Inconvenient Youth: Al Gore’s Alliance for Climate Protection to Launch New Initiative on Earth Day
04/20/10
The Climate Project Will Invite Five Teenagers to be Trained Personally by Gore
Inconvenient Youth Will Build Next Generation of Environmental Leaders
For immediate release: Tuesday, April 20, 2010
Press inquiries: Carrie Criado, 615-327-7577, press@theclimateproject.org, Laura Burton Capps, 202-567-6800, press@climateprotect.org
Washington, D.C. and Nashville, TN — Teens who want to make a real difference in the fight against climate change will now have a place to share their pledges, actions and ideas. Inconvenient Youth, the new teen climate education initiative of The Climate Project, a program of the Alliance for Climate Protection, will launch on Earth Day, April 22. Inconvenient Youth will also enable five teens to participate in The Climate Project’s upcoming Our Choice Training with Nobel Laureate and former Vice President Al Gore, to be held in June. The initiative dovetails with the Alliance’s Repower America “youth surge” campaign to organize students on college campuses across the country.
“Inconvenient Youth is built on the belief that teens can help lead efforts to solve the climate crisis. It will give this generation – which has a unique stake in this issue – a chance to organize and exchange ideas with other young people who want to do their part to address the climate crisis. Perhaps most importantly, this initiative was inspired by youth and shaped by youth with their unique viewpoint guiding it forward,” said Gore.
“It’s not a website; it’s a community. We are building a community – a place where people engage, encourage and empower one another to take action. We’re not broadcasting ‘green tips’ from on high; we’re creating a space where teens can share their ideas and their solutions,” said Inconvenient Youth Manager Sam Davidson.
Teenagers who are ready to have an immediate impact in their communities can visit Inconvenient Youth’s website between April 22 and May 15, 2010 and apply to be personally taught by Mr. Gore at The Climate Project’s next training session. Students will go through a committee review process. Those selected will become official TCP Presenters who will deliver a new slide show to their local communities based on Mr. Gore’s latest book, Our Choice: A Plan to Solve the Climate Crisis.
“The ultimate goal of Inconvenient Youth, at least for me, is to provide ideas and to consciously act on those ideas, while pursuing efforts that make obstacles entirely irrelevant,” said Shilpi Misra, a member of the teen advisory board, called the “Super Youth,” which helps shape the direction of the effort.
Inconvenient Youth began as an effort by Mary Doerr, who as a 16-year-old presenter for The Climate Project, wanted to connect her own age group with the urgency of doing something about climate change. Mary’s work centered on adapting The Climate Project slideshow for a youth audience and touring the country to deliver a customized youth talk to students. Inconvenient Youth is an initiative of The Climate Project, which launched in 2006 as an effort to train 1,000 people to give Gore’s talk from An Inconvenient Truth. The Climate Project now has eight international branches with more than 3,000 presenters worldwide. In March 2010, The Climate Project became a program of The Alliance for Climate Protection, which also runs the Repower America campaign.
About The Alliance for Climate Protection
The Alliance for Climate Protection was founded in 2006 by Nobel Laureate and former Vice President Al Gore. With more than five million members and supporters worldwide, the Alliance is a unique nonprofit, non-partisan organization that is committed to educating the global community about the urgency of implementing comprehensive solutions to the climate crisis.
About The Climate Project
The Climate Project, Al Gore’s climate change leadership program, is part of the Alliance for Climate Protection and founded in 2006. TCP’s mission is to educate the public about the harmful effects of climate change and to work toward solutions at a grassroots level worldwide. Official TCP branches are located in the United States, Australia, Canada, India, Spain, the United Kingdom, Indonesia and Mexico.
About Inconvenient Youth
Inconvenient Youth, an initiative of The Climate Project, is founded upon the belief that young people can be leaders in solving the climate crisis. Inconvenient Youth organizes and empowers teens to address climate change through engagement and leadership opportunities.
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