Hello! My Name is Athena Geer, and I am the Youth Climate Justice Coordinator here at Climate Generation.

I get the honor and immense privilege of co-facilitating our Youth Environmental Activist Program (YEA)!. YEA! is a network for and by young people. From weekly programming to our annual Youth Climate Justice Summit (YCJS), the leaders in our program are acting on systems perpetuating the climate crisis. We gather every Wednesday, and each meeting is a space for students to co-collaborate, plan, and lead. Each member runs a meeting, practicing in this space, so they can organize and lead in their own communities and schools. This year was full of co-mentorship and learning. We explored how climate justice connects with our individual lives and our communities, dove deep into policy, and learned with and from community leaders. YCJS brings all of this energy together in one place, a culmination of organizing by students to bring a network of young people from across the state to advocate for climate justice policies they care about. It has been incredible to collaborate with these changemakers. Their creativity, insight, and passion are helping move this movement forward. 

This has been a transformative year, and I invite you to follow along as I share a few highlights for each arc and stay tuned towards the end to witness some pieces from our students!

Climate Justice 101

We first started the programming year with our Climate Justice 101 Arc, where students got to understand and re-establish the current status of the climate movement in Minnesota, and also got to learn topics like Capitalism vs. The Climate Crisis, Intersectionality in Climate organizing, and The Root Cause, Tree Activity. The Root Cause Tree activity is taught at the beginning of the year to enable students to highlight the impacts of capitalism and its varied levels of structures to understand its further harm on the climate crisis. In this activity, students use a metaphorical tree to highlight how the Roots of the tree (capitalism, colonialism) then hold up the trunk (power structures) to then hold the branches (institutions), to then hold the leaves (interpersonal acts) that perpetuate the climate crisis. This tree correlates to our collective change efforts; the further down the tree we go, the more effective and long-term that change can be, but also the harder it can be, and vice versa. Students then learn in the end that, in order to create the most long-lasting change, we need big and bold climate solutions that address the root causes of the issue.

Students the following week, then got to watch that in action! Students watched “Youth v Gov,” a powerful story about 21 plaintiffs between the ages of 13 and 24 who sued the US Government for unsafe living conditions and perpetuating the climate crisis.

Fast Fashion

We then started our second arc: Fast Fashion. Students had the opportunity to explore how the current state of textile waste and cheap fast fashion is and are impacting the climate crisis. Students got to learn about greenwashing in the clothing industry, Learn about communities who are impacted by fast fashion, and students also got to learn how to mend the clothes to last longer from our friends at REuse MN! In addition to learning how to mend, Students then held a community clothing swap for friends and peers to join and share already existing clothes to help slow the spread of consumerism in fast fashion!

Human Migration

In spring, we transitioned to our third arc: Human Migration! Students dove into international conversations around human migration. We were joined by our friends at COPAL to have a conversation about the current narratives on human migration and its intersection with the climate crisis via on-the-ground work, community conversation, and understand what needs are truly needed when talking about migrations of people. Students also learned about climate displacement and migration work happening in the continent of Africa from our friends at the Mortensen Family Foundation. Margretta talked about how “Migration is not a NEW topic of conversation, but that climate is changing and it’s forcing people to move” and discussed with students about how this impacted the social impacts, the economic impacts, and also the cultural and emotional impacts of people having to move. Students also during this arc got the chance to attend a play on how the migration of people and the climate crisis are deeply linked, using themes like water, sacredness, and liberation.

Storytelling

Our final arc of the programming year was storytelling. Storytelling is a crucial and pivotal tool used to explain, invoke emotions, and pass down information. Students spent a few weeks working on individual pieces that they showcased these pieces at our end-of-year storytelling slam! Students got to put all their learning and thoughts throughout the year together in an assortment of art pieces to showcase to friends and family! Some students wrote personal climate narratives, while others drew and painted art pieces, some wrote poems, while others wrote climate stories. In the end, students were able to reflect on the year and celebrate the amazing learning space created together.

Beneath, still branches
the machine grinds through silence,
faces wet with grief.
Haiku, written by Spencer Snyder

After an amazing time during summer programming, we will be starting YEA! programming this fall. Learn more about our program and email yea@climategen.org, OR athena@climategen.org, OR ramiro@climategen.org for more information.

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.

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YEA! 2025 Updates