Mini-Grant Application 2018

The Adirondack Youth Climate Program welcomes proposals for grants of $100-$1000 for projects that address climate change, improve community resilience, and increase environmental literacy among NYS schools. Application Deadline: Friday December 14th, 2018 at 5pm

The 10th Annual Adirondack Youth Climate Summit Full Program

Plenary Sessions

Plenary Session 1: Climate 101: What Do You Really Need to Know?

Room: Flammer Theater

• Curt Stager – Professor, Paul Smith’s College
• You're eager to help spread the word about climate change, but are you sure you have the science straight? Here's a quick reminder of some of the basic "hot topics" that you'll need to "know cold" and be able to present in clear and creative ways, so you are properly empowered in your climate outreach.
• Presentation

Plenary Session 2: Finding Your Voice

Room: Flammer Theater

• Lauren Gibson – Sea Grant Knauss Fellow, Office of Education at the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration & Founder of Carmel Green Teen Micro-Grant Program
• In middle school, Lauren wanted to blend in with the crowd at all costs. But when she learned about the impacts climate change was having on the people and animals she loved, she realized she needed to stand out to stand up for her cause. Join Lauren as she walks through her path from shy middle schooler to nonprofit founder and environmental leader. Along the way, we hope you’ll gather up some inspiration and insight into the power of environmental action—both on communities and on individuals—and walk away thinking a little deeper about your own role as a climate leader.

Plenary Session 3: Natural Allies: Turning to Nature for Solutions to Climate Change

Room: Flammer Theater

• Gretchen Hooker – Program Manager, Biomimicry Institute & Biomimicry Youth Challenge
• Dorna Schroeter – Program Coordinator, PNW BOCES Center for Environmental Education
• Leah Valerio – Museum Curator, The Wild Center
• A sustainable world already exists--it’s right outside! Healthy ecosystems are superb models for building a sustainable world and the growing field of biomimicry (nature-inspired design) may hold the key to solving some of our trickiest climate change challenges. This presentation will highlight examples from the cutting edge of biomimicry and demonstrate how learning from nature’s time-tested forms, processes, and systems can help us arrive at innovative new solutions. The presentation will also feature a visit from one of the Wild Center’s animal ambassadors, giving participants a special guided opportunity to observe nature close-up and experience what it’s like to look at nature through a biomimetic lens.

Plenary Session 4: Climate Leader Panel & Bright Spots – Flammer Theater

Afsana Akter, Hakim Evans, Aryana Kahn– Fellows, Alliance for Climate Education

Climate Leader Panel: This panel will highlight young climate leaders from the Alliance for Climate Education and The Wild Center's Youth Climate Program. Each seasoned leader will share favorite experiences, wisdom, and advice with the upcoming generation of youth climate leaders.

Bright Spots: Bright spots is a lightning round of talks and films highlighting unique projects and initiatives climate leaders have implemented in their schools and communities to build a more sustainable and climate resilient future.

Concurrent Workshops Session 1: 10:30 – 12:00 pm

Workshop 1: Climate Justice: Local to Global

Room: Flammer Theater

• Maayan Cohen & Fellows – Director of Partnerships and Campaigns, Alliance for Education
• Join us for this dynamic workshop that combines hands-on activities with powerful youth video stories that guide participants’ exploration of the intersections between climate change and other social justice issues affecting their lives and communities. At its core, climate change is a justice issue -- intergenerationally, globally, nationally and on the community level. Participants will become familiar with the term “climate justice” and more comfortable discussing the justice implications of climate change in their local communities, across the country, and at the global scale. With a deeper understanding of climate justice, participants will leave the workshop ready to take action and lead climate change solutions with greater motivation, compassion, and effectiveness.

