The Robinson Community Learning Center’s Climate Club, an environmental club for area youth, will present information on climate change Friday (May 4) as part of a special year-end presentation for family and special guests, including South Bend Mayor Pete Buttigieg.
The event will take place at 6 p.m. at the University of Notre Dame Robinson Community Learning Center, 921 N. Eddy St., South Bend.
Media are welcome to attend.
Club members spent several months researching climate change and its negative effects on the environment, and the presentation will communicate that research in the form of poems, skits and straight facts.
In addition to Buttigieg, expected guests include Jim Poyser, executive director of Earth Charter Indiana and adult leader and organizer of Youth Power Indiana; Therese Dorau, director of sustainability for the city of South Bend; and South Bend Common Council member Jo Broden, who represents the city’s 4th District.
Jointly sponsored by the Robinson Community Learning Center and the University’s Minor in Sustainability program, Friday’s presentation is a manifestation of the Youth Power Indiana movement, an effort to teach youth groups throughout Indiana about climate change and to incite them to encourage their local governments to take measures to mitigate its negative effects.
That’s already happening in South Bend, where Buttigieg recently committed to joining the Global Covenant of Mayors for Climate and Energy, a global coalition of city leaders dedicated to reducing greenhouse gas emissions, enhancing community resilience to the unavoidable impacts of climate change and increasing access to sustainable energy.
In addition, under Broden’s leadership, the South Bend Common Council is considering a climate recovery ordinance that would formalize the city’s commitment to reducing greenhouse gas emissions.
“Watching these children get excited to learn and write about climate change was a remarkable experience,” said Velshonna Luckey, youth development program director at the Robinson Community Learning Center. “Children have an amazing way of making the worst problems we face seems solvable.”
Contact: Erin Blasko, assistant director of media relations, 574-631-4127, eblasko@nd.edu