Summit organizers Kate Petersen and Bruce Hungate share their team’s intentional focus on youth for the Climate 2020: Seven Generations for Arizona summit.

By Melissa Sevigny, Reporter with KNAU

“Teenage climate activists have gained global attention this year. Sixteen-year-old Greta Thunberg from Sweden inspired widespread school strikes in September, and indigenous hip-hop artist Xiuhtezcatl Martinez is part of youth-led lawsuit against the U.S. government to secure the right to a stable climate. Youth voices will be at the center of this week’s Climate Summit in Flagstaff. It will bring together scientists from all three state universities as well as a diverse group of health professionals, environmentalists, tribal members, writers, and artists.”

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I think it’s really important to include and invite youth to a conversation like [the Climate 2020 Summit], where you’re looking at a global scale phenomenon that’s unfolding at a rate where the impacts are most strongly felt by them. They have to be part of it. They have to not just be a part of it, they have to be invited to a leadership role.

Dr. Bruce Hungate, Director of the Center for Ecosystem Science and Society at Northern Arizona University