Workshop 2: Climate Impacts and Solutions around the Globe

Room: Planet Adirondack

• Michael Trumbower – School Programs Coordinator, The Wild Center
• Bring climate change data to life with The Wild Center’s Science on a Sphere. In this workshop we will view and explore the diverse impacts of climate change using this dynamic technology. Participants will get hands-on with a suite of additional NOAA web-assets to learn from case studies about how communities are addressing climate impacts through resiliency.
• Presentation

Workshop 3: Down to Earth: Cornell Conversations About… Climate Change Podcasts

Room: Naturalist Cabinet

• Danielle Eiseman – Professor, Cornell Institute for Climate Smart Solutions
• In this workshop we will introduce the Down to Earth podcast, the reasoning behind why we chose to do a podcast about climate change and what we hope to achieve in terms of engaging with the community on climate action and resilience. We will also go over the process of designing the podcast, episode planning, and communicating with audiences about climate change. During this session we will also capture audio clips from participants about what they hope to achieve after the summit, what actions they plan to take forward and the future they would like to see. We will use these clips to create an episode about the summit. Additionally, each participant will be given a guide to creating their own podcast, they will go through an episode planning guide and if they so choose they can schedule a recording session with us to publish at a later date.
• Presentation

Workshop 4: Be a Catalyst for Community Climate Action

Room: Wild Supply Co.

• Dazzle Edblad – Climate Policy Analyst, NYS Dept. of Environmental Conservation
• Elise Pierson – Student, Lake Placid Central School
• Patrick Murphy – Executive Director of the Saranac Lake Area Chamber of Commerce
• Would you like to be a catalyst for positive change across your whole community? Have you ever wondered how to engage with your local elected officials? This session will offer guidance on how students can engage with local governments on clean energy and climate action projects. Learn about the resources that are available through the NYS Climate Smart Communities program and NYSERDA’s Clean Energy Communities program. From community festivals to internships, from research projects to joint task forces, come brainstorm with us about how you can partner with your town to reduce emissions and adapt to a changing climate.
• Presentation

Workshop 5: Getting Started on an Energy Efficiency Action Plan

Room: Find Out Forest

• Susan E. Powers – Director, Institute for a Stable Environment at Clarkson University
• Jan E. DeWaters – Assoc. Professor, Coulter School of Engineering at Clarkson University
• Do you think that your school or campus wastes energy? This hands-on workshop will provide all participants with a technical understanding of energy efficiency, why it is important and how to explore the energy inefficiencies in your school building or on campus. Activities will include the use of watt meters and worksheets to list electric energy consuming inventory items to learn how to make an inventory of school electricity use and identify the easiest and most effective areas for change.
• Presentation

Concurrent Workshops Session 2: 1:50 – 3:15 pm

Workshop 1: The Third Mode: Moving Communities Forward

Room: Flammer Theater

• Jeff Olson – Architect, Planner, Alta Planning + Design
• Climate change requires action. You are probably thinking, "what can I do?" This session will talk about how we can change the way people move in our communities so we can use human power to improve the environment. Now is the time to lead by example and learn how we can help create sustainable transportation happen at the local, regional and global levels.
• Presentation

Workshop 2: Hip Hop Will Save the Planet

Room: Planet Adirondack

• Larry Montague – Paul Smith’s Alumni, Fluent
• Hip Hop culture was born out of a time of turmoil by young people who decided to turn their bleak circumstance into something positive and beautiful. Sound familiar, Climate Change Generation? In this workshop, you will learn a brief history of Hip Hop and its connection with the greater environmental movement. You will then spend the majority of the session crafting your own poetic pieces that blend rap and science, with time to share with partners and the whole group.
• Presentation

