Empowering Youth for Climate Action
The Colorado Youth Climate Summit (CYCS) is an interactive, youth-driven conference designed to empower young people, particularly high school students from rural Colorado, to become climate action leaders and advocates statewide. Co-led by youth and directed by Wild Rose Education in collaboration with the Colorado Alliance for Environmental Education, the CYCS serves as a dynamic platform for participants to explore climate change science, its diverse impacts, and effective solutions across Colorado. A central focus of the Summit, held in Carbondale, Colorado, is the development of unique Climate Action Plans (CAP) that attendees can implement within their own schools and local communities. The CYCS acts as an incubator for youth-led climate initiatives and significantly contributes to fulfilling the experiential project requirement for the new Seal of Climate Literacy graduation endorsement.
May 2025 Inaugural Summit
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 2025-2026 school year
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.
Climate Action Planning
The Summit empowers young people to become leaders in climate action within their own communities. A core component of this empowerment is our Climate Action Planning (CAP) process, which all youth participants will engage in during the Summit.
Utilizing the Youth Climate Summit Network's CAP framework, we'll guide participants through an environmental action civics process. This involves:
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Identifying community needs: Pinpointing environmental challenges specific to their hometowns.
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Recognizing realistic impact opportunities: Discovering practical ways they can make a difference.
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Learning project management practices: Developing the skills to plan, execute, and sustain their projects back home.
This CAP process is designed to ignite participants' capacity to complete the "experiential learning project" requirement for the Seal of Climate Literacy. Completing an experiential learning project that demonstrates an understanding of climate change is one of the three key requirements for earning the Seal of Climate Literacy. These well-developed project plans can also serve as a strong foundation for other prestigious recognitions, such as the Girl Scout Gold Award, Eagle Scout Award, and Senior Capstone projects.
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Summit Logistics
November 2025 - TBC
Third Street Center, 520 S. Third Street
Carbondale, Colorado
10:00am Friday through 3:00pm Saturday
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
9th-12th grade high school youth across rural Colorado are invited to apply to participate in the full 2 day free event.
1 adult advisor is required to attend for every 6 youth participants
Eating and Sleeping
All meals, snacks, and lodging will be provided for all participants.
Plant-rich diet will be provided Friday lunch, dinner, Saturday breakfast and lunch will be provided for all participants.
Sleeping arrangements for all youth and chaperones at Roaring Fork High School. Youth and adult chaperones will be sleeping on the floor at the Roaring Fork High School gym which is half a mile from the Summit. Everyone needs to bring bedding/cots/foam pads/etc. to sleep on the floor. There are two separate gyms, one for guys and one for gals along with locker rooms with limited showers.
Volunteers along with adult chaperones will be on-site throughout the night for safety and supervision.
Transit and Active Transport Challenge
Every one participating, presenting, volunteering, and otherwise contributing is encouraged to utilize transit and active transportation to and from the Summit.
Here’s How:
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carpool with at least 4 people in your vehicle
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if coming from across the state, ride Bustang bus to Glenwood Springs
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ride RFTA bus from Glenwood Springs, or Aspen to Carbondale
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use free Downtowner van from RFTA bus stop to Third Street Center; and to RF High School
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ride free We-Cycle bike from bus stop to Third Street Center; and to RF High School
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if local, ride a bike or walk to Third Street Center
Pro Tip
Download the smartphone apps for these services and create an account before you leave home.
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, 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.
Co-Led by Youth Climate Summit Leaders
The Youth Summit Leader Team is a small group of youth and young adults age 16+ 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.
May 2025 Summit Collaborators
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.