Modesto event exposes youth to careers in fighting climate change, one light bulb at a time
Young people in the Modesto area heard about climate change — and how it literally could be their job to combat the threat.
The nonprofit Valley Improvement Projects hosted about 50 students at the Climate Justice Youth Summit on Friday, July 28. It took place at Redeemer Modesto, a church on H Street.
One panel featured a few early-career activists describing their efforts to slow the emissions that are warming the planet. One distributes energy-saving devices to low-income homes. Another plants carbon-absorbing trees.
“Our main mission is to make sure that California is prepared for the future,” said Robbie Cordova, a regional team leader for the California Climate Action Corps. “So that means empowering your communities to plant trees, to create shade, to cool your communities.
The corps is a state agency that provides hands-on experience to young people. Cordova’s crews have planted trees in some places and done prescribed burning in others. The latter practice reduces grass and brush that could fuel massive wildfires and carbon releases.
The team also supplies food banks with surplus items from farms and other parts of the supply chain. If this material were in landfills, it could emit methane, another climate-harming gas.
Sofia Canela Torres is the Central Valley regional manager for the Rising Sun Center for Opportunity, which serves Stockton and the Bay Area. One of its programs is Green House Calls, which offers free energy and water-saving devices for low-income residents.
The young team members install low-flow shower heads, as well as aerators that do the same thing in existing faucets. They provide “smart” power strips, which shut off electricity to devices not in use. And each homes gets at least 19 LED light bulbs, much more efficient than incandescent or fluorescent.
Getting to a “zero waste” economy is one of the key goals at VIP, founded in Modesto in 2012. The group envisions jobs in recycling, composting and related businesses. It also calls for closure of the power plant that has burned trash near Crows Landing since 1989.
Panelist Laura Plascencia works as a community organizer for VIP. She graduated last year from Stanislaus State University, where she explored climate topics through the College Corps.
“These issues with air quality are worldwide,” Plascencia said. “... How can we make this more accessible and have clean natural resources for everybody?”