Workshop 3: Getting Things Done! Project Planning and Development Workshop

Room: Naturalist Cabinet

• Kate Glenn – Faculty and Sustainability Coordinator, Paul Smith’s College
• Jessi McCarty – Student, Paul Smith’s College
• Ryan Novak – Student, Paul Smith’s College
• Got an Idea? Want to turn it into a reality? With proper planning you effect change in your own community. Using a framework developed for the Detroit Youth Climate Summit, participants will examine four areas most commonly associated Greenhouse Gas reduction and Climate Action Planning (Food, Materials, Energy, and Transportation). We will help you identify priority areas and brainstorm innovative solutions that are SMART (Specific , Measurable, Achievable, Results-focused, and Time-Bound). Once participants have identified one short term (one week) and one long term (2-3 months) goal they will then develop a detailed action plan and timeline for their project goals. Students will also participate in an interactive community mapping activity that will help develop an understanding of stakeholder engagement and resource availability (Including funding!), as well as motivational strategies to help keep your project moving forward. The workshop will also feature several successful student led sustainability projects at Paul Smith’s College to serve as case studies for lessons learned.
• Presentation

Workshop 4: Telling Our Climate Story

Room: Wild Supply Co.

• Caroline Dodd – The Wild Center's Youth Climate Advisory Board, Student, Cornell University
• Each of us is working towards positive environmental action for a variety of reasons. Perhaps you are worried about extreme weather events, or concerned about sea level rise, or maybe you fear the impacts of pollution. Maybe, you're motivated to act, but overwhelmed by the number of pressing issues facing our vast world. Your motivation to act on climate is what defines you as a climate leader, so it is important to identify the core of your inspiration to act. This workshop will help you tell your own climate story, and provide the opportunity to hear other students’ stories. Together, we can recognize that it is in communicating our differences that we find common ground and the shared motivation to act on climate and the environment.

Workshop 5: The Edible Landscape

Room: Find Out Forest

• Wynde Kate Reese – Holistic Nutritionist and Owner of Green Goddess Foods
• In this session you will learn about 10 plants that can be used to create or expand your school garden. These plants not only provide food and medicine, they look attractive and have multiple functions within the landscape. After learning about the plants and their attributes, along with ideas on how to incorporate them into your school property, you will have a hands-on lesson in using some of them to make three simple recipes. Participants will engage in the preparation and tasting of these foods to learn how easy it is to harvest and utilize food grown at your school.
• Presentation

Concurrent Workshops Session 3

Workshop 1: Climate Justice: Local to Global

Room: Flammer Theater

• Maayan Cohen & Fellows – Director of Partnerships and Campaigns, Alliance for Education
• Join us for this dynamic workshop that combines hands-on activities with powerful youth video stories that guide participants’ exploration of the intersections between climate change and other social justice issues affecting their lives and communities. At its core, climate change is a justice issue -- intergenerationally, globally, nationally and on the community level. Participants will become familiar with the term “climate justice” and more comfortable discussing the justice implications of climate change in their local communities, across the country, and at the global scale. With a deeper understanding of climate justice, participants will leave the workshop ready to take action and lead climate change solutions with greater motivation, compassion, and effectiveness.

Workshop 2: Building Climate Resilience

Room: Planet Adirondack

• Erin Griffin – Climate & Communities Coordinator, The Wild Center
• In this interactive session, students will learn about climate resilience: how communities can withstand and even thrive despite severe impacts from climate change. Students will learn what impacts their community may be facing and what sections of their community may be most vulnerable to those impacts. Students will use this information to brainstorm ideas for how to best prepare their schools and communities for climate impacts.
• Building Climate Resilience Game

Workshop 3: Creating Change at the Intersection of Racial & Environmental Justice

Room: Naturalist Cabinet

• Amani Olugbala –Assistant Director of Programs, Soul Fire Farm
• This interactive and lyrical lecture weaves lessons from plantcestors, activists and youth leaders throughout history to explore the links between climate change and racism in the food system and places ourselves as change agents with unique contributions to the movement for food sovereignty.Join Amani O+ Farm, Soul Fire Farm educator, raptivist and spoken word artist for a creativity-infused workshop using storytelling, group discussion and improv skits to introduce young people to the history of food injustice and land degradation in the U.S. Young folks will also learn about a few of the countless innovations and acts of heroism from folks of color on land before designing personal or school action plans towards environmental justice and elimination of racism in the food system for all.

