LATimes.com: Meet the Californians serving in the first class of the American Climate Corps

By Noah Haggerty – July 9, 2024

At the start of summer, the White House swore in more than 9,000 members of the inaugural class of the American Climate Corps. The corps members are now serving across the country stifling wildfires, helping farms adapt to climate change, installing solar panels, conserving the country’s wildlands and, of course, helping climate organizations create some “hip” Instagram content.

“Climate is the existential crisis of our time. Young people understand that,” said Josh Fryday, California’s chief service officer. “This is not an academic issue, and I think there’s a growing and real thirst for people to want to be part of the solution.”

Inspired by Franklin D. Roosevelt’s Civilian Conservation Corps, the program aims to empower the next generation to tackle global warming and its consequences by creating climate-focused career paths and focusing on historically neglected communities.