October 11, 2023
Jennifer, Eastie Farm Youth Climate Corps 2023, presenting at the Boston Climate Beacon Conference
(Presentation Transcript)
Who am I, and who is my community?
Hello and good morning, my name is Jennifer. I’m 15 years old and from East Boston. Currently, I go to Excel Academy High School. This summer, I had the opportunity to be a part of Eastie Farm’s Climate Corps youth program. While being born and raised in East Boston, I belong to the large Latino population of the city. East Boston is an Environmental Justice community, meaning that people experience a higher impact of environmental hazards. And many times, they live under the poverty line. Youth in Environmental Justice communities are the most vulnerable in the community .Youth will suffer the most from climate change while having contributed the least.
What is Eastie Farm?
Eastie Farm is a non-profit community based organization where everyone is given support. Eastie Farm helps people of all backgrounds through food and climate justice work. When pursuing community resilience, we create a system where the community’s voice is heard. Whether that’s through creating a local food system that improves food security in a recognized food desert, or turning abandoned lots into food-bearing community gardens and farms. Some of the members of our community are very grateful for an organization like Eastie Farm. It’s a first of its kind in a community composed of mostly minorities. Eastie Farm knows that food and climate justice go hand in hand. While providing locally grown food, we are reducing our carbon emissions. Eastie Farm is home to the first geothermal greenhouse of all New England. This zero emission greenhouse is a great example of renewable energy sources used at their best. Even though geothermal energy and zero-emission spaces like our greenhouse are possible, they aren’t that common. When Eastie Farm started drilling 450 feet into the ground, we were told it wouldn’t be possible. We persevered and made it happen. Climate solutions like these are not only possible but necessary.
What is Climate Corps?
You may be asking yourself, what is Climate Corps? Climate Corps is a green job program for youth from EJ communities like East Boston. This year I was one of 40 youth participating in this climate action program, focused on food, farming, education, and advocacy. Our work involves urban agriculture, watering trees, and distributing fresh, local, and seasonal food to our community.
What did I learn in Climate Corps?
During my time in Climate Corps, I learned the importance of being an advocate. An advocate not only inside of Eastie Farm, but also out. I was taught how to make sustainable choices. Climate Corps has made me realize that climate change is becoming more of a reality. With this I learned that small actions that we make today, will have a larger impact over time in the future. True justice work starts by empowering youth members of a community like East Boston, not only for us to learn what the many challenges of climate change are, but to be given the opportunity to actually act on solutions.
Green Career Paths
This map shows Eastie Farm’s growth from just a seed of an idea to a thriving community organization with 7 sites including a geothermal greenhouse. Below that, you can see Eastie Farm’s vision for green career paths.
Why is this important?
You may be asking yourself “Why is this important?” Well, we need to shift our culture and way of living towards a sustainable one. And to do this, we need to plant seeds among the youngest and build up towards an empowered green workforce. We should all change our ways of living because everything is interconnected, including us. If we don’t change, with a decreasing diversity, these connections become weaker and we’ll soon all be affected. Some ways in which we can prevent this is by localizing our food systems and preserving our natural resources, protecting our precious ecosystem for us and future generations. With this we are able to combat climate change.
Call to Action
I am standing here today to show that the youth are impacted by climate change and we are working to stop it. I am proud to be part of a program that is helping a community like mine. I am also proud to announce that the National Science Foundation just awarded Eastie Farm a million dollars to expand the Climate Corps program so that more youth can be empowered. It would be amazing if more opportunities like this existed and we want you to know it is possible.
We hope that you’ll be inspired to join this journey with us, and continue to support programs like ours that are protecting and expanding green spaces, increasing renewable energy use, and localizing food systems. Together we can protect our home, our communities, and our families.