Workshop 4: Writing Op-Eds for Change

Room: Wild Supply Co.

• Lauren Gibson – Sea Grant Knauss Fellow, Office of Education at the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration & Founder of Carmel Green Teen Micro-Grant Program
• Learn how to use op-eds to amplify your voice and your impact! Op-eds (opinion-based articles typically published in newspapers) have been scientifically shown to sway readers’ opinions, and they can serve as a tool to build community support for your climate action plan. In this workshop, we will go through the writing structure you can use to make your op-ed punchy and publishable. We'll then dive into the writing process, working collaboratively to draft op-eds about issues important to you. Finally, we'll create a plan on how to publish your op-ed for maximum impact.
• Presentation

Workshop 5: Make a Bigger Impact – Handling Challenges of Civic Engagement

Room: Find Out Forest

• Larry Kraft & Maddie Adkins – iMatter Core Team, iMatter
• We know that climate change is already here, now - and that it’s only going to get worse. We also know that getting off fossil fuels is not only necessary, but will lead to a better world - one with jobs and justice for everyone. That’s why young people at iMatter are stepping up and taking matters into our own hands. We know that we, the people, have the power to make our elected officials take bold, creative, and unprecedented action on climate change. You’ll leave this workshop knowing how to make concrete legislative change in your city, armed with stories of students that have done it. You’ll also practice handling challenging questions and prepare to speak directly to your city council, or any government body, school board, or other forum on climate change.
• Presentation

Speaker Bios

Plenary Session 1: Climate 101: What Do You Really Need to Know?

• Curt Stager – Professor, Paul Smith’s College
• Dr. Stager is a Professor of Natural Sciences at Paul Smith’s College, where he holds the Lussi-Draper Endowed Chair in Lake Ecology and Paleoecology. He was named the New York State Professor of the Year by the Carnegie Foundation in 2013, and was an expert reviewer for the last IPCC report on global climate change. His research deals with climate change and environmental history as revealed by sediment cores from lakes in Africa and North America. In addition to publishing in scientific journals like Science and Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, he has written extensively for general audiences in periodicals like National Geographic and the New York Times, and is co-host of the Natural Selections program on North country Public Radio. His book, "Deep Future", published in 2011, has been called a definitive work on global warming.

Plenary Session 2: Finding Your Voice

• Lauren Gibson – Sea Grant Knauss Fellow, Office of Education at the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration & Founder of Carmel Green Teen Micro-Grant Program
• Lauren's passion for youth empowerment began in middle school when she first heard Dr. Jane Goodall speak about the power of young people. Within the next year, Lauren had founded a nonprofit called the Carmel Green Teen Micro-Grant Program. This by-youth, for-youth program provides students in central Indiana with the funding and mentorship they need to lead environmental projects of their own design. After passing the program onto the next group of incredible young leaders, Lauren left Indiana for Stanford, where she earned master's degree in environmental communication and a bachelor's degree in Earth systems. Whenever possible, she speaks publicly about young people’s ability to make a difference, giving talks alongside Dr. Jane Goodall during several occasions. She currently works in NOAA’s Office of Education, where she supports the ocean agency’s congressional activities and youth engagement initiatives.

Plenary Session 3: Natural Allies: Turning to Nature for Solutions to Climate Change

• Gretchen Hooker – Program Manager, Biomimicry Institute
• Dorna Schroeter – Program Coordinator, PNW BOCES Center for Environmental Education
• Leah Valerio – Museum Curator, The Wild Center

• Gretchen Hooker is a program manager at the Biomimicry Institute where her work focuses on the development of resources and programs that serve the Institute’s educational outreach efforts. Major projects she has lead include, the AskNature Resources library, the Biomimicry Toolbox resource site, a design curriculum for high school, and the new Biomimicry Youth Design Challenge. Before joining the Institute, Gretchen served as the founding director of the Office for Sustainability at Montana State University and worked as a designer, writer, and co-curator for various sustainable design exhibits and publications. Gretchen is a certified Biomimicry Specialist and holds a master’s degree in Industrial Design from the Rhode Island School of Design.

