Columbia Climate School: Shaping the future of climate action

This story is part of our Youth Climate Reporting Project, which is generously supported by Partners for Climate Action Hudson Valley and the Youth Climate Action Fund, a project of Bloomberg Philanthropies. Read more stories from this series.

Building a strong connection with the local environment is key to inspiring the next generation of leaders to deepen their understanding of climate change.

At Columbia Climate School, the Hudson River Estuary not only serves as the city’s collective backyard, it’s also a living laboratory where students are inspired to connect with the environment—and become better stewards of it.

Established in 2020, the NYC-based school (which is affiliated with Columbia University) is taking action to address the climate crisis through collaborative partnerships and initiatives. It also strives to diversify the field of environmental science among historically underrepresented groups. Black graduates, for example, account for just 2.86% of environmental degrees each year (Data USA, 2020).

One of the school’s internship programs, “Hudson River Education: Building a Pathway,” gives students real-world experience in environmental science, especially benefiting those who might not have the resources to get into research otherwise.

“The big goal is to allow students from different backgrounds to gain hands-on experience in internships and science,” explains Margie Turrin, lead coordinator for the program. “Collecting their own data, analyzing it, and sharing it with the public are all important parts.”

The need for programs such as Columbia’s has only grown post-pandemic. Virtual learning has left students with fewer opportunities to participate in hands-on fieldwork, contributing to a lack of STEM skills and experience working in groups. This is a key aspect of the climate school’s internship program.

But science doesn’t just happen in labs.

“It’s right outside their door if they know what to look for,” Turrin says. With the right guidance, students in the Building a Pathway program learn that there are opportunities to connect with the natural environment everywhere. In the field, students gain direct knowledge by performing experiments such as water quality tests, biodiversity studies, and climate change investigations at sites throughout the Hudson River Estuary.

[Read more about the environmental risks posed by the threat of climate change on the Hudson River]

“There’s an area about half an hour from here where we’ve worked with a community center to study water quality and how climate change impacts the area,” Turrin says, adding, “The students love being outdoors and connecting with nature. They build friendships, stay connected, and often return to [the program] as mentors.”

The program is open to high school students. Undergraduates or returning students can serve as mentors to incoming interns.

“We’re looking for people genuinely interested in fieldwork and motivated to work together,” Turrin says.

Building a Pathway has been making an impact since 2020. With each intern that it graduates, the program is creating a pipeline of students who could be the next scientists, advocates and leaders we need in the fight to solve climate change. 

 “We’ve seen students go into environmental sciences who might not have had that chance before,” she says.

The program also motivates students to engage with the public, educating people about the growing risks of climate change in the Hudson River Estuary and elsewhere.

“It’s a chance for them to interact with the community and share what they’ve learned,” Turrin says. “It’s easy to think someone else will take care of the issues, but we can’t rely on that. We all have a responsibility to work together. It’s the power of the people.”

One of the program’s unique aspects is its link with the Polar Cap program, a sister internship focused on research in the polar regions. By some estimates, the Arctic could be ice-free by 2040.

“The Arctic is critical for controlling Earth’s climate, but it’s not taught much in schools,” Turrin notes. 

The two programs meet weekly so students can share their knowledge from their respective internships and hear directly from scientists, including some who brought sediment samples from Greenland for a hands-on activity.

Columbia Climate School’s efforts to include students in environmental science are just the first of many steps the next generation can take to spread awareness and reverse the damage of climate change.

To learn more about Building a Pathway, click here.

Ava Pineda-Fox is an English major at Skidmore College (Class of 2027). A native of the Hudson Valley, she has been passionate about climate action for as long as she can remember. As early as the fourth grade, she devoted her first lengthy writing project on deforestation. At Skidmore, she hopes to inspire other students to take the threat of climate change seriously.