BAYCS Earth Day Festival returns for a day of climate hope and celebration

Attendees visit the Roots4Tomorrow booth

Rays of sunlight broke through the overcast sky at noon when the Bay Area Youth Climate Summit’s Earth Day Festival was in full swing. As guitar riffs played in the background, the scent of freshly brewed tea, soil, and enthusiasm beckoned attendees of all ages to learn more about our planet. The BAYCS Earth Day Festival is an annual gathering for environmentalists of all ages. This year, Lindley Meadows at Golden Gate Park hosted more than a hundred attendees and over twenty booths from around the Bay. Interactive activities, food trucks, and music encouraged visitors to take action against climate change through local organizations. The event was community-based, centered around one idea: “Paving the Future of Environmentalism: Resilience Through Community Action.”

“To me, the future of environmentalism looks like a future where a lot more people are taking part in it,” says Co-Chair Aishani Garg, who helped choose the theme. “There’s a youth environmental space that’s been formed, and it's really important that we keep helping it grow, especially in the San Francisco Bay Area.” Garg encourages new environmentalists to find their community. “This festival is creating a space for youth who are interested in environmentalism and doing their part but sometimes aren't really sure where to start.”

BAYCS members at the thrifting booth

When walking around the meadow, guests stopped and learned from booths that were pre-registering youth to vote, selling thrifted clothes, potting plants, sharing about their fight against the fossil fuel industry and much more. The variety was enriching and a true symbol of the strength of environmentalism. At the thrift booth, attendees learned more about limiting fast fashion while also buying cool clothes to take home. Other visitors flocked around the Mycelium Youth Network’s community garden booth, with fresh tea and honey samples.

Attendees felt community positivity through productive conversation, sharing ideas, and fun activities, and even participating in a volleyball game with park patrons. When asked why she thought the theme was important, attendee Emma Jones says, “It it is important to uplift each other and spread awareness for what you are trying to support and it was really easy to feel like a sense of community and friendship here.” The festival was an amazing opportunity to meet like-minded individuals and learn so much from people with different ideas on what this movement needs to focus on. The booth runners were passionate about their contributions to environmentalism and even the vegan food truck Casita Vegana shared its mission of eating less meat.

“Even though as a single person you might not be able to do a whole lot, if everyone works together to do just a little bit, we can accomplish a lot as a group,” said Pierce Nguyen, who ran the Roots for Tomorrow booth, echoing the importance of community-building in forming resilience. Coming together at the BAYCS Earth Day Festival, participants celebrated hope and shared ideas, giving everyone the boost that they needed to continue on in their fight. Events like the BAYCS Earth Day Festival, which cultivate community, are integral to the climate movement, continuing to inspire people to find what they’re passionate about within the climate movement, organize and fight in their own way, and make friends with people with all sorts of ideas. Especially in hard times for the climate movement, it can be easy to get lost in the cycle of doom and gloom, but coming together as a community is a testament to the power of collective action and hope, and a reminder to keep going no matter what.