Bidens Planfor Civilian Climate Corps

What is old might be what is new once again. The Biden Administration has proposed, as part of both its infrastructure and jobs plans, to protect land and water resources – especially on federal land – by creating a Civilian Climate Corps. This new CCC would be patterned after the '30s era Civilian Conservation Corps.

The new CCC would educate youth about conservation and preservation of wildlife and biodiversity. It would provide work on climate change mitigation projects, where young people would gain applicable “green economy” skills and earn at least minimum wages for their work.

There are presently several different bills in congress that vary as to the final configuration of such a corps. The old CCC was formed in a time of vast unemployment of young men who were unable to help themselves. President Roosevelt wanted to avoid trouble in the streets and to give these young men some skills, money and meaningful work. They lived mostly in camps, were paid about $600 a month in today's money; they were fed and did marvelous work on building our park systems, bridges, roads, trails and lasting structures.

Their groups were not diverse and mostly left out women. At their highest point they had about 300,000 youth. That federal CCC ended, and to find out how it changed into later Youth Conservation Corps, and for details about Biden's plan, read last week’s TEST article.

It is still too early to say how the new CCC with interact with the state and local conservation corps and local volunteer corps. It has exciting possibilities. Many young people a just waiting for a chance to do their part in protecting the planet—it might be the right time to dust off the old and make it new again,

(Fun fact: Did you know that 1930’s era CCC members in rural Douglas County made the environment cleaner? They also helped build Lone Star Lake and had a bunk house at the Lake. The bunk house was given to the state, which in turn let Girl Scouts, Boy Scouts and 4-H group “rent” the cabin for $1 per year. It was still in use for youth camping until the mid-1980’s ).

Earth Steward Action: Learn more about the existing Youth Conservation Corps, pass on the information to the youth you know and dream what a national push for a “climate focused” corps might do for addressing the climate crisis. Advocate for the new CCC.

SOURCES: https://www.corpsnetwork , https://appalachiancc.org/, https://ccc.ca.gov/,