Press Release: Western MA Youth Climate Summit

Amherst & Easthampton, MA – The Hitchcock Center for the Environment and Mass Audubon’s Arcadia Wildlife Sanctuary are excited to sponsor the first Western Mass Youth Climate Summit, scheduled from 9am-5pm on Friday, November 17, 2017.

The Western Mass Youth Climate Summit provides an empowering platform for high school students to engage in conversations with their peers on the issue of climate change and to discuss actions and goals their team will take to address the problem.

The Summit’s more than 40 participants will come together from five area high schools – Amherst Regional High School, Northampton High School, Hampshire Regional High School, Holyoke High School – each bringing teams of students to participate in a transformational day of cooperative learning, meeting inspiring speakers, exploring solutions, brainstorming school-wide climate solutions, and socializing with other students in the Valley.

The Western Mass Climate Summit will be supported by Summiteers, Hampshire and Smith College students, who will participate with each team to answer questions, assist in facilitating discussions, provide support and feedback for the event, and help groups of students draft pledges of climate related action that they plan to carry out at their schools after the summit.

Highlights of the day’s events include:

Key-note speaker: State Representative Solomon Goldstein-Rose (alum of Amherst High School)
Living Building Tour: Hitchcock Center and Biomimicry Scavenger Hunt
Local Lunch: Snacks and Lunch will be as local and sustainable as possible to keep our own carbon footprint to a minimum.
Connection to the COP23 meeting in Bonn, Germany
Natural Landscapes as Climate Solutions Tour at Arcadia Sanctuary
Afternoon Speaker: Ezra Markowitz, Assistant Professor of Environmental Decision-Making at UMass Amherst in the Department of Environmental Conservation
Climate Café: An opportunity for students to work with peers to discuss climate change issues that matter to them.
Share Party and Closing event

Location Schedule:
9am-1pm: Hitchcock Center for the Environment (Amherst)
1:30pm-5pm: Mass Audubon’s Arcadia Wildlife Sanctuary (Easthampton)

The Western Mass Youth Climate Summit is modeled on the Adirondack Youth Climate Summit developed by the Wild Center in Tupper Lake, NY. This year will serve as the inaugural year for the Summit in Western Massachusetts, with an expanded event planned in 2018. Teachers and schools interested in future events should contact Brittany Gutermuth, Climate Education Coordinator at Arcadia Sanctuary or Colleen Kelley, Education Director at the Hitchcock Center.

The Hitchcock Center for the Environment’s mission is to foster greater awareness and understanding of the environment and to develop environmentally literate citizens.

Arcadia Wildlife Sanctuary is a sanctuary of Mass Audubon providing outdoor learning, access, and opportunities at its location in Easthampton, MA. Mass Audubon’s mission is to protect the nature of Massachusetts for people and wildlife.

Contacts:

Colleen Kelley, Education Director, Hitchcock Center for the Environment
845 West St., Amherst, colleen@hitchcockcenter.org, 413-256-6006

Brittany Gutermuth, Climate Education Coordinator, Arcadia Wildlife Sanctuary
127 Combs Rd, Easthampton, bgutermuth@massaudubon.org, 413-584-3009

Download the press release (PDF) here.