Take a peek into the Nashville Youth Climate Summit on any given year, and you’ll be able to tell: Nashville’s students are not messing around when it comes to climate issues. They know that as young adults, they’re a critical part of a broader movement toward climate action and toward a healthier, more resilient future.
Since 2020, the Cumberland River Compact’s Youth Climate Program has empowered nearly 270 Nashville students to take bold steps toward this future. Through the annual Youth Climate Summit—hosted with the Mayor’s Youth Council—and innovative self-led Youth Climate Action Projects funded by Nashville SC’s Greener Goals Initiative, these teens are transforming their ideas into meaningful action. At the same time, they’re growing into themselves as leaders.
Climate action can look like many things: planting a garden, writing to a councilperson, or even planning a clothing swap. Keep reading to meet four local students who are honing their leadership skills and creating change – albeit in very different ways.
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Sometimes all it takes is a friend to help you move beyond your apprehension about the environment into action. That’s how it was for Bethel: “I would shut my ears in school whenever anyone talked about the environment because I was like, ‘What’s the point?’ …I didn’t really think I could make that big of an impact.”
But one spring, Bethel’s friend Grace asked for her help with a project to revamp a deteriorating rain garden at their high school. When Bethel started researching rain gardens, she found an unexpected new interest. “The first time I ever even planted anything was with my youth climate project.”
The following year, she led a workshop on youth leadership at the Nashville Youth Climate Summit. At the Summit, she was inspired by meeting professionals in the climate space, such as nonprofit director Jaffee Judah from Recycle and Reinvest and Director of Sustainability & Resilience Kendra Abkowitz with Metro Nashville.
Bethel wants to improve access to green space in Nashville. “A lot of my childhood was in concrete and not gardens… concrete separates people a lot more than flowers. I want to get my cousins interested in gardening because we never grew up around that, even though my family comes from a very agricultural background back in Ethiopia.”
She knows that it often just takes one person to make the connection. “You just have to introduce kids back into it. It’s never a matter of them not enjoying it… usually, it’s because they’ve never been around it.”
At Vanderbilt, she’s studying history and theater in hopes of becoming a lawyer. She continues her work in climate action through Eco-Grief, a series of plays exploring ecological loss and human relationships, as well as Vanderbilt’s Students Promoting Environmental Awareness and Responsibility (SPEAR) club.
The snow from a winter storm was just barely melting when Grace logged in to the virtual Nashville Youth Climate Summit in 2021. “I absolutely fell in love. It was the coolest program because not only was it for students, but it was led by students”. She joined the Mayor’s Youth Council the next year.
Grace helped plan the Nashville Youth Climate Summit in 2022 and 2023, strengthening her outreach skills by contacting potential speakers and honing her public speaking ability by facilitating panel discussions.
Grace is pursuing a degree in environment and sustainability at Sewanee, conducting research on water quality and working in the university’s sustainability office. “[The Nashville Youth Climate Program] inspired me to do what I’m doing today… This is a career I want to go into, but it’s [also] a life devotion. Not only do I want to help other people understand sustainability, but I want to have those habits in my everyday life.”
Grace wants to help others see what she sees, even as environmental change continues to occur. “I think everybody needs to have some environmental education, wherever they may be getting it from.”
Daniel came to the Nashville Youth Climate Program for one reason: he needed credit for the National Honor Society. But the 2024 Climate Summit further opened his eyes to his community. “I was just a regular student my junior year,” I never managed a project before… I never interacted with the community before…I was [never] taught [how]. I’m really grateful for this program because it allowed me to see the potential I had.”
After attending the Nashville Youth Climate Summit, Daniel designed and led a Youth Climate Action project to increase recycling at Hunter’s Lane High School. He has since applied to join student government and ambassador programs, is on the executive board of the National Honor Society, and joined the Mayor’s Youth Council.
Daniel wants to see a future where teachers and students interact, hallways are filled with posters about the environment, and – when in the future he goes back to visit his high school- more students are participating in the Youth Climate Program.
Daniel’s advice to high schoolers: “Please go [to the Climate Summit]. It’s inspiring. It’s interactive. It’s amazing. I learned a lot there, not just as a student, but more as a person.”
Madison was ready to try something new. So when she joined the Mayor’s Youth Council in 2023 and stumbled upon the Compact’s Youth Climate Leadership Retreat, she jumped right in. “It was really cool meeting different people from different schools…and learning about ways Nashville is trying to be more environmentally friendly.”
At the Nashville Youth Climate Summit that year, Madison heard elected officials like Rep. Bo Mitchell, Sen. Heidi Campbell, and Council Member Porterfield speak. “I learned there’s a lot of lawmakers who are really interested in helping young people fight for change when it comes to the environment. Maybe in the future I would run for something like that”. (You have our vote, Madison!)
After the Youth Climate Summit, Madison joined the Oliver Fellows Program with Senator Charlane Oliver, where she explored civil rights issues in Nashville. She also led a Youth Climate Action Project to create a native plant garden at her school, which was meant to serve as a place for reflection and mindfulness during the busy day. Because Madison was about to graduate, she recruited several younger students to steward the garden into the future. “We had a lot of students come up to us, even students that we didn’t even know, who…really wanted to be more involved. I thought that was really cool how one thing that you do can inspire a lot of other people. And now there’s a club for the garden!” Madison wants to keep inspiring others by combining her two passions: writing and the environment. At college and beyond, she hopes to keep making space for others like her to learn and lead community change.
These are just four stories from the hundreds of students who have participated in the Nashville Youth Climate Program. If you are enrolled in high school in Davidson County, come join us! The 2025 Nashville Youth Climate Summit is on March 1, 2025 and registration is open now.
