WHAT ON EARTH? Young Canadians want green jobs training. That’s what this ’Climate Corps’ offers

It’s a lot of work but it’s fun. It’s like doing arts and crafts every day, she told CBC Radio’s climate solutions show What On Earth.

Ralls, 23, trained as a mechanical insulator, a trade focused on insulating equipment such as pipes and ducts using a variety of materials like fibreglass, PVC and metal. The work can improve the energy efficiency of buildings and lower their carbon footprints.

The climate benefits are what attracted her to the work.

I was really just trying to find a job in the climate industry, she said.

Ralls said, in recent years, wildfires, drought, extreme heat and supercharged storms have threatened the people and places she loves.

It’s kind of scary, especially when people you know have farms and they are at risk, she said. I feel like it’s so important to find how you can make a difference.

Despite the fact that she’d never really touched a power tool before, Ralls took to mechanical insulating quickly. She said the work is interesting and well-paid, and it gives her a sense of satisfaction to be contributing to climate solutions.

Ashley Duncan, the president of union Local 118 with the B.C. Insulators, which partnered with Youth Climate Corps B.C. on the training program, said the climate link seems to attract young people who are considering the trades as a career.

When we’ve done trade fairs and things like that, that piece brings a lot more people over to us than a lot of the other stuff we discuss, she said.

Duncan said attracting more climate-motivated young people to this work could help solve the shortage of trades workers in Canada.

When I first started out [in this trade], I didn’t see a lot of women. I didn’t see a lot of diversity, she said. So being able to bring people in now, especially under climate literacy, I think it’s so important.

Ben Simoni, executive director of Youth Climate Corps B.C. (YCCBC), said the organization has heard from young people that they’re concerned about the future and want to work on climate change in their communities.

The younger generation really wants to be working in areas that align with their values, he said.

Simoni said the program, which started in Nelson, B.C., in 2020, has to date hired approximately 100 young people who have completed around 10,000 paid days of climate action through the program. The four-to-six month training sessions are open to people aged 17 to 30.

Trainees have worked in communities around B.C., from the Interior to the Lower Mainland and Vancouver Island, on a variety of climate related projects, including wildfire mitigation, ecological restoration, and home retrofitting.

We like to connect it to the needs of the community and also the job opportunities that are in the community so that … people are being set up for a really solid career, said Simoni.

The program secures funding for wages by partnering with local governments and employers as well as by applying for grants. Last year, the B.C. government announced (new window) $3 million for the program over three years.

Simoni said the group would like to expand the program to other provinces and offer longer training sessions to give young people hands-on experience in a wider variety of climate-related jobs.

I’m really excited to see where this goes because I do truly believe it is a program to meet the moment, he said.

With youth unemployment high (new window) across Canada (new window), Simoni said young people are facing economic uncertainty as well as climate uncertainty.

When we have wealth concentration and when we have the delegitimization of governments, that’s when we see far right nationalism and that’s where we see wealth inequality expand more and more, he said.

What I think is a big potential of Youth Climate Corps is giving people other stories of how we can be as a nation, how we can be as communities.

As for Ralls, she’s been hired on with the company she trained with and intends to continue with the work while she applies to graduate schools.

She’s not the only one continuing on as a mechanical insulator. The other six trainees in her cohort have also been hired on to work as mechanical insulators.

Some, said Ralls, intend to pursue Red Seal certification and continue with the job long term.

Thanks to YCCBC some people are finding a career in trades, she said.

This article is republished from RCI.