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Adirondack Youth Climate Program receives $20k grant

By the Enterprise staff

TUPPER LAKE — The New York State Pollution Prevention Institute has awarded a $20,000 grant to the Wild Center’s Adirondack Youth Climate Program.

The natural history museum received the grant through the institute’s 2016-17 Community Grants Program and will use it for the “Convene Young Leaders for Climate Resilience” project, according to a press release. The project focuses on building environmental literacy necessary for climate resilience through understanding of climate change impacts in the greater Adirondack region. That means working with high school students and teachers to take action and change behavior through stewardship initiatives.

“What began in 2009 as a way of creating student leaders in climate change has exploded, especially in the past few years,” said Jen Kretser, director of programs at The Wild Center. “The program has been recognized by the White House. We’ve sent youth representatives to COP21 in Paris and the United Nations and inspired other summits throughout the world.”

During the year-long project, the grant will aid in the 2017 Adirondack Youth Climate Summit and provide mini-grants to school districts implementing Climate Action Plans.

The center will share the work of the schools through videos about their projects on the center’s Youth Climate websites.

The center developed the program out of its Youth Climate Summit to create youth leaders to address local climate risks, adaptation and mitigation efforts.

The Pollution Prevention Institute is sponsored by the state Department of Environmental Conservation through the Environmental Protection Fund and led by Rochester Institute of Technology’s Golisano Institute for Sustainability.

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