At the 2025 Future Green Leaders Summit, middle school students designed fire-resistant homes using AI, learned about jobs that support the climate and environment, and cheered on superheroes dressed as “Wind,” “Solar,” “Ethanol” and other energy sources as they squared off in a rap and dance battle.
The day-long event, held at San Bernardino’s Historic Enterprise Building on Wednesday, was organized by the Southern California Regional Energy Network, which is administered by Los Angeles County and paid for by California Public Utility ratepayers.
The approximately 500 students in attendance came from the San Bernardino and neighboring Rialto school districts that have Title 1 status, meaning the schools receive supplemental federal funding because they enroll a high percentage of pupils living in low-income households. In both districts, Latino, Black and Asian residents represent more than 80% of the population, according to the U.S. Census.
Organizers said the event was in part intended to confront a disconnect in the green economy. Although students from poor households and families of color are more vulnerable to the effects of rising global temperatures, pollution, and food and energy scarcity, people from their communities are less likely to be employed in green industries. Women are underrepresented too.
For instance, the U.S. solar workforce is 73% white and 70% male. The workforce overall is about 60% white and more than 50% female, according to the International Renewable Energy Council’s Solar Jobs Census.
It’s hard for children to envision themselves in green careers when they don’t see people who look like them in those jobs, organizers said.
“Kids, once they entered into high school, they have already made up their minds career-wise, and a lot of them are not going into STEM, especially females,” said Wendy Angel, referring to fields built on science, technology, engineering and math. Angel is the Southern California regional director for Emerald Cities, a nonprofit that works to bring diversity to the green economy.
These imbalances were front of mind when Lujuanna Medina, the environmental initiatives division manager for L.A. County, came up with the idea to host a summit for middle school students four years ago.
“We were like, ‘How do we reach them early on, before they reach high school? Let’s expose them to different parts of the green economy,’ ” Medina said.
The fair, with its mix of live entertainment, hands-on workshops and a career expo, was designed to make the green industry and the idea of sustainability more relatable, said Ben Stapleton, executive director of U.S. Green Building Council, an advocacy and workforce development group based in L.A.
That’s especially important given a host of recent research showing that a fear for the future of the planet is taking a toll on young people’s mental health and making them feel powerless.
One solution, said Stapleton, is to break big concepts like “climate change” down into more accessible components.
“This is what it means in terms of air quality. This is what it means in terms of biodiversity, and access to plants and greenspace,” said Stapleton. “When you give kids those tools, they create the change and they understand that ‘I can be a part of this.’ ”
During one workshop, Marcela Oliva, a professor at the Los Angeles Trade-Tech College, showed students how to use the latest digital visualization and 3-D simulation tools to design homes and landscaping that incorporate wildfire-resilient building materials and plantings.
Elsewhere, students learned about energy-saving appliances, brainstormed solutions to problems such as the proliferation of plastic waste and deforestation and explored internship and professional job opportunities.
Maximilian Valdovinos, 12, from San Bernardino, said that coming into the career fair, he was considering becoming a mechanic, but the event inspired him to consider possible careers in waste management.
Thirteen-year-old Emily Zamora was a “maybe” on the idea of going into a green industry before the event’s end. But the activities she participated in made her reflect on the lack of tree cover and shade in the San Bernardino neighborhood where she lives and its potential effect on her health.
“There’s very few trees where I live,” said Zamora, “and some of them are dead.”
The organizers and workshop facilitators said they realize that not every student will leave the event wanting to pursue a green career. The idea is to plant a seed.
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