• Dorna Schroeter has been the coordinator of PNW BOCES’ Center for Environmental Education since 1982. This program serves some 36,000 students in six counties each year. She is a member of the Biomimicry Institute’s International Leadership Team and an advisor to their Educator’s Network (BEN). She teaches a biomimicry program for grades 5-12, runs teacher trainings and has a written article about biomimicry for Green Teacher Magazine. Since 2002, her focus has been to integrate Education for Sustainability into the K-12 curriculum. To that end, she has led many teacher workshops and offers a variety of K-12 sustainability programs.
• Leah Valerio is responsible for the living collection of native Adirondack animals at The Wild Center. She and the animal care staff care for more than 60 animal species, including otters, porcupine, owls, ravens, snakes, turtles and trout. After becoming hooked on the outdoors and animals at an early age, Valerio earned a BS in biology from SUNY Geneseo, where she gained her first professional ornithology experience when she updated a bird checklist for a local nature park. After graduating, she worked at a Raptor Center in Ohio where she cared for and rehabilitated over 250 birds of prey. Wanting to learn more about bird biology, she focused her graduate studies at Antioch University on migratory bird research, including bird branding, breeding bird surveys and teaching about birds. Since earning her MS in environmental biology she has held various positions in the field including bird keeper, park ranger and environmental educator.

WORKSHOP Sessions

Workshops – Session 1: 10:30 – 12:00 pm

Workshop 1: Climate Justice: Local to Global

• Maayan Cohen & Alliance for Climate Education Fellows – Alliance for Climate Education
• Maayan Cohen is the Director of Partnerships and Campaigns at the Alliance for Climate Education (ACE). Based in New York City, she develops, manages, and supports partnerships at all levels of the organization, and proudly represents ACE in climate organizing and movement building spaces. Maayan leads ACE’s youth engagement efforts and the co-development of strategic initiatives with external partners, including campaigns and digital engagement. Maayan feels called to do this work because she sees climate change as the most urgent justice issue of our time, and believes wholeheartedly in the power of young people to lead positive change. She loves live music, playing soccer, practicing Capoeira, and finding adventures in the city and in the mountains!
• Aryaana Khan

Aryaana currently resides in Queens, NY and has served as an Alliance for Climate Education (ACE) Fellow since 2016. She was born and raised in Bangladesh, a country submerged underwater every year as a result of climate change. Four years after moving to New York, she began doing climate advocacy work with various non-profit organizations, and eventually became involved with ACE by serving as the New York City Communications Fellow. Aryaana has been active in pressuring her state and local governments to take bold climate action. Recently, Aryaana traveled with ACE to San Francisco to participate in the Rise for Climate Jobs and Justice mobilization and to serve as a youth reporter at the Global Climate Action Summit (GCAS). She is also a member of ACE’s Youth Fundraising Advisory Board. She hopes to pursue a medical career someday in which she can mitigate the health impacts caused by larger issues such as environmental inequity and climate change.

• Hakim Evans

Hakim resides in Queens, NY and has played an integral role in ACE as an action fellow since 2016. His passion for the environment stems from his previous advocacy for equitable public health infrastructure and the intersections between climate change and public health. Since joining ACE, Hakim has played a role in various activities that call attention to the climate crisis such as facilitating workshops and trainings, attending marches, and high level events such as the UN Paris Climate Change Agreement Ratification Ceremony and the Global Climate Action Summit. Hakim is currently a sophomore studying Economics at York College-City University of New York.

