Interns worked on initiatives like developing a climate dashboard and mapping locations for solar carports
Alexandra Zissu
The 17 interns from Ulster County’s inaugural Climate Corps at the graduation ceremony on Aug. 9. They worked on sustainability initiatives across county departments.
Office of Ulster County Executive Jen Metzger
KINGSTON — The White House announced the launch of the American Climate Corps to much fanfare in September. It’s intended to train young people in clean energy, conservation and climate resilience skills. The idea is to create jobs and tackle the climate crisis in one fell swoop.
Sound familiar?
Ulster County has its own Climate Corps, launched earlier this year. County Executive Jen Metzger put out an open call for a half-dozen paid Climate Corps interns in May and got more than she bargained for. Seventeen interns recently completed 10-week job stints and the county has kept a couple on.
“They do such amazing work,” Metzger said.
Climate has long been a key issue for Metzger, who helped get the Climate Leadership and Community Protection Act signed into law in 2019 as a state senator and signed a 13-point climate plan soon after taking office as county executive in January that aligns Ulster County’s climate targets with the state’s. She noted the need for new initiatives if New York is going to reach the Climate Act’s goals.
The Ulster County Climate Corps is one such idea.
“It’s meant to engage people in the solutions. I have three young adults myself and am in touch with many young people. The anxiety about climate change is palpable,” Metzger said.
The Climate Corps consists of people over 16, mostly students from local high schools and colleges, and is a way to “build the bench” of public servants. Interns are given real experience in government. The projects the first corps worked on were broad and across many county departments, including emergency management, information services, tourism and purchasing.
Several 2023 interns engaged in mapping projects: one laid out all county properties in an effort to locate cost-effective places to install solar carports, and another pinpointed locations for water bottle refilling stations with the goal of reducing the purchase of plastic water bottles. A coding-savvy intern helped develop a climate dashboard, part of a revamp of the county’s website that will roll out soon. The dashboard will connect residents and businesses with resources, incentives, rebates, and information about how to reduce energy use.
Another project sought good uses for used textiles, expanding SUNY Ulster’s Start Here Go Far Boutique, which provides free accessible clothing, including interview attire. As a result, a similar initiative will be launched at SUNY New Paltz. And an intern studying nuclear physics worked on a project assessing the electrification capacity of county buildings, including costs and payback periods, which aligns with Metzger’s stated goal of moving county-owned buildings off of fossil-fuel-based systems.
“There are so many possibilities and endless opportunities for creative thinking about ways to put us on a sustainable track,” Metzger said.
Naseem Haidaoui, a SUNY New Paltz student who grew up in Marlboro, worked on a climate justice outreach plan. He’s majoring in political science with a minor in economics and wanted to join the Climate Corps because he wants to eventually work in public policy or law.
“It’s hard to talk effectively about public policy without also addressing climate and environment,” he said.
Haidaoui’s project was based on Metzger’s first executive order, a wide-ranging climate declaration that, among other things, stated that her office would develop community engagement plans to address underserved target populations, including the elderly, low-income communities and communities of color. Haidaoui helped create one-page education materials and cataloged existing climate resources. He tried to figure out if the target population residents knew about things like free energy audits and ways to reduce energy costs in households under certain income thresholds.
Haidaoui was thrilled when he was asked to continue this work this fall. He’ll get credit from SUNY New Paltz, too.
“It’s a great work environment. They wanted to engage the youth and cultivate the next generation of Ulster County employees. I hope one day to get a full-time job here,” he said.
While some internships can feel exploitative, Haidaoui says the Climate Corps is the opposite, pointing out that all interns were paid $17 an hour. Metzger herself said she couldn’t afford to take advantage of unpaid internships as a youth. Interns were also given educational seminars and professional development training weekly.
“It was all so wonderful,” Haidaoui said.
Currently, he’s working on a plan started over the summer to offer classes about energy efficiency to the elderly. He’d love to see a wide variety of educational gatherings with groups of people.
“I feel there’s a gap between giving someone information and the follow through to sign up for grants,” Haidaoui said. He envisions closing that gap by helping many people at once enroll in offerings like community solar.
For her 2024 executive budget, Metzger shared that she is proposing to expand the program to 24 Climate Corps interns.
“I can’t say enough about how impressive they were,” she said. “It made me just so hopeful about this next generation.”
Source: The Hearst Corporation
Original content:
https://www.timesunion.com/hudsonvalley/news/article/ulster-county-climate-corps-first-year-18390238.php
