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Empowering Youth for Climate Action
Navigating the Human Infrastructure of Change
The Colorado Youth Climate Program (CYCP) is a year-round, youth-driven initiative designed to empower youth age 14-17 years—specifically from rural Western Colorado—to become climate action leaders. While traditional environmental programming often focuses on doom and despair, the CYCP integrates the Climate Wayfinding framework to transform climate ache into regenerative agency. By centering on human infrastructure—the capacity of people to navigate change—we move youth from passive concern to tangible, civically engaged action.
Our Year-Round Program Model
Aligned with the Climate Wayfinding framework the CYCP operates through a three-phase annual cycle:
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Phase I: Youth Climate Leader Academy: From August to November, participants master "how to see" local impacts and engage in surfacing solutions, This involves reframing climate action as solutions artistry—a mosaic of many positive community changes—rather than just mechanical data.
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Phase II: Colorado Youth Climate Summit: In early November, a two-day "launchpad" convenes students to explore the living textbook of their communities and draft their initial Climate Action Plans (CAPs).
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Phase III: Climate Action Accelerator : From November to June, an intensive mentorship cohort provides the sustained structure required for youth to move plans into local community reality.
Upcoming Film Screening
Thirsting for a Future
September 23, 2026, 6:30pm | Crystal Theatre, Carbondale, CO
Free with RSVP
Join us at Carbondale's Crystal Theatre for a community screening of the documentary Thirsting for a Future! Beyond the screen, this event features a 30-minute interactive post-film discussion led by the filmmaker, Wild Rose Education, Aspen Center for Environmental Studies, and Roaring Fork Conservancy. Together, students, parents, and educators will turn climate anxiety into local agency and discover direct pathways to participate in the Colorado Youth Climate Program.
CO Youth Climate Summit Logistics
November 13-14, 2026 - at Toklat south of Aspen*
Friday morning through Saturday afternoon
We combine informative plenary sessions and workshops in a fun atmosphere for a powerful 2-day educational experience. At the Summit, students will develop a climate action plan that they can use to implement climate solutions in their own community. Young people will leave ready to accelerate change in their lives, schools and communities and work toward earning the Seal of Climate Literacy.
*In 2026, the Summit is limited to the Youth Climate Leader Team participants from the Roaring Fork Valley due to limited funding.
Co-Led by Youth Climate Leaders
The Youth Climate Leader Team is a small group of youth and young adults and adult advisers.
This energetic dedicated team meet together a few months before the Summit to build community and give input on the development of the Climate Summit. The group continues to meet virtually every 2 weeks to enhance their leadership abilities, participate in climate action mini- workshops led by national and regional experts, and assist in planning to co-facilitate the Youth Climate Summit.
This commitment to youth leadership, ensuring young individuals play a significant role
in decision-making processes and shaping program content is critical to the impact of
the program.
Get Involved
Join the Fall 2026 Youth Climate Leader Team
We are recruiting approximately a dozen dedicated 8th-10th grade youth from the Roaring Fork Valley to serve as the design team and co-facilitators for upcoming program.
Why Apply?
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Master "How to See": Hone your skills as an acute observer of local climate impacts and the "human infrastructure"—the capacity of people to navigate change.
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Surfacing Solutions: Move beyond "doom and despair" to engage in "Solutions Artistry," reframing climate action as a mosaic of many positive changes rather than just mechanical data.
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The "Toklat" Tiny Summit: Academy members and the Advisory Team will co-design and host an exclusive "tiny youth climate summit" at the Catto Center at Toklat, ACES site near Ashcroft.
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Lead the Summit: Academy members will serve as the primary hosts and co-facilitators for the tiny Colorado Youth Climate Summit in November.
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Earn Your Seal: Academy participation fulfills the "experiential project" requirement for the Colorado Seal of Climate Literacy graduation endorsement.
Commitment: Academy members will meet 4-5 times in late September-November to co-design the November summit program and receive expert coaching from mentors.
