Sustainable San Mateo County recently brought together supporters for a powerful afternoon of stories and insights on one of the most urgent questions of our time: How do we inspire more people to care about sustainability and take action?
We were honored to hear from two remarkable speakers who approach this challenge from different perspectives: youth leadership and storytelling.
The Power of Youth – and the Adults Who Support Them
Our first speaker was Kayla Ling, the 2024 winner of SSMC’s Youth Sustainability Award. Kayla spoke about the critical role that young people play in driving climate solutions, while reminding us that youth cannot do this work alone. They need adult allies to stand beside them.
She emphasized the support she’s received from adults around her, including SSMC, other nonprofit organizations and her teachers. With this support, she’s been able to meet with legislators to push for stronger climate policies, organize rallies and spend seven weeks this summer at Stanford researching anthropological evidence of climate change, and she’s just a senior in high school! Her message to the adults in the audience was clear and inspiring: Get involved in climate action and support young people who are leading the way.
Why Don’t More People Protest? A Journalist’s Perspective
Next, we heard from Kate Galbraith, Climate Editor for the San Francisco Chronicle. She began by sharing the Chronicle’s deep commitment to energy/environment coverage, with a rare and impressive team of six journalists, and an additional weather team that includes two meteorologists dedicated to California and the Bay Area.
Kate posed a provocative question: With so many climate protections being rolled back at the federal level, why aren’t people flooding the streets in protest?
She walked us through the data behind what captures online readers’ attention, pointing out that serious policy pieces and stories with “climate change” in the headline often get overlooked, while stories that connect directly to people’s lives—or surprise them—spark engagement. For example, one of the Chronicle’s most-clicked articles on climate change recently carried the cheeky headline: “Newsom has 11-word response — with a four-letter word — to Trump’s climate moves.”
Other popular subjects include home insurance, an issue linked to wildfires and climate change that directly impacts Californians’ daily lives., and stories with an uplifting environmental theme, like coverage of the largest dam removal project in U.S. history, on the Klamath River in Northern California, which allowed 30 Indigenous youths to embark this summer on a kayak trip down the 310 miles of the newly undammed river.
The takeaway? People want stories that are timely, relevant, surprising and hopeful. That’s how we spark curiosity and engagement.
A Call to “Hold the Line”
Kate closed with a powerful call for civic engagement: “Hold the line. Double down on being good citizens and let your impact ripple outward.” She encouraged everyone to initiate conversations about climate with family and friends, to find common ground with those who have different viewpoints and to nurture critical thinking in young people. One practical step? Support real journalism. Subscribing to print newspapers like The New York Times or the San Francisco Chronicle is not just about news. It’s an investment in humanity and in the shared truths that help us tackle global challenges.
What a great afternoon, connecting with our supporters and reflecting on how much more we can, and need to do!
