By Kaylee Tichenor (she/her) Youth4Climate member
Youth4Climate’s 2026 Summit, themed Butterflies Taking Flight, brought together over 130 attendees – with over 100 of them being youth – making it our largest Youth4Climate Summit yet. The atmosphere was inspiring and uplifting, serving as a strong reminder of the power of youth voices.
The summit was an amazing opportunity to network with other passionate youth and local San Diego environmental organizations. Although many of us had never met prior to the summit, the friendly, relaxed environment made starting conversations and making new connections effortless and fun. The tables set up by local organizations allowed attendees to explore their interests and opportunities to get involved in making a direct impact on their community.
For the group art build activity, participants folded origami butterflies to clip on to the summit banner. Inside the butterflies, participants could write their answer to prompts about their goals as a climate activist, giving each butterfly a unique touch. The result was a colorful, diverse assortment of beautiful paper butterflies on top of a background of painted flowers. The art build appropriately displayed the atmosphere of hope and determination at the summit.
After a few rounds of charades to get to know one another, we headed inside to begin the speaker portion. Our keynote speaker, Maritza Garcia, spoke about climate injustice and the work that she does to combat it. She shed light on topics and perspectives that do not usually get as much recognition as they deserve. She also demonstrated how climate activism has so much intersection with other extremely important topics. Next, the youth panel was a reminder of all the work that youth are committing to the climate movement and that all of us have the capacity to be leaders in change.
After the speaking portion, we enjoyed a delicious all-vegan lunch and got another chance to get to know one another better.
After lunch, participants were given the choice of attending two out of the four workshop options: Community Organizing 101, Planet Pathways, Climate Policy: From Ideas to Action, and Eat for the Planet. For the participants I spoke with, the hardest part was narrowing down the two workshops we would choose, but all of them were so engaging and informative, that everyone was happy with the ones that they ended up attending.
Personally, as a high school senior interested in pursuing a climate-related career, but not really knowing what that might look like, it was really helpful to meet with the adult panel who shared their experience in a climate field. The workshop helped me form a clearer image of what my future career could look like and how I can get there. I learned about the importance of finding mentors and taking advantage of every opportunity to gain experience. One quote in particular that will always stick with me is from one of the panelists, Eddie Price; “Never tell yourself ‘no’ on someone else’s behalf”.
After the workshops, we got into small groups for a debrief. As we discussed what we were taking away from the summit and how we felt afterwards, the common message was clear: we left the summit with a feeling of hope, empowerment, and motivation. The summit allowed us to find a sense of community and belonging out of our shared passion for the environment, giving us the encouragement and support system to be the change we want to see in the world. With everything going on in the world right now, the summit reminded me that youth are making a difference. As youth, our time to speak out is not waiting in the distant future, it is now.