I work closely with young adults, aged 18 to 26, and one of the rewarding aspects of my work is witnessing their transformation and growth. It's inspiring to see them develop new perspectives as they learn and actively change their behaviors—both personally and within their families. They often move from a place of apathy to realizing they have their own agency and the ability to make a difference. I'm fortunate to observe this shift in real-time, where people recognize that we can actually do something about climate change and be part of the solution.

Recently, we were trained on community composting– reducing methane and greenhouse gases by composting food waste instead of letting it end up in landfills or sitting idle in green bins for days, sometimes weeks. For many of our corps members, this training has been an eye-opener, and they've started composting in their own backyards. This experience has helped them to understand the significance of climate-forward initiatives like community composting, and it's a climate action for them to take every day within their homes.

— Jennifer Prado, Indio

Accessible natural spaces are essential for creating truly inclusive communities, yet they remain frustratingly rare in the Coachella Valley. We need outdoor areas designed for everyone with mobility issues, not just our significant older population, but people of all ages who use walkers, canes, or wheelchairs. Currently, there's little accessible green space for leisurely outdoor experiences in our community. Not everyone can hike the mountain trails, but everyone deserves access to nature's healing benefits.

Prescott Preserve in Palm Springs demonstrates both the potential and the gaps we face. While it offers flatter terrain than many local trails, it's not fully accessible for people with mobility challenges. Many community members who once enjoyed hiking various trails now need new options as their mobility changes, and the preserve could serve as a model if improved.

What we need are shorter pathways designed for walkers, canes, and wheelchairs, along with benches positioned in beautiful, easily accessible spots that invite everyone to enjoy the natural surroundings even if they can't walk far distances. Places like Prescott Preserve could lead the way in showing how this works.

We need to ensure that accessibility is built into our planning from the start and not added as an afterthought. As we protect and develop natural spaces in our region, let's commit to designing them so everyone in our community can experience the healing power of nature, regardless of their mobility.

—Tatjana Kudla, Palm Springs

I’ve struggled with climate anxiety from a young age. I always attribute the beginning of my career in ecology and conservation to a conversation I had with my third grade teacher when I was only 8 years old. I was young and had heard all this talk about the world ending in 2012. The thought terrified me, so I gathered all the information I could and presented it to my teacher, pinpointing my fear to three different sources:

1.) Nostradamus predicted the world would end in 2012.

2.) The Mayan calendar ends in 2012.

3.) Global warming is getting worse and worse.

I will never forget her reply. She reassured me that no one could predict the world’s end, but encouraged me to do my best to help the environment. Just that small interaction, and the support my teacher gave me at such a young age, helped ignite my passion for the environment. Now I am proud to say that I work in a position that directly impacts conservation efforts, and that this career has introduced me to a community that cares deeply about protecting its environment.

— Danelle Angeline Baronia, Palm Desert

I went out there and spoke to the community, and someone said, “Do you think I care if the planet is on fire when I have to feed my two kids, I'm already late for work, and the bus doesn't come on time? I am a single mother. I want to care about the planet, but my circumstances don't allow me to because I am stressed.”

Through the mandated organics recycling law Senate Bill 1383, I can help cities create circular economies closer to home, where people do not have to think about season-based jobs while creating green spaces with urban farms and composting operations. 

For me, I cannot go and tell underserved communities, “We gotta do something about climate change.” No. First, let's talk about your life. How can we make it better? If you can be successful at what you're doing and be resilient in that way, then you will have the time and space to think about climate change because we are holding your hand.

— Prema Walker, Palm Springs

The Coachella Valley is going to be one of the first places that is affected by climate change. You might be thinking, it's only the temperature that is involved, but climate change will also affect the community that's here. We need to look at how people and families decide to deal with climate change and what activities they will still participate in the face of climate change. It's very important to pay attention to it from not just the conservation standpoint, but from a community standpoint as well.

When other areas like more coastal cities are all of a sudden facing more intense heat waves, they can look towards the Coachella Valley for guidance. What is our community doing? What have we done to prepare for these changes? The heat has been a part of our life for ages. So whether it's something like backup generators to make sure air conditioning  and cooling centers work, prioritizing shade structures, or other approaches– they’re all valuable.

