2022 4th Annual Youth Climate Summit Artwork Winners

2021 3rd Annual Youth Climate Summit Artwork winner

Rem Crespo, Cypress Bay High School

2021 2nd Annual Youth Climate Summit Artwork winner

Amanda Moran, Cypress Bay High School

The Broward Youth Climate Summit is open to all traditional public Broward County Public School students in grades 5-12. Applications to attend are accepted for this year's summit until March 1, 2022.

Grades 5-12 teachers can apply at: https://bit.ly/BYCS2022Apply

Participating classes must complete the Canvas course on climate change/sea level rise before March 9, 2022. It will provide the necessary background knowledge before the summit.  This Canvas module (called YCS Climate Justice 2022 - Virtual) can be accessed via Canvas Commons - import into your own Canvas course.

Broward County Public Schools, through its Applied Learning Department, is partnering with Rising Waters to showcase unique art installations at 18 schools throughout the District and the District office. Rising Waters is a conceptual art project that raises awareness about the impact of climate change to local communities by highlighting future possible flood levels resulting from sea-level rise and storm conditions. The colorful installation artwork provides a visual representation of the potential future by highlighting water at ankle, knee, hip, or eye level.

In addition to installing the sea-level rise artwork, students are also placing hand-made fish flags on campus with their action step for helping mitigate the impact of climate change.

See the entire project at https://www.browardschools.com/Page/66023. 

2021 - 3rd Broward Youth Climate Summit (A 3-day virtual summit)

The Third Annual Broward Youth Climate Summit was held virtually on March 9-11, 2021.  Students who attended the Summit had the opportunity to learn from youth and experts on the global climate change challenge, its regional implications, and local actions everyone can take to address the challenge. Keynote Speakers for March 9: Renowned astrophysicist Dr. Neil deGrasse Tyson, comedian Chuck Nice, and climatologist Dr. Gavin Schmidt! There was a special Cosmic Queries episode of StarTalk exclusively for Broward Youth Climate Summit participants. We had other incredible keynote speakers for March 10 and 11 as well! 2021 Youth Climate Summit program (public)

2020 - 2nd Broward Youth Climate Summit

The Second Broward Youth Climate Summit was held on January 10, 2020 at the Museum of Discovery and Science with the theme of Sea Level Rise.  Over 800 BCPS middle and high school students attended this incredible summit and were amazed at the different breakout sessions they attended.  Sessions included Engineering, Law/Debate, Politics/Civic, Government/Planning/Traffic/Utilities, Economics/Finance/Insurance/Real Estate, Arts/Entertainment, Communication/Media, Social/Human Services, and Technology/Science (Bio/Ecology). Media coverage of this event can be found at:

• CBS: https://miami.cbslocal.com/2020/01/10/watch-broward-youth-climate-summit-sea-level-rise/
• Sun Sentinel: https://www.sun-sentinel.com/local/schools/fl-ne-youth-climate-summit-20200110-bki43rnfvnbrhfjqz4avmifpny-story.html
• WLRN: https://wlrn.us/36KPR1w
• NBC6: https://www.nbcmiami.com/news/local/climate-change-center-of-conversation-at-broward-youth-summit/2175710/
• Invading Seas: https://www.theinvadingsea.com/2020/01/02/broward-schools-climate-summit-designed-to-help-students-understand-climate-challenges-and-how-to-address-them/

2019 - First Broward Youth Climate Summit

BCPS middle and high school students attended the inaugural Broward Youth Climate Summit on January 25th, 2019 at the Global Events Center in Fort Lauderdale.  The Youth Climate Summit provided a platform for students to advocate for policy change and gives students a voice for promoting environmental sustainability.  Students who attended the Summit shared their climate action plans or projects and networked with each other, elected officials and scientists working on sustainability issues.

The event was held in collaboration with the Broward County Environmental Planning and Community Resilience Division.

For more info, contact browardstem@browardschools.com

Watch students interact with each other and the panelists from BECON's production: https://eduvision.tv/l?egAmDA 

Third Annual Broward Youth Climate Summit (2020-21) - The Broward Youth Climate Task Force was created to provide Broward County Public School students a voice for promoting environmental sustainability and contributing to the updated 2020-25 Broward County Climate Action Plan. This group researched their issues, met with Commissioner Beam Furr, and sent out tweets to further explore ways of informing the public and solving plastic pollution and climate gentrification.

The main issues the task force targeted were:

1. Plastic Pollution/Recycling - Plastic pollution is harmful to the animals and the environment.  Most plastic straws are not biodegradable and cannot be broken down naturally by bacteria and other decomposers into non-toxic materials. Most plastic straws simply break into ever-smaller particles, releasing chemicals into the soil, air, and water that are harmful to animals, plants, people, and the environment. How can we encourage businesses and the general population to reduce or eliminate the use of single-use plastic such as plastic straws? We should also address the recycling (or lack of) of plastics in Broward County.  
   
   
2. Climate Gentrification - a relatively new term describing what happens when neighborhoods traditionally overlooked by wealthy people become more attractive—and expensive—given their siting in geographic areas that happen to be more resilient to climate-related threats such as stronger, more frequent hurricanes and rising sea levels. How is this affecting Broward County?

