Meet the Californians Serving in the
First Class of the American Climate Corps
Noah Haggerty / Los Angeles Times

(July 9, 2024) — At the start of summer, the White House swore in more than 9,000 members of the inaugural class of the American Climate Corps. The corps members are now serving across the country stifling wildfires, helping farms adapt to climate change, installing solar panels, conserving the country’s wildlands and, of course, helping climate organizations create some “hip” Instagram content.

“Climate is the existential crisis of our time. Young people understand that,” said Josh Fryday, California’s chief service officer. “This is not an academic issue, and I think there’s a growing and real thirst for people to want to be part of the solution.”

Inspired by Franklin D. Roosevelt’s Civilian Conservation Corps, the program aims to empower the next generation to tackle global warming and its consequences by creating climate-focused career paths and focusing on historically neglected communities.

At the start of summer, the White House swore in more than 9,000 members of the inaugural class of the American Climate Corps. The corps members are now serving across the country stifling wildfires, helping farms adapt to climate change, installing solar panels, conserving the country’s wildlands and, of course, helping climate organizations create some “hip” Instagram content.

“Climate is the existential crisis of our time. Young people understand that,” said Josh Fryday, California’s chief service officer. “This is not an academic issue, and I think there’s a growing and real thirst for people to want to be part of the solution.”

Michelle Carranza, 34, gets to work at 5:30 a.m. on installation days. The summers near Sacramento are hot, and no one wants to install solar panels under the midday sun. As a member of GRID Alternatives’ SolarCorps, Carranza has spent the past year working with a dynamic team learning every step of solar installation, from design, to wiring, to “slapping glass” — actually putting the panels on the roof.

Carranza is always working with new people. “It’s actually really great, because you always learn so much,” she said.

It’s not the career she had expected — Carranza earned an associate’s degree to be a firefighter and completed all the training she needed to start. But then, she suffered an injury that put the dream on ice. Her sister planned to take a five-week crash course in how to install solar, so Carranza decided to join her. The class inspired her to get more involved, so she applied for the 11-month SolarCorps program.

After her term ends in August, she wants to help teach the very class that first got her into the industry — and she wants to become a certified electrician. “I never would’ve thought I would get interested in that,” she said. Whenever the opportunity to learn construction and power tool skills arose, the men in her life would always jump in to do it. So working with her hands in the SolarCorps, “it was pretty empowering, especially being a woman in the field.”

Carranza attended the swearing in of the first class of the ACC in June. She believes the ACC is bigger than just environmental justice — it’s about giving back to everyone in every community. “You’re not just looking at this as a temporary thing … this is a way of life,” she said. “When we recently did our pledge … it got us feeling even more grounded in our beliefs. We really do feel like we’re making a difference.” . . .

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Read the complete article at this LA Times link.