Every year starting in 2020 the Nurture Nature Center has hosted a Youth Climate Summit (YCS) for middle and high school students in the Lehigh Valley and surrounding areas. Our most recent summit in April 2024 was the largest yet, with over 120 students and teachers in attendance! Read more about it here. We are looking forward to the sixth annual summit on Friday, April 25, 2025, with a related student showcase event open to the public on Saturday, April 26.

What is a Youth Climate Summit? – A Youth Climate Summit brings together young people who want to do something about climate change and helps them develop the tools to take action. This includes talking with experts and climate professionals, hearing about other student groups’ success stories, doing hands-on projects like gardening or creating new goods from recycled materials, and exploring your own personal strengths for climate action. 

Join us on April 25 & 26, 2025!

REGISTER HERE
Registration deadline: April 16, 2025

This year’s summit theme is “From Global to Local,” focused on the links between the planet-wide issue of climate change and our impact at the local level. The event will feature an environmentally-themed performance from Mosaic Youth Chorus, presentations on our Science on a Sphere, a discussion of civic engagement and how to get involved starting with your local government, time to plan your own climate action project, and a CREATE Sustainability Expo to network with local environmental and community organizations.

Friday, April 25 will be focused entirely on students while Saturday, April 26 will be open to the public. On Saturday we will feature student presentations to share their past, current, or planned environmental projects and passions with the broader community. Interested students should submit proposals for their 5 minute presentations here. Submission deadline: April 1, 2025

Stay tuned for a  full agenda soon! If you are a teacher interested in bringing a group of students as a field trip, please reach out to Lauren (lfosbenner@nurturenaturecenter.org) or Kate (ksemmens@nurturenature.org) for more information!

Stay involved in climate action year-round! 

While the Youth Climate Summit is a powerful and energizing event, it is also only two days out of the year. NNC seeks to create support and opportunities for students to engage with climate on an ongoing basis. If you are a student or teacher interested in getting involved with climate action, please reach out to Lauren (lfosbenner@nurturenaturecenter.org) or Kate (ksemmens@nurturenature.org) to discuss current opportunities!

In the meantime:

• Explore our recommended climate action strategies for middle and high school students on the flyer above (click on the image or here to open the full size flyer)
• Sign up for our quarterly CREATE Connections newsletter highlighting local climate action partners, success stories, and ways to get involved
• Check out our playlist of videos highlighting action projects completed by student participants in last year’s YCS
• Discover your climate superpower (our theme from the 2024 YCS) with this quiz

The Youth Climate Summit is part CREATE Connections, a project of the Nurture Nature Center under award NA23SEC0080002 from the Environmental Literacy Program of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), U.S. Department of Commerce. The statements, findings, conclusions, and recommendations are those of the author(s) and do not necessarily reflect the views of NOAA or the U.S. Department of Commerce.