Aniya Butler, a Youth vs. Apocalypse activist and published poet, for an interactive workshop on the power of creative writing in activism. Participants will have a chance to write their own poem and learn more about how you can use your voice to fight injustice.
Afternoon Session
12:00-12:45 pm PST
Our Common Future: Creating a World with Zero Waste
with Gianna Rivera Fazioli, Environmental Education Manager at SF Environment
People, place, and fair share; This presentation asks you to consider how these are interwoven. Engage in the ways planned obsolescence, fast fashion, and environmental racism lead to injustices in communities and their environments. Together, students with their presenter, explore the solutions towards a healthier, more just future for all by refusing, reusing, recycling, and composting.
Youth Vs. Apocalypse Q+A Panel
with members of Youth Vs. Apocalypse
Youth Vs. Apocalypse is a Bay Area-based Youth Climate Justice Organization that works to uplift the voices of youth activists, particularly youth of color, in the fight for a more sustainable, environmentally conscious, judicious, and equitable world. In this q&a panel, you will get to hear from several of YVA’s groundbreaking leaders about their organization and its values, how YVA has been able to organize and lead huge climate movements and initiatives such as the 2019 Youth Climate Strike, what climate justice and intersectional environmentalism mean and why they are important, and what you can do to further the climate justice movement.
Citizen Science: Empowering Youth to Create Change
with Amelia Fortgang and Nicolas Lama, Senior Water Challenge Ambassadors at EarthEcho International
Join Amelia and Nicolas to talk about how they both became involved in the environmental movement through citizen science, and how it has given youth the tools to make a greater impact. During this session, you will discover the power of having a network of youth for collaboration and support, and how this network helped each of them on their journeys as environmentalists.
Working with Decision Makers
with Erin Griffin, Youth Climate Program Manager at the Wild Center
Do you want to take climate action in your communities, but aren’t comfortable with strikes or rallies? There are many pathways for youth to be civically engaged in their communities, and this workshop will focus on how youth can partner with their local municipalities for community-scale climate action.
with Supriya Patel of Earth Uprising
The Climate 101 workshop will cover the basics of the climate crisis including the science behind the crisis, it’s impact on the world around us, the 2018 IPCC report, and of course, what we can do about all of it. In order to combat the climate crisis we must first understand what we’re up against, which is why we invite you to join this workshop!
Communication: How it Can Save the World
with Armon Alex, Science Communicator, YLC Member at EarthEcho, and Former AquaTeen Program Intern and Exhibit Host at the Texas State Aquarium
Effective communication holds within itself the key to creating lasting impacts on important decisions and connections with others in hopes of furthering our environmental efforts. In this workshop, we'll address the critical questions of why connections are important, and how we can create them to save our planet.
Be Curious. Find Out. Do Something.
with Ilishio Lovejoy, Policy and Research Manager at Fashion Revolution
Join Ilishio Lovejoy for an interactive workshop to explore how your clothes link to social and environmental justice and the choices that lie ahead. Ilishio is a Policy and Research Manager at Fashion Revolution; the world's largest movement working towards a fashion industry that conserves and restores the environment and values people over growth and profit.
No 1.5 without Nature: Nature-Based Solutions 101
with Hannah Johns, Scout Pronto, Emma Thornton, and Sara Babcock of Youth4Nature
Join this session hosted by Youth4Nature, to strengthen your understanding of Nature-Based Solutions to climate change and justice issues. This session focuses on highlighting that nature is critical to an adaptive climate, and that youth are critical to change.
