2024 Award Recipient
HaydenCrocker
Project Go Greenish
Project Go Greenish
When Hayden was a freshman in high school, he was selected to provide youth input on his city’s climate measures as the Junior Commissioner for the Solana Beach Climate Action Commission. Hayden wondered whether similar measures were taking place in his school district, and soon started spending his lunch periods investigating his school’s on-site solar power and meeting with the superintendent to discuss organics recycling.
Hayden recruited a cohort of like-minded students who shared his belief that schools should play a more active role in combating climate change. This belief became the inspiration for Go Greenish, a student-led environmental policy initiative that mobilizes students to engage their schools and school districts in climate action planning, research, and implementation.
What began as a question about his school’s climate efforts evolved into a full-fledged coalition of more than 200 student volunteers who represent 450,000 students across fifteen school districts. To date, Go Greenish has raised nearly $17,000 in grant funding and completed eleven site projects, including organics recycling, food diversion, and two community gardens.
Go Greenish is a youth-led environmental organization that mobilizes students across San Diego and other school districts to work with their schools and school administrations on projects and district policies for climate action. The Go Greenish roadmap offers five steps to launching student-led climate committees on local school boards, and financially supports school projects such as composting, community gardens, and food diversion. To date, Go Greenish has urged the Board of Trustees at San Dieguito Union High School District (SDUHSD) to purchase four new electric buses, expand recycling and composting programs, and open a standing district climate committee with student representatives. Go Greenish has expanded to 15 chapters in California and Colorado, with more than 150 student volunteers who represent 450,000 students to date.