Application now Open for the 2026 Youth Climate Leader Team
Climate Action Planning
The CAP Methodology: Strategic Navigation
The CYCP guides youth through a rigorous process to ensure their community projects actually break ground.
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Providing the Menu: Students analyze local Sustainability Master Plans and Colorado Climate Goals.
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Analyzing Actionable Goals: Youth identify measurable targets already approved by their local governments.
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Selecting Resonant Projects: Students use Root Cause Analysis and "People Mapping" to ensure their projects are SMARTIE (Specific, Measurable, Achievable, Realistic, Time-bound, Inclusive, and Equitable).
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Our Mission and Values
The mission of the Colorado Youth Climate Summit is to create engaging opportunities for rural Colorado youth to become empowered as climate action leaders and advocates statewide.
The CYCS operates under core values that ensure a meaningful and impactful experience:
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Place-based: The Summit connects climate change to students' lives by focusing on local issues, solutions, and community partners, recognizing that climate change affects each community differently.
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Action-oriented: Participants are encouraged to move beyond awareness by being exposed to tools for issue investigation and pathways to voice their suggestions and solutions.
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Solutions-focused: The Summit emphasizes effective and accessible local solutions while still aiming for ambitious goals.
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Youth-driven: Students are deeply involved in every aspect of the program, including summit design, planning, and implementation.
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Hopeful: The CYCS fosters a sense of collective effort, energizing participants by showing them they are part of a larger community acting together on climate change solutions.
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Equitable: The Summit ensures students from all backgrounds receive the support they need to participate and learn from speakers with diverse perspectives, acknowledging that climate change disproportionately affects vulnerable communities.
May 2025 Inaugural Summit
Our Commitment to the Future
The CYCP walks the talk by modeling operational circularity. During all in-person gatherings, we commit to:
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Plant-rich meals and zero single-use plastic.
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Utilizing durable event materials and reusing supplies each year.
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Centering local lived knowledge alongside Western science.
“I feel like people will actually hear us now. We are learning how to be heard.” — Rhyianna Banks, CYCP Participant
Summit Goals
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Empower Youth Leadership & Agency: Engage youth as co-designers and advisors in climate literacy programming, cultivating their leadership, advocacy, collaborative skills, and fostering a strong sense of agency.
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Provide High-Quality Climate Education: Deliver experiential, place-based, and solutions-focused climate action and justice education aligned with Colorado Climate Goals and Actions, 2024 Climate Literacy Principles, and secondary curricula.
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Facilitate Climate Action Planning: Guide participants through a CAP process to develop tangible, community-based projects, directly supporting the experiential learning requirement for the Seal of Climate Literacy and other recognitions.
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Forge Career Pathways: Connect youth with green career opportunities and industry professionals, preparing them for high-demand jobs and future roles as climate advocates.
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Build a Statewide Network: Foster authentic relationships among diverse youth, especially rural students, creating a supportive statewide community for ongoing collaboration.
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Promote Stakeholder Engagement: Create opportunities for youth to engage directly with policymakers, experts, and community leaders to share their experiences and CAPs.
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Ensure Sustained Impact: Establish an advisory group of youth, young adults, and adults to influence climate literacy initiatives and provide ongoing mentorship for long-term project implementation.
Get Involved
Youth, young adults, educators, climate professionals, volunteers, artists, activists, policy makers, media, and community leaders are all invited to get involved.
Youth, young adults, educators, climate professionals, volunteers, artists, activists, policy makers, media, and community leaders are all invited to get involved.
Sign up for email updates and invitation to participate
Support the next Summit during the 2026-2027 school year
The Colorado Youth Climate Program is a collaborative production of Wild Rose Education and the Aspen Center for Environmental Studies (ACES).
This event is modeled after the Youth Climate Summit started by The Wild Center, a science museum in upstate New York. The Wild Center’s Youth Climate Program works globally to convene and empower young people to implement climate action plans in their schools and communities through Youth Climate Summits. Our event will join a network of over 60 sites around the world that have hosted a Youth Climate Summit inspired by this model. We are part of a powerful network of young people around the world (view map) who are learning about climate change and implementing climate action plans.