Hello! My Name is Athena Geer, and I am the Youth Climate Justice Coordinator here at Climate Generation. When I started this job in July 2023, I was overwhelmed with the much-anticipated joy of being a Youth Coordinator and also a coordinator of a program I used to be a part of as a young person.

I joined Youth Environmental Activists! (YEA!) six years ago as a sophomore in high school. Elated with excitement and steeped in teenage angst, I waltzed into my first network meeting not knowing how much it would change me as a young person but also about how it shaped me as a young adult. YEA! was a place for me to not only advocate climate change and its physical impacts on the world but also to talk about all of the interacting injustices that caused the systemic climate inaction we see today.

Working on climate legislation like the Climate Justice Education Bill and events like the Youth Climate Justice Summit where students come to delve into workshops catered to the work that’s happening around us and in our communities was life-changing. These were the places where it felt like I had choice and agency on how to enact this crucial work, and they also made me feel empowered and resilient in that work as well.

All of us at Climate Generation believe that, first and foremost, we want to ignite and sustain practices to fight systems perpetuating the climate crisis. For three and a half years I learned multiple different modalities for fighting for climate justice and liberation, and it was an amazing experience to have as a young person. Now I get to work here in a full circle moment as an alumni, and I’m excited to carry those intentions past and present into this upcoming school year.

We are just now wrapping up and finishing our programmatic arcs for the year. We are excited to talk and learn with our students about Climate Justice 101, Fast fashion human migration, and storytelling. Having our students be able to participate in these curriculum arcs this year and fostering leadership skills while giving them 1:1 mentorship will be the highlight of my year. I’m so honored to work with this new generation of activists and we are over on the YEA! Instagram will share all the content we are learning.

To a new school year,

Athena Geer is a Somali-American who grew up in the Cedar-Riverside/Phillips neighborhood. Athena came to YEA! 6 years ago and learned about the framework of climate justice, the importance of climate literacy, and the concept of youth agency. Athena hopes to give and aspire youth to take hands on their climate journey and that they are there to support them in that. Athena enjoys journaling, songwriting, and playing with their purfect roommate, Leona the kitten.

The post A Story About a YEA! Alum appeared first on Climate Generation.

A Story About a YEA! Alum