Conference Coming Up For Petaluma, Area Teens Interested In Climate Change, Sustainability

BAY AREA, CA – Middle and high school students from the Bay Area are invited to the Youth for Environment and Sustainability, or YES Conference, on Saturday, Feb. 25, 2017, at the new Bay Area Metro Center at 375 Beale Street in San Francisco.

The free day-long regional conference will bring together students from the nine San Francisco Bay Area counties to discuss topics ranging from climate change and public health to transportation and air pollution.

The Bay Area Air Quality Management District and the Metropolitan Transportation Commission sponsor the annual conference.

“The YES Conference is an awesome regional gathering that jump-starts student-led climate action in our schools and local communities,” said Noah Preute, a student from St. Vincent de Paul High School in Santa Rosa and a member of the student planning committee for the YES Conference. “I’m excited to help plan the conference and inform my generation on the serious consequences climate change and air pollution have on our lives and the planet.”

Registration for the event is now open at http://bit.ly/2cEYWkh for middle- and high-school students from the nine San Francisco Bay Area counties (Alameda, Contra Costa, Marin, Napa, San Francisco, San Mateo, Santa Clara, Solano, and Sonoma) to discuss solutions to the climate change crisis.

Teachers or youth development coordinators who register their students before Oct. 30, 2016, will be entered into a drawing for a $250 grant for classroom youth leadership activities involving science, technology, engineering, art and math curriculum and sustainability.

A call for presentation proposals invites pioneering students, youth-leaders, teachers or youth advisers to present at the annual YES Conference. The deadline to submit a proposal is Wednesday, January 3, 2017. The online proposal submittal form is available now at http://bit.ly/2dhuevv.

Attending students will have the opportunity to learn directly from their peers’ efforts by discussing advocacy, communication, leadership development and skill building. The program will include interactive presentations led by students and youth leaders from various schools and cities in the region. The 2017 YES conference will be the fourth year of bringing youth together to share information to address climate change.

The conference was awarded the 2014 Breathe California Award in the public awareness category.There is no cost to attend the conference and breakfast and lunch will be provided for participants. Parents and teachers are also welcome. Students are required to have their parents’ permission to attend.

For complete conference details, visit www.sparetheairyouth.org/2017-yes-conference/.

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--Info courtesy of Bay Area Air Quality Management District/File photo