Around the Bay Area, students are saying “no” to climate change and “yes” to a greener way of living. Now there is a place where environmentally conscious youths can come together to brainstorm and share ideas.
Bay Area youths engage in an interactive exercise at the 2013 YES Conference. Photo by Kingmond Young
Published: January, 2015
Around the Bay Area, students are saying “no” to climate change and “yes” to a greener way of living. Now there is a place where environmentally conscious youths can come together to brainstorm and share ideas. The Youth for the Environment and Sustainability (YES) Conference is scheduled for 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. on Saturday, February 7, at the offices of the Metropolitan Transportation Commission (MTC), 101 Eighth Street in Oakland (across from the Lake Merritt BART station).
The free, day-long YES Conference will bring together middle-school and high-school students from throughout the nine Bay Area counties to discuss transportation, clean air, climate change and a healthy San Francisco Bay Area. The 2015 gathering builds on the first YES Conference, held in November 2013, which attracted some 90 students from around the region.
Conference organizers are encouraging students to register for the event; parents, teachers and youth advisors are welcome to attend. Organizers are also soliciting proposals for presentations by students, youth advisors or teachers. Presenters can share their efforts to encourage walking, bicycling, carpooling and riding transit to school, or discuss youth-led efforts to improve air quality and combat climate change. Proposals are due by January 7.
“Our goal is to empower youth to make healthy transportation choices for the benefit of their future and our environment,” said Amy Worth, chair of MTC and City of Orinda councilmember. “We want to encourage collaboration between students who live in very different parts of the region so they can learn from each other.” The conference is also a great way for students to demonstrate community involvement for their college applications.
The workshop is sponsored by Spare the Air Youth, a project of MTC and the Bay Area Air Quality Management District.
Registration is free and open to students, parents, teachers and youth leaders in the nine-county San Francisco Bay Area. Breakfast and lunch will be provided.
Participants are encouraged to take public transit to the event. Free shuttles from the North Bay and the South Bay will be available for students without easy access to public transit.
For more information and to register or submit a presentation proposal, visit: www.sparetheairyouth.com/2015yesconference. You can also call Kristina Chu with the Bay Area Air Quality Management District at (415) 749-4758 or email kchu@baaqmd.gov.
