All hands on deck for climate solutions

July 19, 2024

Planet Philadelphia

We need all of us to address the climate crisis. In particular, we need to inspire our youth to take up the challenges. Here, we explore three programs. Two of these feature working with young people, one comes from the Biden administration, and two are from nonprofits.

Ali Zaidi of the White House Climate Policy Office/Council on Environmental Quality. Ali Zaidi is Assistant to the President and National Climate Advisor. He will tell us about an exciting new federal program, the American Climate Corps – a workforce training and service initiative to ensure more young people have access to the training necessary for good-paying careers in the clean energy and climate resilience economy. In its first year, the American Climate Corps will put more than 20,000 young people on career pathways in the growing fields of clean energy, conservation and climate resilience.
Curtis Shuck, Founder and Sebastian Ng: Curtis E. Shuck, Jr. is the Founder and Chairman of the Well Done Foundation. The vision for the Well Done Foundation (WDF) came together when seeing firsthand the impacts of Orphan and Abandoned Oil & Gas Wells on the industry, communities, and the environment. Sebastian Ng is a high school senior from Cary NC. He helped start the Youth Climate Initiative (YCI) alongside his friends Mateo and Lila who are working with Well Done on well capping. Outside of YCI, he plays soccer for his high school’s varsity team, and on a club team.
Melissa Ostroff, Pennsylvania Policy and Field Advocate at Earthworks. Earthworks is a non-profit helping communities secure protections of their health, land, water, and air from extractive industries since 1988. It focuses exclusively on preventing the destructive impacts of the extraction of oil, gas, and minerals. While working at the University, Melissa completed her Master of Public Health degree, conducting fieldwork in Philadelphia with the Community Engagement Core of the Center of Excellence in Environmental Toxicology. She discusses ways to measure methane leaks in the air, for example from oil and gas wells.