Communitopia tackles climate challenges in a region where extractive industries—from historic lumber, oil, and coal to today’s natural gas and petrochemicals—have long shaped Pittsburgh and southwestern PA. In a state facing rising temperatures, devastating floods, wildfires, and drought projected to worsen by 2050, Communitopia has been providing transformative climate education since 2008. Recognizing climate change as a generational justice issue, they give youth the tools and knowledge to drive meaningful change through climate literacy programs that engage students, teachers and community members in local action. Their Pittsburgh Youth Climate Action Summit connects young people regionwide, while monthly youth meetings, school-based climate teams, and award-winning workshops teach the science behind climate change alongside practical solutions.
Keynote Speaker Alexis Walker (center right) poses with several 2023 Pittsburgh Youth Climate Action Summit organizers. (Photo courtesy of Communitopia)
Once known as Citizens Climate Corps, the group changed its name to Communitopia in 2018, but has always retained its original focus: to engage the public and inspire everyone to help build a climate-friendly, energy-independent society through local action. In 2018, the primarily volunteer-run organization hired its first Youth Educator and began developing its youth-focused and school-centered programming. By 2019, Greta Thunberg and the youth climate movement had taken the world by storm and the organization found itself in the critical role of ensuring that local youth voices became part of the unfolding global story on climate change. With its small staff and wide network of volunteers, Communitopia is cultivating the confidence in young people to make a difference in their own community. As student organizer Avery Henderson-Thomas puts it, “You have a say in so much more than you would think you do. Your votes matter. Your words matter. Your actions matter. Whatever you do matters.”