We're calling for the federal government to create a national paid job training program where anyone 35 and under could apply and sign up for two years to do climate adaptation and mitigation work in their communities: a youth climate corps. This would be a barrier-free, government-funded program to train youth for careers in the well-paying green jobs of the future. Our vision of the training is in three areas of employment.
Stream one is emergency preparedness and response work: wildfire fighting, flood responses and low-carbon care work involved in climate emergencies, such as checking on vulnerable community members during heat domes so that we don't lose our elders.
Stream two is jobs in strengthening our community and our environmental resilience to climate change: conservation positions, ecosystem restoration and shoring up community infrastructure and the like.
Stream three is training in jobs that we require immediately to drive our everyday greenhouse gas emissions down: retrofitting our homes and buildings, renewable energy projects and building out our public transit infrastructure.
Young people would, we hope, finish this two-year-long program with a certification like a Red Seal to set them on a path for a long-term career doing this vital work. Built into our vision is a focus on equity-deserving communities that have historically been left behind. This would be a program that turns no one away, federally funded but community-led.