What is a Youth Climate Summit?

REGISTTRATION FOR THE 2019 SUMMIT HAS CLOSED.

The 2019 summit will be held Friday, March 8th all day on Columbia’s campus and is FREE to attend!

Youth climate summits are conferences for high school students to learn about climate change on a personal level through plenary speakers and workshops that show students actionable ways to engage in the climate movement. Each summit concludes with participants being mentored through the process of writing a climate action plan, a project outline for something they can do in their school or community. For each high school that registers, we are looking for a team of students to attend.

At the Columbia Youth Climate Summit, students will:

• Hear the latest climate change research-based information about the science, and learn the economic and ecological consequences of climate change
• Learn strategies to respond & adapt to climate change in NYC and in the process save their schools and communities money
• Develop a Climate Action Plan to bring back to their school and community
• Benefit through increased knowledge and development of leadership skills
• Network with schools across New York City and beyond to learn about successful climate action
• Learn how other Youth Climate Summits are networking with schools, organizations and communities across the world and will be representing the United States at the UNESCO World Youth Forum, One Young World Summit in Thailand, and UN COP 21 Climate Talks in Paris

Speakers for the 2019 summit will include:

• NASA Scientist Allegra LeGrande
• ZeroHour NYC
• Environmental Advocates of NY
• Center for Art Education and Sustainability
• Columbia Professor Jason Smerdon
• Hunter College Professor Tom Angotti
• Sharon Gaber from Cloverleaf Environmental Design
• Sunworks
• NYC DOE Department of Sustainability
• ZeroWaste Schools

The 2018 summit featured a full day of programming, with workshops from:

• Columbia University Professors
• a representative from Zero Waste Schools
• sustainable eating nutritionist Ryan Andrews
• National Green Schools Alliance
• iMatter Youth
• a plaintiff in the YouthvGov lawsuit
• and the Adirondack Youth Climate Program
• A special workshop for teachers given by NASA Education Coordinator Matthew Pearce.
• And our KEYNOTE SPEAKER, NASA Researcher Dr. Kate Marvel!!
• To finish the day, all attendees will write a climate action plan on a project they can do in their school or community.

Learn more about other Youth Climate Summits just like this one that have been done all over the world! Check out the links in this doc

Please don’t hesitate to reach out to scs2227@columbia.edu or mmc2268@columbia.edu with any further questions.

Sincerely,
Columbia University EcoReps

Photo Gallery YCS 2018

Coordinators

Silas Swanson

SEAS '21 | scs2227

Maria Chart

SEAS '21 | mmc2268

Planning Committee

Justin Paik

SEAS '22 | jjp2197

Maria Trifas

CC '21 | mt3209

Yukun Yang

SEAS '19 | yy2822

Amber Zhao

SEAS '21 | az2492

Elisha Zhao

SEAS '22 | erz2111

Zoe Elison

SEAS '22 | zae2001

Caroline Frienberg

CC '19 | crf2137