Students to Tackle Region’s Environmental & Sustainability Issues at Spare the Air Youth YES Conference

OAKLAND, CA — Middle- and high-school students from across the region are invited to attend the third annual Youth for the Environment and Sustainability, or YES, Conference on Saturday, January 30, 2016 in Berkeley. The free conference will feature dynamic youth speakers who will share their environmental sustainability work and stories. The registration deadline for youth presenters is Tuesday, December 15, 2015.

Sponsored by the Bay Area Air Quality Management District and the Metropolitan Transportation Commission, the event encourages students from the nine Bay Area counties to share ideas on youth-led actions that improve air quality, sustainability and environmental health in the region, while allowing them to develop their leadership skills.

This year, the YES Conference is partnering with the Super Bowl 50 Sustainability Host Committee to bring an exciting, interactive conference where students can have fun and win prizes, but also challenge themselves and the region to take action for change.

“I am involved in environmental work because I realized that it’s up to me to make a change,” said Windsor High School student Isabella Rader, who will serve as Master of Ceremonies at the 2016 conference. “If I wanted this battle against climate change to make great leaps forward, it was going to be up to me—and my community—to be a part of that change.”

WHAT: Youth for the Environment and Sustainability (YES) Conference

WHO: Bay Area middle- and high-school students

WHEN: Saturday, Jan. 30, 2016, 10 a.m. - 3 p.m.

WHERE: Lawrence Hall of Science at UC Berkeley, 1 Centennial Drive, Berkeley, CA 94720

Registration for the YES Conference is free and open to students, parents, teachers and youth leaders in the nine-county San Francisco Bay Area. Breakfast and lunch will be provided. Students under 18 years of age must have their parents’ written permission to attend.

For complete conference information and to register, visit sparetheairyouth.org/2016-yes-conference or youtu.be/woRolBb11p4. The first 200 students who register will be entered into a drawing to win a pair of tickets to the NFL Experience in Downtown San Francisco. Free shuttles will be provided from the downtown Berkeley BART station and from other designated locations in the region not accessible to BART. Students are asked to RSVP for the shuttle service by January 8, 2016, to Yvonna Cazares at ycazares@baaqmd.gov or 415.749.8432.

MTC (www.mtc.ca.gov) is the regional transportation planning, coordinating and financing agency for the nine-county San Francisco Bay Area. The Bay Area Air Quality Management District (www.baaqmd.gov) is the regional agency responsible for protecting air quality in the nine-county Bay Area.

Contacts:

Tina Landis, Air District, (415) 749-4900

Leslie Lara, MTC, (510) 325-5051