Yesterday, on April 23rd, Earth Team interns from Antioch High School hosted an outreach event at their local community center, where they presented an Air Quality Awareness Workshop meant to educate and empower members of the Antioch Council of Teens.
Kicking off the program, one group of interns presented their cohort’s work on the Earth Team JCS project, an initiative focused on raising awareness about local sources of air pollution, the environmental justice concerns this presents, and how we can all work together to promote clean air by using alternative modes of transportation. As part of their presentation, interns led a fun, interactive game designed to quiz their audience on air quality topics while also reinforcing key messages about the negative environmental impacts of air pollution. Answering a stream of comments and questions towards the end of their segment, interns got practice creating a space for open dialogue about air quality concerns and nurturing a deeper understanding of the health threats community members face.
Following this introduction, two additional groups of interns took the stage to further explain what they have learned throughout their time working on the JCS project. More specifically, one pair interns guided the Antioch Council of Teens through an exploration of the CalEnviroScreen 4.0 Results webpage, a powerful online tool that allows users to access pollution burden percentiles and environmental justice metrics organized by census tract all across California. These interns not only explained how to navigate the interactive map, but also discussed its real-world implications, empowering community members to better understand the air pollution sources and environmental injustices in their own neighborhoods.
The last group of interns took a moment to reflect on the Youth for Clean Air (YCA) Campaigns they held on their school campus during the first week of April, contextualizing their efforts within the push for greater environmental action in Antioch. Sharing takeaways from the preparation, execution, and aftermath of the campaign week, the interns informed audience members of the challenges their team faced with campaign promotion and student engagement. This summary of Earth Team’s youth-led efforts to reduce greenhouse gas emissions drew a connection between the barriers that environmental advocates often face and the strategies that can be adopted to overcome those obstacles and invigorate greater action.
The event concluded with three special guest speakers from the California Air Resources Board (CARB), who provided insights into the broader state initiatives tackling air pollution, like the push for innovative clean transit. The lead speaker also shed light on the regulations that CARB imposes on off-road diesel vehicles, a sometimes forgotten group of air pollution contributors that have particularly large impacts in California. Showcasing diverse science communication tactics to empower youths within their own community, this workshop was not only a success in fulfilling the outreach objectives of the Earth Team JCS project, but also in helping our Antioch High School interns become influential voices in the fight for just systems and clean air.
