As the New Year kicks off, we’re ecstatic to welcome 14 new youth environmental scholars to the team. Every January we hire 10 young Berkeley residents to engage in our Youth Environmental Academy (YEA). In addition to on-the-job training, these 14 participants will walk away at the end of their 13 week session with a more robust climate literacy and an understanding of how to take action.
We will meet regularly to discuss and build our understanding of the current climate crisis and how to combat some of these issues as young people. The scholars will engage in a culturally relevant cooking/nutrition series, as well as hands-on gardening at the Berkeley Technology Academy (BTA) garden right here in Berkeley!
Along with our incoming 14 YEA Scholars, we also have four year-round youth staff who have been supporting a variety of projects around the Ecology Center. Malik, a youth intern, has been working with our Bay Area Seed Interchange Library (BASIL). The BASIL is part of a growing network of concerned farmers and community gardeners dedicated to conserving the remaining genetic diversity of our planet’s seed stock. With big conglomerates taking control of seeds, it’s important now more than ever to continue these Indigenous-led practices in real time.
Malik spends three hours a week categorizing, counting, and labeling seeds for the community to access. He has also begun the process of building out a new digital platform for seed check outs. After spending months of intentional time engaging with the library, this is what Malik has to say about his time,
“Initially when I was starting out, I saw that the seed library was disorganized and thought that I could both organize and revamp it to look more appealing to the eyes. Now that I have spent over six months both adapting and adding new features to the already existing system, I feel a deeper connection to both the seeds and the lands that they come from. My end goal is to hopefully have a flushed out system or at the very least, the beginning of one. Then, information about seeds and the various techniques to grow them can stay inside of a digital database that everyone can access, so we could continue the lifelong legacy of seed saving and knowledge spreading.”
We’re thrilled to continue moving forward with this project with leadership from Malik and other youth staff, as we work to support the seed saving practice.
This month, we’ll be providing hydration stations and water education at the Downtown Berkeley Farmers’ Market on Saturday, February 22, 10am–3pm. Come say hello, and get a cup of fruit-infused water! We’ll be tabling on Saturday, March 8 and March 22 as well!
Photo: Malik at the BASIL seed library in the Ecology Center
