Written by Steffanie Munguía, CCL Student Engagement Director
After three wonderful years, I am stepping down as Student Engagement Director at CCL. It has been a privilege to serve all of you as we work together to build a climate movement that is inclusive and expansive enough to serve people of all backgrounds, a movement where we strive for a livable future for and with the generations that will live it. In that time, our student population has continued to grow and make their mark here at CCL. They’ve birthed the CFD Movement, had thousands of conversation about climate and voting, and made our first Student Summit a huge success. As I leave the CCL staff, I wanted to continue the tradition of my predecessor, Clara Fang, in sharing my reflections on the nature and importance of our student engagement work.
What have I learned from working at CCL and being the student engagement director?
I could fill an entire blog with my response to just this question, but I think the most valuable thing I have learned is the value of having faith in each other. I know we’d like to believe we’re the only or best climate organization out there, but the truth is, we have a lot of peers. The one aspect in which we are peerless is the level of trust we place in our volunteers and in our democracy. I came to CCL at a time when I was beginning to flounder in my faith in future generations. I am happy to leave more convinced than ever that our young people are ready to lead us to a brighter future. We only have to step aside and give them the tools and space to do so. For a generation that has grown up amidst so many global crises, we should consider it an honor that they should choose to dedicate even a small amount of their precious time and energy to CCL.
Why is student engagement important?
The shortest possible answer to this is that if climate change is going to impact all of us, then we all need to be part of coming up with and advocating for the solutions that will save us. And that “us” certainly includes students. From a practical perspective, young people are becoming an increasingly important and potentially powerful part of the electorate. By the next presidential election, over 50% of potential voters will be millennials or Gen Z. This could be really great news for climate, because those same young people are more likely to be concerned about climate change than any generation before them.
Here at CCL, we attract that special segment of students that is eager to turn that fear into action. And having them in the room certainly transforms our gatherings into something special. Whether it’s their voice in a lobby meeting serving as a physical manifestation of the importance of taking action, or their presence at our conference each year injecting a little bit of youthful play, it’s clear that we would not be the effective organization we are without students.
Lastly, I like to say that if we can turn someone into a climate advocate in college, they’ll be climate advocates for the rest of their lives. So much of our identity development takes place during those years that it can be a critical inflection point in our lives. I’ve had so many CCL volunteers tell me that they wish they would have gotten involved in climate advocacy when they were in college, wistfully reflecting on how much more they might have achieved if they’d gotten an earlier start. Investing in student engagement at CCL helps us give future generations a head start at addressing climate change.
What barriers do students face in engaging with climate action?
It might be easier to answer the question, “what barriers do they not face?”. Obviously, no generation has it easy universally, but it is objectively true that today’s college students face unprecedented challenges. The rising cost of living, impossibly inflated tuition rates, and the overwhelming omnipresence of the news, broadcast directly to their pockets 24/7, means that this is a generation that doesn’t have the luxuries of leisure or unawareness. We frequently joke amongst ourselves about our lack of “free time” and we’re all very familiar with the “grind.” This doesn’t leave much space for volunteerism and civic engagement, and yet, students crave it because to them, it isn’t a hobby, it’s a necessity. I have had so many students tell me that they might have wished to pursue a different dream - to become an astronaut or a writer - but they chose instead to study environmental science or policy or sustainability because they were so afraid of the future that would await them if they didn’t.
That’s a huge amount of pressure and an unjust burden they carry.
In my time at CCL, I have found that it is important that we remind students to take care of themselves too, as they hustle to save the planet, but it is just as important that we remind ourselves to extend them some grace as they juggle all of that. We are most successful when we listen to their needs and meet them where they are. And if we can offer them something in return that helps alleviate some of those other burdens, like a résumé building opportunity to help them secure a more stable income, or a stipend for their work, or even a welcoming and understanding community, they will thrive. Perhaps the most important thing we can offer them is the conviction that they are valued and accepted as our partners in this work.
What should students do to have the most impact?
I am a firm believer that the best way to make an impact is to focus on fixing what lights you up by leaning into your superpowers to help. You might be thinking “well, I’m not an Avenger, so I guess I’m out.” But we all have some superpower. Some of the superpowers my students have demonstrated include
Compassion
Technical knowledge
Making people feel welcome
Listening
Communication
And so much more
Ayana Elizabeth Johnson has put this together in the form of a Venn Diagram which she refers to as the Climate Action Venn Diagram, and my one wish is that we all should find ourselves in the heart of that diagram.
What can I do to engage students?
The good news is you’ve already taken the first step by reading this far, and connecting with our higher ed program. If you’re looking for resources and guidance, you’re in the right place, and I encourage you to explore the website to start familiaring yourself with our resources. If you have questions or need help, reach out to the team at ccl.highered@citizensclimatelobby.org.
What do you see as opportunities for CCL on student engagement?
I think our greatest work is still to come. As Gen Z become a more politically powerful age group, we will find more opportunities to partner for transformative change. I think it’s critical that CCL doesn’t get left out of that conversation. We must be willing to listen to their fresh perspectives on what our democracy needs. While I’m not agreeing that we should scrap the entire experiment, I do think young people are raising important questions about how we structure our democracy and economy, and the impacts that has on equitable outcomes for present and future generations. Pretty soon, we will be lobbying Gen Z senators and representatives. If we want to stay relevant, it’s important that we not only shape them, but allow them to shape us, too. That also includes building coalitions with other organizations that have built a stronger youth base. CCL is a unique flavor of climate advocacy, but I think we can all agree that the best dishes contain a variety of flavors working in harmony. Similarly, if we’re serious about securing a livable climate, we need to start showing up in more meaningful ways for our young people. We need to support their movements and dreams in tangible ways, by endorsing their ideas and compensating them for their time.
What’s next for me?
I’m very excited to be starting as ZooMiami’s first-ever Avian Conservation Programs Manager, where I’ll be overseeing the Zoo’s bird research and outreach efforts and collaborating with our partners abroad to protect species in the wild. If not for the incredibly understanding and supportive team at CCL, even qualifying for this role would quite literally not have beeen possible. Thank you to my friends and the best coworkers I could have asked for, for giving me the grace and flexibility to always keep a door open to my love of birds (including taking staff calls from the bird banding station), and for supporting me as I finished my PhD. Thank you to our volunteers, who show up every day, even when it is hardest, and believe that we can do great things. And especially thank you to the students, who have taught me so much more than I could have ever hoped to teach them. I will miss serving you all in this role. It has been an honor, and I can’t wait to be a part of the impact CCL will achieve, as a volunteer.
To learn more about CCL’s higher education program, go to citizensclimatehighered.org, or contact ccl.highered@citizensclimatelobby.org
To learn more about my work on bird conservation, go to capefloridabandingstation.org. You can reach me at steffaniemariem@gmail.com, or follow me on LinkedIn and Instagram to stay updated.