• Afsana Akter

Afsana currently resides in Brooklyn, NY and has served as an Alliance for Climate Education (ACE) Fellow since 2013. Afsana has worked with ACE in many different capacities as a youth leader, from participating in leadership training opportunities, facilitating workshops at conferences, to writing powerful op-ed pieces, and representing the youth voice by speaking at press conferences, rallies, and other campaign events. Afsana graduated in May 2018 from Barnard College of Columbia University with a Bachelor of Arts degree in Environmental Policy. During her time at Barnard, Afsana engaged in both climate justice activism and environmental research. She was the Secretary & Treasurer of Divest Barnard, a club advocating for Barnard to divest from fossil fuels while working to educate the broader community about climate justice issues. She was also a Student Researcher in Barnard’s Department of Environmental Science, focusing on drinking water contamination from arsenic in Bangladesh’s deep wells.

Workshop 2: Climate Impacts and Solutions around the Globe

• Michael Trumbower – School Programs Coordinator, The Wild Center
• As the School Programs Coordinator here at The Wild Center, it is my pleasure to work with students and teachers from all over the Northeast to ensure that they have the best experience possible and that they feel empowered as scientifically minded citizens. I have been working in informal education for about 6 years, having TAed at the University of California, Riverside while getting my Masters in Climate and Environmental Change and most recently as an Outreach Educator at the New England Aquarium in Boston. Despite having moved around quite a bit during my career I have always sought to learn more about our waterways (both fresh and salt) and to have fun!

Workshop 3: Down to Earth: Cornell Conversations About… Climate Change Podcasts

• Danielle Eiseman – Professor, Cornell Institute for Climate Smart Solutions
• Danielle Eiseman is the Program Manager and postdoctoral researcher for the Cornell Institute for Climate Smart Solutions and the Center for Conservation Social Sciences at Cornell University. Danielle has 5 years’ experience working in media, advertising, and public engagement, with a focus on messaging on sustainable and pro-environmental behaviors. She has developed coordinated messaging campaigns in Scotland, developed educational and promotional materials for the Scottish Government Climate Change Behavioral Research Group, and is currently researching how food can be used to enhance engagement and learning about climate change. Her Ph.D. is in Marketing from Heriot Watt University in Edinburgh, Scotland. Danielle also holds a Master's in Carbon Management from the University of Edinburgh, a Master's in Marketing and Economics from DePaul University, a Bachelor's in Chemistry from Miami University, and a degree in Culinary Arts from the Scottsdale Culinary Institute.

Workshop 4: Be a Catalyst for Community Climate Action

• Dazzle Ekblad – Climate Policy Analyst, NYS Dept. of Environmental Conservation
• Elise Pierson – Student, Lake Placid Central School
• Patrick Murphy – Executive Director of the Saranac Lake Area Chamber of Commerce
• Dazzle Ekblad is a Climate Policy Analyst for the Office of Climate Change at the New York State Department of Environmental Conservation (DEC). Originally from Minnesota, Dazzle works out of DEC’s central office in Albany. She holds an MS in Natural Resources Policy from SUNY ESF and an MPA from the Maxwell School of Syracuse University. In her current role at the DEC, Dazzle focuses on management of the Climate Smart Communities (CSC) program. Outside of work, you'll find Dazzle digging in the garden, cruising the streets on her electric bike, or scanning the sky for raptors.

• Elise Pierson is a junior at Lake Placid High School and has been involved with the Environmental Club as well as the Youth Climate Program for 3 years. She has played an integral role in organizing community events, such as the Green Market and initiating conversations with the village board that led to Lake Placid becoming a Climate Smart Community. When Elise isn’t working on climate issues she can be found volunteering at the Adirondack Wildlife Refuge, playing soccer or skiing.

• Patrick Murphy is the Executive Director of the Saranac Lake Area Chamber of Commerce. Patrick, the former Community Engagement Coordinator at The Wild Center, recently started a new position as the Executive Director of the Saranac Lake Area Chamber of Commerce. In Saranac Lake, he works to improve the business community by focusing on promoting local businesses, serving the needs of the membership of the chamber, and convening people to create a constructive community dialog. His experience at The Wild Center, and as a Village Trustee for Saranac Lake, helps him to work towards a more sustainable and climate friendly community on the Saranac Lake Climate Smart Community Task Force.

