Biden and Harris ran a climate-focused administration — doing more to push renewable energy than any other team in history, bringing into law the largest investment in climate action ever, protecting more than 21 million acres of public lands and water, and advancing the Justice40 Initiative, which directs 40 percent of the benefits from key federal investments to disadvantaged communities.
They also launched the American Climate Corps — a groundbreaking initiative modeled after Franklin D. Roosevelt’s Civilian Conservation Corps. But what does it do exactly?
The American Climate Corps Will Train Young People in Clean Energy, Conservation, and Climate Resilience Skills; Create Good-Paying Jobs, and Tackle the Climate Crisis
[It is] a workforce training and service initiative that will ensure that more young people have access to the skills-based training necessary for good-paying careers in the clean energy and climate resilience economy. The American Climate Corps will mobilize a new, diverse generation of more than 20,000 Americans — putting them to work conserving and restoring our lands and waters, bolstering community resilience, deploying clean energy, implementing energy-efficient technologies, and advancing environmental justice, all while creating pathways to high-quality, good-paying clean energy and climate resilience jobs in the public and private sectors after they complete their paid training program.
The American Climate Corps will focus on equity and environmental justice — prioritizing communities traditionally left behind, including energy communities that powered our nation for generations; leveraging the talents of all members of our society; and prioritizing projects that help meet the Administration’s Justice40 goal.
And it’s taking flight, as High Country News said in June:
Starting this month, thousands of young people will begin doing climate-related work around the West as part of a new service-based federal jobs program, the American Climate Corps, or ACC. The jobs they do will vary, from wildland firefighters and “lawn busters” to urban farm fellows and traditional ecological knowledge stewards. Some will work on food security or energy conservation in cities, while others will tackle invasive species and stream restoration on public land.
Applications were released on Earth Day, and Maggie Thomas, President Joe Biden’s special assistant on climate, told High Country News that the program’s website has already had hundreds of thousands of views. Since its launch, nearly 250 jobs across the West have been posted, accounting for more than half of all the listed ACC positions.
What are some of the jobs young people can get through the climate corps? The staff at Outside magazine is excited about the possibilities. Here’s a sample of what they say:
1. If you hike a lot in the mountains of New England, especially along the Appalachian Trail, you’ve almost certainly interacted with Ridgerunners. You see them charging up or down the trails ferrying pack boards loaded with 80 pounds of supplies. They work on trails and monitor campsites. And they’re the hosts at the mountain huts, where they give spirited safety talks (often laced with goofy skits and songs) and serve up massive vats of carb-heavy meals to hungry hikers.
2. The whitebark pine is the best tree. The scraggly, stubborn old brutes exist, against all odds, in some of the harshest environs in the American West. In another life, I’d love to devote a career to these magnificent survivalists, and thanks to the American Climate Corps, a few lucky folks will have that opportunity. This position will send technicians across California’s beautiful and expansive Humboldt-Toiyabe National Forest, the largest in the country, monitoring whitebarks for threats from climate change and pine beetles.
3. What I love about the American Climate Corps Planting Specialist job in San Jose, California, is that it’s not just about being a hole-digging grunt; there’s a community education aspect to it, too. I’d be working on projects that increase tree canopy and promote soil and water conservation and also recruiting and training community volunteers.
4. Have you checked out the trippy three-dimensional maps created by Light Detection and Ranging (LiDAR) technology? It’s like staring at a psychedelic black-light poster of your neighborhood. Scientists use the tech to chart a wide range of ecological studies, from wildfire prevention to erosion management. If I were seeking a Climate Corps job, I’d choose one of the five LiDAR Monitoring Program positions open for 2024. According to the site, you can grab one of these positions in Portland, Oregon; Albuquerque, New Mexico; Atlanta, Georgia; Hadley, Massachusetts; or Sacramento, California.
5. If I were to dust off the ol’ work boots and head out into the field, I’d want to be the Rocky Mountains Youth Corps’ Rare Plant and Pollinator Intern. I’d be based in Taos, New Mexico, which is absurdly gorgeous and has great access to hiking, skiing, mountain biking, camping, and all sorts of other outdoor activities on your weekends. For the actual job part, I’d be assisting the local BLM ecologist and botanist with their work: surveying rare plants; monitoring monarch butterflies, bat acoustics, and pollinators; leading groups of volunteers; and learning to use different data collection technology.
What’s more, state-level climate corps are partnering with the US climate corps to get stuff done, as noted by Gavin Newsom:
With three new states teaming up with California, a third of America’s population now has access to Climate Corps programs, joining the state’s leadership in pioneering this nation-leading initiative.
Illinois, New Mexico, and Vermont created their own state-level Climate Corps in partnership with California Volunteers and the Newsom Administration, joining 10 other states — Arizona, Colorado, Maine, Maryland, Michigan, Minnesota, North Carolina, Utah and Washington — that have already established a Climate Corps. The Biden Administration also announced thousands of new paid service positions now available through the American Climate Corps.
WHAT GOVERNOR GAVIN NEWSOM SAID: “We can’t go it alone in tackling the climate crisis. With these three states launching their own Climate Corps, we’re making climate action a reality in communities representing millions of Americans. Together, we’re mobilizing and organizing citizen climate action at a scale never seen before — and now we’ll begin to see its impact across the nation.”
Is there still more work to be done? 100%! Lots more work.
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These posts are written by Goodnewsroundup (Goodie),
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