A student advisor said students are moving the climate change debate forward because it is very difficult to ignore kids talking about their future. Photo by Adobe stock.

Joe Ulery
Indiana News Service

An Indiana-based environmental group is amplifying the voices of high school students who write about the environment and climate change.

Earth Charter Indiana launched its Youth Environmental Press Team as an online publishing platform to share environmental stories from high school newspapers.

Jim Poyser, director of advancement and the Youth Environmental Press Team for the group Earth Charter Indiana, said kids experience a lot of eco-anxiety and the program provides several avenues to be involved and act.

Poyser pointed out sharing students’ stories online and social media connects young people to a much broader audience.

“It’s just been remarkable to see how people can erase the party line that creates so much stasis and paralysis in our culture when you have young kids involved; and again, they’re respectful,” Poyser observed. “It’s just very difficult to ignore these kids talking about their future.”

The program shows students they are not alone with their environmental concerns. United Nations Secretary-General Antonio Guterres recently warned the climate time-bomb is ticking in a statement about the release of the most recent report from the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change.

Poyser noted students are paid a stipend for their stories with funding from Earth Rising Foundation.

“There aren’t that many kids writing about the climate crisis in the high school newspaper realm,” Poyser acknowledged. “You wouldn’t know there was a climate catastrophe unfolding, but then occasionally, a student will write about an opinion piece about global warming or the new IPCC report, and again-those are the kids we identify.”

Poyser added students on the Youth Environmental Press Team not only receive a broader audience for their content, but also take away collaborative experience from working in a real newsroom.