Workshop 5: Getting Started on an Energy Efficiency Action Plan

• Susan E. Powers - Director, Institute for a Stable Environment at Clarkson University
• Jan E. DeWaters - Assoc. Professor, Coulter School of Engineering at Clarkson University
• Profs. Powers and DeWaters work with students of all ages through classes and research to instill an understanding of the impacts that humans have on the environment and what we need to do to reduce those impacts. Their work focuses especially on energy systems.

Workshops - Session 2: 1:50 – 3:15 pm

Workshop 1: The Third Mode: Moving Communities Forward

• Jeff Olson – Architect, Planner, Alta Planning + Design
• Jeff Olson is an architect, planner, and author who has been involved in greenways, open space, active living, and alternative mobility projects for more than 25 years. He has had a diverse career with national, international, and local experience in the public, private, and non-profit sectors. He has worked on projects ranging from the Empire State Trail and Grand Canyon Greenway to co-owning the company that started CitiBikes - all while living in Saratoga Springs where he likes to bike, ski and enjoy the Adirondacks.

Workshop 2: Hip Hop Will Save the Planet

• Larry Montague – Paul Smith’s Alumni, Fluent
• Larry Montague (Fluent) is a Hip Hop artist from Queensbury, NY. He attended SUNY Adirondack and Paul Smith's College and has been a part of five Adirondack Youth Climate Summits. He started writing and recording his own music when he was in middle school and now travels the country performing and leading his Hip Hop Will Save the Planet workshop. Larry now lives in Middlebury, VT, with his wife and daughter.

Workshop 3: Getting Things Done! Project Planning and Development Workshop

• Kate Glenn – Master’s of Science, Paul Smith's College
• Jessi McCarty – Student, Paul Smith’s College
• Ryan Novak – Student, Paul Smith’s College

• Katharine Glenn M.S. is an Instructor in the department of Environment and Society and Part-Time Sustainability Coordinator, at Paul Smith’s College. Kate has a MS in Environmental Education from Antioch New England and a BA from Green Mountain College. She been teaching at Paul Smith’s College for six years. In her role as Sustainability Coordinator she founded manages the Colleges Sustainability Grant Program and overseen the implementation several g2g reduction projects, including the installation of a district wood pellet heating system and the college's first on campus solar installation.
• Jessi McCarty-Jessi is majoring in natural resources conservation and management at Paul Smith's College. He is involved in a number of activities around campus including being a resident assistant in Lambert House, part of the Osgood Primitive skill and homesteading program. Also currently the president of the PSC Beekeeping Club, following his passion of beekeeping!
• Ryan Novak-Ryan is majoring in Natural Resource Conservation and Management at Paul Smith’s College, he established the Campus Conservation Corps. A program designed to engage Student Veterans with Students and their surrounding community to develop professional working relationships, learn leadership techniques, and giving back to create a sustainable culture of positive change/influence. Ryan spent his summer employed as a Range Technician, Wildland Fire, for the Bureau of Land Management.

Workshop 4: Telling Our Climate Story

• Caroline Dodd - The Wild Center's Youth Advisory Board, Student, Cornell University
• Caroline Dodd is a senior studying Environmental and Sustainability Sciences and minoring in Music at Cornell University. She grew up in Saranac Lake, NY, and graduated from Saranac Lake High School in 2015. Caroline began working on environmental issues during the first Adirondack Youth Climate Summit, and has dedicated her work and education to climate activism and environmental policy. Her work has earned her the opportunities to attend the 2014 United Nations Climate Summit, the entry into force of the Paris Agreement in 2016, and discussions in preparation for COP24 with the permanent mission to the UN from the Kingdom of Tonga in Fall 2018. She also speaks and presents workshops at Youth Climate Summits throughout the Northeast, and serves as a member of the Youth Advisory Board. Caroline also enjoys Nordic skiing, music, ballet, paddling, running, hiking, and playing with her cat, Phoebe.