Resources on the above issues: constantly updated

• Broward County's Climate, Energy & Sustainability Program
  
  
• Volunteering at a Water Way Clean-Up:
  
  • https://waterwaycleanup.org/ 
• Global Citizens on the Environment - Impact of climate change on the world’s poorest people. This organization encourages people to become global citizens and take action.
  • 23 Million Pounds of Plastic Removed From Beaches in Unprecedented Cleanup
  • 10 worst single-use plastics and eco-friendly alternatives

• Climate Gentrification - Presentation by Maya Gowda & Emily Vo
  
  
• Fridays for Future - is a global climate strike movement that started in August 2018, when 15-year-old Greta Thunberg began a school strike for climate. 
  
  
• Top 10 Eco-friendly Substitutes for Plastic

Members:

Alvin V. - Junior, Miramar High School
"I joined this initiative to bring awareness to the many environmental disruptions that exist in our community".

Emily V. - Senior, Coral Springs High School 
"I joined the Youth Climate Task Force because I am passionate about climate justice and advocating for equitable solutions!" 

 

Krisztina T. - Beachside Montessori 
"I have always been passionate about nature and our part in taking care of Earth. Being involved in the Youth Climate Summit is a very exciting experience, and I hope that we can bring awareness and change to some of the most pressing climate issues."

Khushi D. - Deerfield Beach HS
"I want my voice as a youth to be heard to make a positive and long lasting impact on the world"

Shrishon K. - Sophomore, Miramar High School
“I love science and care for the environment, striving to fix the diverse climate problems one bottle at a time!”

Zoe B. - Senior, Stoneman Douglas High School
"I joined the youth climate change task force because I am passionate about doing my part to fix the environment before the damage is irreversible. I am so excited to be a part of this group and do my part while I’m still in high school."

Resources:

• Broward County's Climate, Energy & Sustainability Program

• Broward County’s Climate Change Website

• Broward County's Climate Action Plan

• 2020 Climate Action Plan Questionnaire. Theme: Sea Level Rise
• Volunteering at a Water Way Clean-Up:
  
  • https://waterwaycleanup.org/
• Global Citizens on the Environment - Impact of climate change on the world’s poorest people. This organization encourages people to become global citizens and take action.
  • 23 Million Pounds of Plastic Removed From Beaches in Unprecedented Cleanup
  • 10 worst single-use plastics and eco-friendly alternatives
    
    
• Climate Gentrification - Presentation by Maya Gowda & Emily Vo
  
  
• Top 10 Eco-friendly Substitutes for Plastic
  
  
• Fridays for Future - is a global climate strike movement that started in August 2018, when 15-year-old Greta Thunberg began a school strike for climate. 
  

• Rising Waters Project Based Lessons (PBL)

  • https://www.risingwaters.org/#/broward-county-1/ 

  • https://www.broward.org/climate/Pages/default.aspx

• Article: What do Florida public school students learn about climate change? 

2021 - The Third Broward Youth Climate Summit program can be accessed via Canvas.

2020 - The Second Broward Youth Climate Summit on January 10, 2020 was well attended by over 800 middle and high school students at the Museum of Discovery and Science.

To access the event schedule, session descriptions, and supporters, download here.

Pictured below (L-R): Superintendent Runcie, Susan Cantrick, Beam Furr, Hector Ponte, Heather Brinkworth, Noah Vlenstein, Joseph P. Cox. Picture from the Museum of Discovery and Science and Michael Murphy.

2019 - The inaugural Broward Youth Climate Summit was an exciting, successful event for the more than 400 middle and high school students who attended.  Amongst the event activity was a group project where students added their names - see picture below. 

To access the event schedule, speaker bios and supporters, download the program here

2022 Broward Youth Climate Summit

If you wish to sponsor the Fourth Annual Broward Youth Climate Summit, please download the 4th Annual Broward Youth Climate Summit sponsorship package

Thank you to the following sponsors for your support of this year's summit!

 
National Wildlife Federation (NWF)                                             

The CLEO Institute

2021 Broward Youth Climate Summit

If you wish to sponsor the Third Annual Broward Youth Climate Summit, please download the 2021 BYCS sponsorship package.

Thank you to the following sponsors for your support of this year's summit!

                 

    

2020 Second Annual Broward Youth Climate Summit

Second Annual Broward Youth Climate Summit Sponsors:  Thank you to all our sponsors for their generous support!

  

  

2020 Sponsorship package: 2020 Broward Youth Climate Summit Sponsorship Package

Thank you to all of our 2018-19 generous sponsors for making this event a successful one.

            

MISSION 

To convene, engage, connect, and empower young people for action on climate change in South Florida through the Youth Climate Summit and other leadership opportunities, and to create a climate literate generation who:  

• Understands the essential principles of climate science
• Communicates about climate and climate change in a meaningful way
• Makes informed and responsible decisions with regard to actions that may affect climate
• Takes action on promoting and implementing climate change adaptation and resilience measures in their homes, schools, and communities
  
  

2021-22 Broward Youth Climate Summit Committee