On November 16, I was privileged to be part of the 2024 Youth Climate Conference at Madison College. This was the fourth annual climate conference of this kind and it was, as usual, amazing.
My name is Isak Drangstveit, I’m a senior at Waunakee Community High School and a co-leader of the Dane County Youth Environmental Committee (DCYEC).
This last Saturday more than 120 high school students, college students, and even a few eighth graders gathered to talk about the climate crisis.
“This is our time. This is our space,” asserted Stephanie Janeth Salgado Altamirano during the opening plenary at the 2022 high school climate conference which was titled Gen Z: Meeting the Challenge of Our Changing Environment.
How can you reduce your carbon emissions if you’re not sure what you’re using right now? That’s the premise behind Culture Over Carbon, a research study currently in progress that’s aiming to collect and analyze energy use data from over one hundred museums and cultural institutions across the country - including right here in Dane County.
When a community comes together to make change happen the results are inspiring.
The “Glasgow to Dane County: A Youth Climate Summit,” a local climate event in Oregon, Wisconsin was held in parallel to the COP26 proceedings last weekend. This one-day climate summit for local high school students at the Oregon High School showcased more than 50 local high school students, a handful of school green team advisors, and about a dozen volunteers.
The vast majority of Dane County residents understand that climate change is happening. So what does it take to move folks to action? Local Girl Scouts are hoping that they can spur action by showcasing an issue we do not talk about a lot, the carbon embedded in our buildings.
