Youth Climate Leaders Show Up in Full Force at Climate Lobby Day

Mass Audubon’s Youth Climate Leaders played a big role in the February 11 Climate Lobby Day on Beacon Hill, organized by the Massachusetts Youth Climate Coalition.

There were 324 students present from across the state—double the number from last year—with at least 40 from Mass Audubon programs.  

The day began at the Old West Church, where the students prepared for meetings with legislators in small groups. They then marched up Beacon Hill to the Massachusetts State House, where they held over 60 meetings with lawmakers advocating for climate-forward legislation—perhaps most notably, the youth-written, Mass Audubon-supported Interdisciplinary Climate Justice Education bill. The bill would establish a trust fund and Advisory Council to enact climate literacy and environmental justice projects in schools and local communities

Youth leaders also gave powerful speeches outside of the State House before the meetings took place, and four out of the seven speakers were affiliated with YCLP. 

YCLP is a youth-led program that empowers students to imagine, design and create climate action in their own communities. The year-long program provides mentorship and guidance for passionate students to host regional youth climate summits for their peers and learn skills to enact climate justice in their communities and beyond. Read on to learn about some of the YCLP students who attended Lobby Day and what working on climate advocacy means for them.

Nicholas Bittner 

Nicholas Bittner of Fitchburg got involved with Central YCLP in the spring of last year, but his commitment to the program really deepened in the fall, after he attended the Statewide YCLP Retreat.

“Meeting with other like-minded youth is good for me,” said Bittner, who is 16. “In Fitchburg, there weren’t a lot of very local [climate justice] groups, besides my environmental club at my school, but I felt like it was good to have collaboration with people around the state, to see their perspectives too.”

Bittner says understanding different perspectives is a key part of his climate work. “A lot of it has to do with outreach and planning events and then networking and meeting people.”

Rylan Workman

Rylan Workman, 16, joined North Shore YCLP in September after attending a summit last year. At the time, he was also taking AP Environmental Science and wanted to find ways to deepen his involvement in climate justice. “I feel like I’d been learning a lot about environmental science, but didn’t have any avenue to actually make some meaningful change before,” he said.  

Since joining YCLP, Workman says he’s learned a lot of the basics of climate activism, how to plan events, get people involved and educate others. When asked why it’s important to fight for climate justice he said, “Because nobody else is. We have to take action because the older generations aren’t taking action. This is our future, so we have to own it.”  

Brian Avila and Ari Igiraneza

Ari Igiraneza, 16, and Brian Avila, 16, are friends from Springfield who joined West YCLP together after their environmental science teacher introduced them to climate action, and, consequently, the Mass Audubon program.  

For Igiraneza, YCLP has been a way to learn how to deal with climate anxiety. “I used to just get really sad that this world would end before I even reach 25,” she said. “Now I can acknowledge that there are things that I’m doing, and there are things that other people are doing to make sure that it doesn’t get to that point.”

For Avila, YCLP has been an exercise in using his voice. Before joining, he said he often felt like his voice didn’t matter “because I wasn’t really using it.”  

“This was an outlet for me to use my voice and do something good that I knew was good,” he said.

Both noted that the program has empowered them to continue pursuing climate action, no matter how small. Avila emphasized the value of learning to organize small groups within his own community, and Igiraneza recounted how YCLP empowered her to educate her family.  

Youth Climate Action at Mass Audubon

In addition to YCLP members, participants in Mass Audubon’s Climate Democracy Project, Climate Resilient Schools Youth Cohort, and the Environmental Fellowship Program also took part in lobby day, making Mass Audubon affiliates a significant group in the action.  

Learn more about the Youth Climate Leadership Program