As wildfires rage, teens talk climate change
Global Good Youth Climate Action Summit hosts gathering with hundreds of students and experts
SAN JOSE >> As the state’s most devastating wildfires ripped through Northern and Southern California on Saturday, hundreds of Bay Area teens descended on the Tech Museum of Innovation for an inaugural conference on climate change.
The Tech for Global Good Youth Climate Action Summit, organized by 12 students from eight Bay Area high schools, featured panels with decorated scientists and educators and activities such as an immersive VR experience and a rainforest-themed escape room.
The conference came just weeks after a landmark report by the United Nations found that rising global temperatures will bring devastating consequences — such as drought, floods, extreme heat and poverty — if they’re not controlled in the next 12 years.
Several speakers Saturday pointed to the deadly Camp Fire in Butte County and the Woolsey Fire near Los Angeles, saying they’re examples of the dire need for solutions to global warming. The solutions rest with the world’s young people, they said.
“These wildfires have become essentially a monthly occurrence in the beautiful state we call home,” said Haris Hosseini, a student at the Harker School in San Jose and president of the Tech Museum’s Global Good student board, which organized the event.
“They are a reminder of a few things. They’re a reminder of the state of our planet today, which at times can be re-
ally bleak. But they’re also a reminder of the importance and necessity of days like these.”
Tech Museum President and CEO Tim Ritchie called global warming one of the “fundamental challenges facing all of humanity.”
“As I was driving in this morning through the smoke of the most destructive fire in California history, I thought about you, the students assembled here, and the tasks that you and we face when it comes to global warming,” he said. “Engage in this challenge not only because you must, but also because you are able to succeed. … You and your generation have all you need to figure out what needs to be done.”
Speakers steered clear of politics despite several past comments from President Donald Trump expressing skepticism that climate change is caused by people. In a controversial overnight Twitter post, Trump blamed poor forest management for the wildfires burning across the state and threatened to revoke federal assistance.
Organizers said they were pleased with the turnout — about 500 students pre-registered for the event From left, Diya Kandhra, 14, of Morgan Hill, Alexa Mendoza, 16, of Morgan Hill and Athena Koehler, 15, of Petaluma react as their drone gets stuck as they try to save the Hashirami Rain Forest during the Tech for Global Good Youth Climate Action Summit on Saturday.
and many others showed up at the door, said Tech Museum spokeswoman Marika Krause.
Pioneering oceanographer and marine geologist Robert Ballard, most known for discovering the Titanic’s wreckage in 1985, delivered the keynote speech Saturday remotely from his research vessel, Nautilus, stationed off the Channel Islands in
Southern California.
Ballard has led more than 150 deep-sea expeditions during his decadeslong career.
Ballard, 76, who grew up in California during a time when the ocean was abundant with wildlife, said he has witnessed that wildlife disappear over the decades.
“I’m worried about the Earth, but quite honestly, I’m worried about the human
race,” he said. “Are we going to survive?”
He encouraged students to get engaged and “realize how important it is to understand the Earth and understand how it works.”
“The Earth is a creature, its responding to us right now. … We need to lessen our footprint,” he said.