Flagstaff Youth Climate Summit

The City of Flagstaff Sustainability Section held their first Youth Climate Summit at the Arboretum of Flagstaff and the adjacent Merriam-Powell Research Station on Monday, April 30th. Sam Salgado, Climate Aide, professionally completed what past-STEM VISTA member Larrea Cottingham had initiated and ran the event with Sustainability Specialist Jenny Niemann and with support from the City's Water Conservation Program.

Sam Salgado welcomes students to the first Flagstaff Youth Climate Summit

Eight student groups from schools and after-school clubs have worked for months on their entries to the Youth Climate Challenge and five of the groups were able to present their work to judges Councilman Jim McCarthy and City Water Specialist Tamara Lawless. The projects included:

• STAR School "Hawks" - Water Testing on the Navajo Nation - with assistance from Dr. Jani Ingram and her students at NAU
  
• Flagstaff High School Alpine Environmental Class on Creating an Outdoor learning space at FHS - with assistance from TerraBIRDS, NAU, and others
• Pine Forest School - Asphalt to Apples - on creating biodiverse landscaping with assistance from TerraBIRDS and others
• Flagstaff Climate Action Kids - four 9-year old girls from different educational sites, who created a pamphlet on Actionable Steps for a Better World
• Killip Cougars Sustainability Heroes - developed a composting program at Killip Elementary School that included data collection on compostable waste.

Students walking from the Arboretum to the Merriam-Powell Research Station

After the impressive and professional presentations, the students walked back to the Arboretum for lunch and listened to a guest presentation by Grand Canyon Trust's Uplift Coordinator Eva Malis, sharing how youth do have power and celebrating the efforts they have already made.

Eva Malis, Uplift Coordinator for Grand Canyon Trust

After lunch, the students rotated between two workshops - Gardening with Native Plants, and Climate Action Planning. Each team received a certificate at the end of the event. Many thanks to the Arboretum for hosting the event and to the Dr. Kristin Haskins, Coreen Walsh, and other Arboretum staff for assisting with the workshops!

Daniel and Serenity receive their certificate for the Killip Cougars 5th Grade Sustainability Heroes Team! Photo courtesy of Moses Aruguete.