One of our small groups for the 2023 summer internship was the environmental justice group! Check out some of the activities they did this summer.
On one night of program, they did a scavenger hunt in the near Filipino Community Center and Aki Kurose Middle School
Here they are hugging a Douglas Fir tree for 3 points!
They then did a reflection activity outside led by Aileen:
Sit with or notice dandelions growing around you. Take a few deep breaths and think about the challenges that you face in your life. Consider how dandelion finds creative solutions to many of its challenges. Think through these steps in problem-solving:
- What is one challenge you face right now?
- What would you like to see happen with this challenge? Name your goal clearly.
- What do you think is contributing to the challenge? What are the facts? Look for as many perspectives as possible.
- Brainstorm solutions – be creative and think of as many as you can!
- Decide which solution best fits with your goal
- Put your plan into action
- Evaluate how it worked
- What would you change next time?
On another night of program, the Environmental Justice Crew led a “step in, step out” activity about climate change. Here are the prompts we reflected on:
- I feel sad or anxious or stressed about climate crisis
- Climate crisis has impacted my mental health
- I don’t like thinking about the future because of climate crisis
- My family is open to talking about climate crisis
- My peers are worried climate crisis but i have too many other things to worry about
- I don’t like thinking about the climate crisis
- I don’t feel anything I can do about the climate crisis will actually help
- I feel bad because I’m not doing anything about the climate crisis
- My individual behavior can’t fix the climate anyway, so I try not to worry about it
- The smoke or heat waves or extreme weather have impacted my ability to connect with people or do things I enjoy
Here’s a reflection from group lead, Aileen, on why she wanted to lead a group that focused on Environmental Justice:
Growing up in the Southend, I noticed many, many environmental injustices that impacted my family and friends. The unreliable public transportation often disrupted our commutes to work and school, increased access to fast food restaurants made it difficult to choose to eat healthier, and the constant light and sound pollution decreased the quality of our rest. My personal experiences with environmental inequities led me to lead the environmental justice group this summer ‒ I wanted to hear from other youth in the Southend about their experiences and have hard conversations about climate change and the environment.
I’ve been involved with AGE UP for several years now ‒ I’ve been a part of their programming since 8th grade, and I am now a summer internship lead and an intern on the Board of Directors! I’m super excited to be a lead this summer ‒ I led this group last summer, as well, and we had great conversations and lots of fun.