Palo Alto’s Youth Climate Advisory Board (YCAB) is taking the initiative to shape environmental policies and education in the city to address the issue of local climate change.
Established in September 2024, the 11-member student board evolved from the Palo Alto Student Climate Coalition, which previously focused on advocating at City Council meetings.
Now, YCAB collaborates directly with Palo Alto city officials on initiatives focused on educating youth and increasing climate awareness.
Aiden Miao, junior and chair of YCAB, explained the committee’s plans for this school year.
“We’re planning to go to middle schools throughout Palo Alto, some public, some private, and give presentations on public transportation and also help kids get directly connected to the resources directly around the school,” Miao said.
According to senior and YCAB member Kiara Yoon, the board is divided into several subcommittees that focus on different areas of sustainability and collaborate closely with city officials.
“The board is split into subcommittees that focus on different aspects of sustainability within the city,” Yoon said. “There’s transportation, electrification, and wastewater…We collaborate with the city to give advice on climate legislation, and we also lead youth initiatives in the city to educate on climate action.”
According to Yoon, she serves on various subcommittees, helping to run social media accounts that promote events.
“My committee, specifically media, is involved in creating social media posts and advertising YCAB to new members,” Yoon said.
Last year, the board focused on surveying local youth to assess their understanding of sustainability and resources. The results from the surveys showed that students wanted to use public transportation but found it difficult to access.
“We ran a bunch of surveys asking youth about their knowledge of sustainability,” Miao said. “We tried to use that data to help the transportation team at the City of Palo Alto make changes that help youth use [public transportation] more easily.”
Apart from surveys, YCAB has also hosted workshops and events for the public, including holding Earth Day booths and activities for the community.
“One of them was trying to plan a rain barrel painting workshop for elementary school students,” Yoon said. “Another one was, we helped organize a succulent painting and planting workshop at the Rinconada Library.”
Yoon, a second-year member, applied and interviewed after seeing advertisements for the board through the city. According to Yoon, with this position, students’ ideas can be taken seriously by others.
“It’s just having the role in and of itself that makes people listen to you,” Yoon said. “Being able to communicate with people who work in the city government…and teachers at Paly…allows us to communicate with actual people. I got to talk with Mr. HB a lot about how we can better sort our trash and how we can best support our custodians.”
Despite their initiatives taking a long time to have observable results, Miao emphasizes the importance of patience.
“Even though a lot of the work we do might not have an immediate impact, it’s something that definitely helps the city long-term and can build year over year as new people come into the board,” Miao said.