— Billy Morrow, Palm Desert

I've always been frustrated with climate issues because we have to change policy to impact these problems. That's almost always the answer, but impacting policy at the state and especially at the federal level feels very distant and futile for many people. In response, there's a group of us that are putting together the Coachella Valley Climate Stewards Policy and Action Group. We're in the very early stages and it's a struggle, but we're creating a coalition that looks at policy at the very local level. We want to work at the city and county level to see how we can help people understand what's going on in council and committee meetings. By taking action at a local level, we can impact the Coachella Valley directly. Involvement from community members is always an issue. But I think people might be more engaged, if they can impact their own city. So I'm hoping that our coalition will increase community involvement.

Part of our goal is to identify specific issues within committees that we want to address. We have been talking a lot about land protection– I personally want to focus on where communities will be built and making sure those communities are built in a way that is protective of habitats and animal and plant species. It’s also important that these communities protect the sustainability of water usage.

— Kevin Brandon, Palm Desert

Actions are already being taken by our local government, non-profit organizations, and businesses within the Coachella Valley to mitigate climate change. Given the recent federal reductions to funding, seeking local, regional, and state funding is critical, as we all realize.  We need to step up to continue, support, and broaden these efforts.

Education: I would encourage our institutions to offer educational workshops to help build awareness. As for already available resources, the city of Palm Springs has good information on their urban forestry site. I would like our region  to push out this and similar climate-related information to other cities to help people become aware that this information is out there. We may just not know about it.
Transportation: The Coachella Valley continuing to provide more electric vehicle charging stations and adding more bike lanes  is essential to increase accessibility to alternative  transportation options.  I strongly support continuing the move forward with the proposed Coachella Valley - San Gorgonio Rail Project.  Getting usable mass transit from here to LA is critical.  Also, there are also options such as providing electric or hydrogen shuttles in the area.
Urban Greening: Coachella Valley should encourage the planting of plants that remove carbon from the atmosphere and provide shade.
Renovations: I support the renovation of existing buildings. We may need to have more flexible regulations to encourage the use of the existing buildings. We always need new housing and new buildings, and we should maximize the use of what already exists. If we can continue using what we have, we will disturb our land less.
New Technology: Our cities should attract companies to the area with new technology. We should encourage companies that have the technology to explore alternative energy or recycle products such as reusing electric car batteries.

—Denise Hamet, Desert Hot Springs

I live in an HOA in Palm Springs. Within this small community, I’ve realized that many people are unaware of climate change issues. Back when I lived in San Francisco, for probably 30 years residents were required to compost our food waste. We learned how much this helps the community cut down on our release of methane gases.

Now, within my Palm Springs HOA, all the people who used to live in San Francisco are composting. But many people aren’t, and I think many of them are from out-of-state or areas of California that hadn’t had mandatory composting. I suspect they think the compost bin is only for plant material that they cut in their gardens, which is a rare occurrence. So they don't use the compost bin at all. At this point, I think around half the people in my HOA use the bin for food waste.

I think our HOA could do more, but on a wider scale, the cities, the state, and other community organizations can bring more education and attention to this effort. The Palm Springs Disposal Services should blast out composting information, through its website, e-mail, and mailers.

Composting is just one example. Important information regarding climate change and climate action tends to pool and is not disseminated out in a very effective way. We should target our public education to churches, schools, clubs, HOAs. We can get the whole community involved through climate action-centered events to get them excited about it and to start strategizing. This is an emergency and we should treat it like one.

– Kellin, Palm Springs

It’s gotten so much warmer in Coachella, and there’s a lot of people that have to work in those conditions. But we just keep going and we don’t stop. My dad is an immigrant who’s been working in the fields since he was young. It’s only gotten more difficult to work because it’s so warm outside. With climate change, it’s important for leaders to take care of the community members who are dealing with the heat. They’ve done a lot of projects such as taking care of bus stops and switching to solar-powered lamps but more can be done. We have parks that need more water fountains so kids don’t get dehydrated. All of these things can help us with the heat.

Right now I am a Urban Conservation Corps member for the Inland Empire and my work there has changed my perspective on the environment. Before I hadn’t experienced much of nature, but now I’ve been interested in doing more for my community and staying connected to the trees, flowers, and animals. I want to learn more and experience the plants and animals in Coachella Valley, to visit Joshua Tree National Park, and to help take care of nature.

— Perla Orozco, Coachella