By Hernan Gallo

​“My goal in life wasn’t really to escape Oakland; it was to understand the tools that I acquired while I was at Berkeley to bring them back home to Oakland and to begin changing the things that were fundamentally unfair and unjust not only for Oakland, but to cities that look like Oakland” - Vien Truong

Truong serves as the Director of Climate Justice for former presidential candidate Tom Steyer’s political action committee and Principal of her firm, Truong & Associates. She holds a background as a policy expert and strategist on building an equitable green economy. She began her keynote address at the virtual Climate Corps Fellow orientation on September 1st by telling her story. Truong grew up in a family of immigrants from Vietnam who left their home country during times of war. Truong’s family landed in Portland, Oregon prior to moving to Oakland, California where her parents worked low-wage jobs in sweatshops while supporting 11 children. Truong grew to love her community in Oakland and always wanted to build up her hometown through sustainability and equity.

Truong spoke about her in-depth background in climate justice, advocating for community electric van share programs, no-cost solar installations, and her experience at the United Nations Climate Change Conference. Of the many lessons she’s learned throughout her career, two of the most important are: “Enter the work with humility and listen to organic intellectuals in the community. People who live in working communities are most proximate to the problems and really fundamentally understand the solutions that will and won’t work better than anyone.”

One of the attendees of the event, Max Jimenez, asked Truong, “What are some challenges you faced when working with different communities? How did you overcome them?” Truong responded, “The hardest part is always remembering who you are and not having to pretend to be something else. Once you’ve got that, I think you’re good. As long as I remember who I am and I wasn’t trying to pretend, I think people understand and see that authenticity.”

In light of the Fellow orientation being held virtually amidst the COVID-19 pandemic and ongoing wildfires across the West, one attendee asked “What do you think is the biggest opportunity to advance climate equity in the next 5 years?” Truong responded,
“We’re gonna be seeing huge investments in climate equity in the next five years. We have commitments that we’re hearing from the presidential nominee on the Democratic side to state governors across the US. With the urgency that we’re seeing around science, and the amount of public pressure to companies, they’re gonna be investing. A low estimate is $5 billion, which is very low. On the high end, we’re talking at least 5 times that amount of money.”

Attendees of the event left inspired by Truong’s words of wisdom and advice, allowing them to push forward with critical climate action work as entry-level and emerging professionals across the US.

To read Vien Truong’s full bio, click here.

Climate Corps is an award-winning fellowship program that provides professional development opportunities for emerging leaders through implementation of sustainability and resiliency projects with local governments, nonprofits, and for-profit businesses. Host organizations receive the support of qualified, passionate, dedicated Fellows, who gain real-world expertise in sustainability project implementation.

By Lawrie Mankoff

During this uniquely challenging school year, teachers are working hard to bring sustainability-focused activities and lessons to students learning from home. Energize Schools is working with educators to include a wide range of environmental topics in their virtual classrooms through engaging, hands-on projects. Over the summer, the Energize Schools team led four virtual teacher trainings on climate change, renewable energy, energy auditing and air quality. Here are five sustainability activities featured in the teacher trainings that you can use for remote learning:

1. Greenhouse effect simulation

An online simulation is a great way to introduce students to the science behind climate change. We use simulations from  the Concord Consortium in our curriculum to help students gain an understanding of the greenhouse effect. Students can observe visual representations of carbon dioxide and heat moving through our atmosphere, and the impacts humans have by releasing greenhouse gasses.

2. Easy energy auditing 

​Energy auditing may seem like a difficult project to bring to students in their homes, but it can be as easy as instructing students to observe the appliances in their space. After making a list of energy users in their homes, students can check appliances for tags with power rating, use data in SEI curriculum on average energy usage, or research online to calculate their energy consumption and costs.

3. Explore renewable energy by building a water wheel

A simple way for students to model a real world source of renewable energy is by creating their own water wheel out of whatever household materials they choose. Students can get creative using different materials to create their own water wheel, and learn how these models compare to real world hydropower. Marc Wheeler, a teacher from Woodside High School, made his water wheel using a CD and candle holders!

4. Learn about environmental justice through air quality maps

CalEnviroScreen is a powerful tool that allows students to see what areas of California are most burdened with pollution, alongside population characteristics including race and economic status. In exploring CalEnviroscreen air quality maps, students can see a stark overlap between the areas most polluted and where black and brown communities live today as a result of historical redlining and other discriminatory housing practices. 

5. Have your students lead a energy conservation campaign

​Students can make a difference in protecting the environment by encouraging their communities to save energy. A virtual campaign makes use of social media or other online platforms to spread the word about the importance of reducing our energy usage. One way to have your students explore conservation is through the Energize Schools 2020 Energy Challenge!

All of these activities and more are in the Energize Schools distance learning curriculum, which is free to all teachers. This curriculum can be requested through our distance learning page, and California teachers can also schedule a one-on-one session to plan their virtual sustainability lessons. ​

We're happy you're here. This is a home for stories from SEI team members about their work in the field, building leaders to drive climate solutions. We hope you learn something and leave inspired. If you ever want to chat, just send us a note: sei@seiinc.org.

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