Workshop 5: The Edible Landscape

• Wynde Kate Reese – Holistic Nutritionist and Owner of Green Goddess Foods
• Wynde Kate grew up in Tupper Lake and left after high school to travel the world. Her adventures took her to places where the Standard American Diet was interrupting the Indigenous Diet in harmful ways. She was motivated to get a BS in Holistic Nutrition to help people to live healthier lives. Simultaneously, she was trained as a Permaculture Landscape Designer and ran Earth Roots Landscaping for 15 years. In that time, she merged her knowledge of healthy eating with intentional landscape design to create sustainable landscapes that feed people spiritually, emotionally and physically. She is the co-owner of Green Goddess Foods in Lake Placid, a Natural Food Store, Deli, Cafe and Catering business where she also has a private practice as a Holistic Nutrition Counselor. When not helping people improve their health you can find her barefoot hiking in the high peaks, paddling her SUP, practicing yoga, skiing the Adirondack backcountry or rock climbing with her teenage son.

Workshops - Session 3: 3:30 – 5:00 pm

Workshop 1:

Workshop 2: Building Climate Resilience

• Erin Griffin – Climate & Communities Coordinator, The Wild Center
• Erin Griffin is the Climate & Communities Coordinator at The Wild Center. She works to empower students throughout New York State to take climate action and supports Youth Climate Summits in many locations. Erin has worked in the environmental education field for over 10 years throughout the United States, and is thrilled to be living and working back in the Adirondacks.

Workshop 3: Creating Change at the Intersection of Racial & Environmental Justice

• Amani Olugbala – Assistant Director of Programs, Soul Fire Farm
• Amani Olugbala, Assistant Director of Programs at Soul Fire Farm, is a storyteller and food justice advocate with over 15 years of experience in youth education and community outreach. Amani combines artistic expression, project-based learning and outdoor education tools to facilitate social justice based workshops and discussions with individuals, groups and organizations. Amani seeks to push communities to challenge presumed differences and work together in uncovering interlocked paths towards self determination and community liberation. Amani’s early work with the Natural Leaders, Brother Yusuf and the Youth Ed Venture Network, underscored the necessity of reintroduction to land as a source of healing and power for those of us who have been historically and systematically disconnected.

Workshop 4: Writing Op-Eds for Change

• Lauren Gibson – Founder of Carmel Green Teen Micro-Grant Program, Carmel Green Teen Micro-Grant Program
• In middle school, Lauren wanted to blend in with the crowd at all costs. But when she learned about the impacts climate change was having on the people and animals she loved, she realized she needed to stand out to stand up for her cause. Join Lauren as she walks through her path from shy middle schooler to nonprofit founder and environmental leader. Along the way, we hope you’ll gather up some inspiration and insight into the power of environmental action—both on communities and on individuals—and walk away thinking a little deeper about your own role as a climate leader.

Workshop 5: Make a Bigger Impact – Handling Challenges of Civic Engagement

• Larry Kraft – iMatter Core Team, iMatter
• Maddie Adkins – iMatter Core Team, iMatter
• Five years ago Larry left a successful high-tech career to focus on climate change. He believes that young people both deserve to be heard as it is their future that is being impacted, and can have a huge impact on addressing the crisis. His motivation can best be summed up by a conversation with his then 9-year old daughter, who when learning about climate change, said ... "well Daddy, let's just stop it." He's also an ice cream fanatic.
• Maddie Adkins grew up knowing the climate crisis was a major issue, so she never understood why there wasn't more action being taken to stop climate change and struggled with what she could do to tackle such a big issue. When Maddie was 17, she joined iMatter and discovered she could make a difference through policy. She worked with her mayor and city council on a climate change resolution, and has since given speeches at schools and universities to educate young people about climate change and their power as citizens. Maddie's work at iMatter now consists of helping more young people discover who they are, take local action, and get their stories into the world.