“After years of demonstrating and fighting for a Climate Corps, we turned a generational rallying cry into a real jobs program that will put a new generation to work stopping the climate crisis”
Varshini Prakash, Sunrise Movement Executive Director
The youth of America has demanded, for quite some time, for real action to be taken against the climate crisis. Finally, action has been taken with young adults at the forefront. Last week, we saw President Biden announce the launch of the American Climate Corps. The Biden-Harris administration contends that “The American Climate Corps will put a new generation of Americans to work conserving our lands and waters, bolstering community resilience, advancing environmental justice, deploying clean energy, implementing energy efficient technologies, and tackling climate change.” This initiative will train young adults in the necessary and high-demand skills needed for jobs that focus on clean energy and climate action. This program is said to employ over 20,000 young adults, making this an excellent source of well-paying union jobs in the environmental sector.
In 1933, we saw a similar program launched by Franklin D. Roosevelt, the Civilian Conservation Corps. This program employed men between the ages of 18 and 25 to work in programs that would improve American public land, forests, and parks. The Great Depression took our nation by storm from 1929 to 1939. FDR’s New Deal-era CCC program came at the height of the Depression when almost 25% of the nation was unemployed, creating jobs for over 3 million young men. Meant to mimic FDR’s program, Biden’s American Climate Corps will take the basic premise of rehabilitating our nations vast land and overhaul it with diverse and new perspectives while shifting the focus to equity and environmental justice.
As a young adult in the conservation sphere, I am quite excited and eager to see what Biden’s American Climate Corps will look like when applied. Clean energy, conservation, and climate resilience are three ever-growing fields that today’s young adults can and will thrive in as career tracks. A climate corps will not only prepare my generation for the trials and tribulations that come with climate change but will also educate and train future generations to fight climate change, build community resilience, and support environmental justice.
We’ve talked about the role of youth in climate action and youth in conservation in previous blog posts and have spoken about our belief that our younger generations must be given the freedom to demand action and change. Institutions and decision-makers need to be held accountable for their actions and carry them out in a sustainable way. While it is still early days, Biden’s American Climate Corps may just be an excellent first step towards a sustainable, healthy, and equitable future with our nation’s young adults at the head.
