Aquarium’s Teen Climate Council Celebrates Earth Day Every Day

Voices of the future display a dedication to sustainability and conservation.

Credit: NASA

April 26, 2024

The Aquarium of the Pacific’s Teen Climate Council (TCC) are gearing up for their Earth Day Teen Climate Festival, which will take place at the Aquarium on April 27 and 28, 2024. The TCC is a group of creative, hardworking, and passionate high school volunteers committed to combating climate change and promoting sustainability. These voices of the future have an enthusiasm for our ocean planet—Earth. The festival is included with general admission to the Aquarium.

The TCC’s passion for sustainability and conservation extends far beyond their Earth Day Teen Climate Festival. And it shows with the different committees that the TCC created to focus on various aspects of public engagement. The TCC is supervised by Callum Watson, the Aquarium’s youth and family volunteer coordinator. Inspired by Watson’s phrase, “making footsteps worth following,” the council has formed outreach, editorial, and media committees.

The outreach committee focuses on attending events to represent the entire TCC. This committee participates in Aquarium events such as Family Science Night, and recently, they had a booth focused on the endangered sunflower sea star at this year’s Noche de Estrellas (Night of the Stars) event. Prior to that, they participated in the AltaSea open house. These opportunities allow the council to share their accomplishments.

The editorial committee engages with audiences of all ages. The teens involved with this committee have worked with the Idyllwild Arts Academy to publish a kids book called Yutaka Finds a Friend focusing on the conservation of the giant sea bass. Also, the teens have been featured in the Fresh Voices section of the Aquarium’s Pacific Currents magazine.

The media committee utilizes filmmaking, photography, and social media to connect youths to sustainability. They have worked on films like We are Pasifika, which is one of the rotating video presentations at the end of the Tropical Pacific Gallery. This committee even created an Instagram account (@aopteens), so the public can get updates on the TCC and receive conservation and sustainability messages.

Those interested in joining the TCC can send an email to tcc@lbaop.org .