A group of Minnesota teens are taking climate change into their own hands

NINA MOINI: Well, a group of Twin Cities teens are taking climate change into their own hands. The Green Crew is a youth led conservation and leadership program. It was recently featured in the New York Times as part of the "50 States, 50 Fixes" series about local solutions to environmental problems.

Joining me now to talk about The Green [? Shoe ?] is Hannah Barisonzi. She's a junior at The Blake School and the founder of The Green Crew. Thanks for being here, Hannah.

HANNAH BARISONZI: Hi.

NINA MOINI: Hi. And also--

HANNAH BARISONZI: Thanks for having me.

NINA MOINI: Oh, of course. And also, we're happy to have Griffith Pugh, who just finished his freshman year of college and is a co-founder, as well, of The Green Crew. Thank you for being here, Griffith.

GRIFFITH PUGH: Great to be here.

NINA MOINI: So, Hannah, I'll start with you. Tell us where the idea began to create The Green Crew.

HANNAH BARISONZI: Yeah, sure. So I was on a car ride with my dad up to a, scouting summer camp. And we were thinking a lot about how there just aren't many opportunities for youth to actually get their hands dirty--

NINA MOINI: Hm.

HANNAH BARISONZI: --within environmental conservation and climate action. And so we started the process of looking for an organization that would sponsor a youth-led environmental action group that was focused on conservation work. And we encountered the Izaak Walton League, and The Green Crew kind of just took off from there.

NINA MOINI: So what do folks do in The Green Crew? You mentioned getting your hands dirty. What does it look like?

HANNAH BARISONZI: Yeah, we have a lot of different projects that we work on. We have a lot of water quality testing and attempted reforestation projects. We have a lot of habitat restoration efforts. And we also just have some more basic, like trail restoration and invasive species removal.

NINA MOINI: OK. So, Griffith, what is the mission behind all this? Why is it important to include younger people in this?

GRIFFITH PUGH: Yeah. So conservation service is really central to Green Crew, but equally is this kind of youth leadership development. And so I would say, it's two things. One, it's giving youth the tools and resources to make an impact in their communities, a tangible impact and protecting nature.

And the second thing is empowering youth to step up and be leaders in these areas and really kind of claim these projects and claim these domains to really make an effort on and feel like their voice, their efforts, can make an impact.

NINA MOINI: Yeah. Hannah, we hear so much, what is the world we're leaving for younger people. And young people are very anxious about the climate. What are the conversations that you and your friends do have around like climate anxiety, I guess?

HANNAH BARISONZI: Absolutely. Within the scope of The Green Crew, I think a lot of people I talk to, a lot of things I'm hearing, are just feelings of hopelessness. And climate change is just such a big issue that it can feel like daunting and hopeless, like we can't do anything.

But The Green Crew gives youth a place where we can come and feel like we're actually making an impact. And that just helps so much with combating that feeling of helplessness and that climate anxiety that is just so prevalent in our generation.

NINA MOINI: And not to focus so much on the anxiety, because I love that you all focus on solutions, but like, what is the fear, Griffith? Like, what do you think the fear is, when we talk about the future?

GRIFFITH PUGH: Yeah, I think the fear is that we're inheriting a world that feels chaotic, out of control, and there's not really anything we can do about that. And right, Green Crew is kind of an antidote to that, where it says, hey, there is something we can do.

And it may be it's just looking at a park or a stream that's in your backyard, that's valuable place to you. And you can go in and service and steward that area of land. But it is really reclaiming and saying, look, we can't solve everything. But if we all start in our backyard, right, we can make the world a better place.

NINA MOINI: Yeah. And sometimes people just do not where to start, right, Hannah? So what has been the most rewarding part for you, of working with Green Crew?

HANNAH BARISONZI: There's been so much, but I think that what I'd want to mention is just the impact I see it having on kids that are younger than me. We have youth. We've had 3-year-olds and up, probably younger than that, coming in, just around The Green Crew, just even to our chapter house, where we host our events. And just seeing faces light up, and they might not fully understand the issue of climate change and the scope, but just helping give youth a place to reconnect with the environment and feel empowered is definitely the most rewarding thing for me.

NINA MOINI: So you were also expanding, Hannah, I understand. Can you share where you are doing this service now, and then, where it's going?

HANNAH BARISONZI: Yeah, so the current Green Crew headquarters, I suppose, is out of the Minnesota Valley Chapter of the Izaak Walton League, which is right off of the Minnesota River in Bloomington. But we're starting up three other chapters, the one in Mankato, which is running projects. And then we're starting up in the East Metro, as well, as Bemidji.

NINA MOINI: Cool. So, Griffith, when you all are talking about expanding, sometimes people just don't how to get involved, like we've been saying. What is a good way, do you think, for kids out there to get involved, even if they can't be involved with Green Crew, what's a good starting point?

GRIFFITH PUGH: Yeah, many schools, public schools, high schools, have environmental clubs. That's what The Green Crew was eventually morphed out of is feeling kind of trapped in those school clubs. But, go local. I think, right now with everything going on at the national level, turn local. There's a lot of really hopeful stuff happening at the local level.

And although The Green Crew was born out of Minnesota's unique environmental needs, the model we've built-- youth led, high impact, place-based conservation work, our hope is that the country can take inspiration from that, identify their own local environmental needs, engage youth, and start their own green crews.

NINA MOINI: Yeah, Hannah, would you add anything to that? Because I wonder if you already have that background when you're growing up and in high school, you mentioned 3-year-olds coming out, it might be easier to continue that on into your college years like Griffith and others.

HANNAH BARISONZI: Yeah, I think that, mostly, I just feel like it's such a good place to get your grounded foundation for whatever you want to do in the future, whether that's like continuing on to be involved in college or just environmental fields. Green Crew offers just such a great place to get those basic leadership skills and just environmental knowledge.

NINA MOINI: Mhm. And so what is your goal for the future? Are you wanting to expand even further out?

HANNAH BARISONZI: I mean, the foundation was made to be replicable for whatever environment habitat you're in. So I guess the big picture dream would be to have green crews across the country, but obviously that's kind of far out in the future. So right now, we're just focusing on expanding within Minnesota.

NINA MOINI: Awesome. Hannah and Griffith, thank you both so much for stopping by.

HANNAH AND GRIFFITH: Thank you so much for having us.

NINA MOINI: Thank you. Hannah Barisonzi. Is the founder of The Green Crew, a youth led conservation program. And Griffith Pugh is a co-founder.