To tackle climate change, Michigan enlists a ‘corps’ of volunteers

• The MI Healthy Climate Corps sends civil servants to help local communities prepare for the devastating effects of climate change
• The first class of climate corp members are tackling climate problems related to food waste, public transportation and habitat loss 
• While their contributions may seem small, the corps is part of a nationwide program of thousands committed to climate action 

Isidor Mitchell has heard their entire life that “your generation is going to be the ones to fix” the global climate crisis.

For them, the work starts in Lansing’s neighborhoods, figuring out how to make better use of the household food scraps that are clogging landfills while emitting planet-warming methane.

As a temporary sustainability project coordinator with the city of Lansing, Mitchell is developing drop-off sites where residents can instead turn their potato peels and watermelon rinds into rich compost for gardens and crops.

It’s their way of combating a climate crisis that, if left unchecked, could become catastrophic in Mitchell’s lifetime. 

“I have to do this,” Mitchell said. “I feel like there’s no other way.” 

Boosting composting rates in a single town may seem like a small gesture. But strength lies in numbers.

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Mitchell is one of 30 Michiganders who have joined the MI Healthy Climate Corps, Michigan’s version of a new national initiative that enlists civil servants to help local communities weather the coming changes. 

The program aims to treat climate change with the same urgency as past crises that spawned massive service programs like the Civilian Conservations Corps and Peace Corps.

“Climate change affects everything,” said Jordan Power, climate action officer for the Michigan Department of Environment, Great Lakes and Energy, who manages the program. “To change everything, we need everyone.”

Action at the local level

Using $2.6 million in federal and state funding, Michigan has embedded 30 corps members in 14 communities across the state, working on projects ranging from supporting vehicle electrification to restoring wildlife habitat. 

Wherever you live in Michigan, “there’s likely a climate corps member working in your area,” said Powers.

Michigan’s cohort is part of the nationwide American Climate Corps, a Biden administration program that borrows inspiration from America’s long legacy of using civil service to propel the nation through crisis. 

The most notable example is the 1930s Civilian Conservation Corps, the Roosevelt administration’s response to unemployment during the Great Depression and environmental disasters like the Great Dust Bowl.

The CCC put 3 million men to work planting billions of trees and creating hundreds of state parks. 

Like the Climate Corps today, it helped the environment while providing people with meaningful work, said Rob Burg, a Michigan environmental historian who specializes in the CCC. 

“It was a way to help heal our outdoors from a lot of environmental devastation,” Burg said. At the same time, “It helped kick-start our economy.” 

Today, the nation faces a new crisis.

Scientists say society must wean itself off fossil fuels by midcentury to avoid the worst effects of climate change, while also preparing to withstand the disruption that has already begun, from worsening summer heat waves to disappearing winters and damaging floods.

That will take decisive global action, like crafting emissions rules and figuring out how to suck carbon dioxide out of the atmosphere. But experts say smaller actions in local communities are just as important.

“The way we prepare our communities for hotter days, for bigger storms, for more frequent storms, has everything to do with local decisions,” said Beth Gibbons, national climate resilience lead at the consulting firm Farallon Strategies. 

“Climate adaptation is about local action.”

‘This is my city’

Enter the climate corps.

Michigan members interviewed by Bridge said they’re motivated by a sense of concern about the future and duty to their communities.

“This is my city. These are my people,” said Za’Nyia Kelly, a corps member serving at Transportation Riders United (TRU) in Detroit. “My service term ends in November, but I'll always be doing transit advocacy.”

A Detroit native and transit rider, Kelly said she’s personally invested in her service. With widespread use, public transit has the potential to emit significantly less greenhouse gas per passenger than private vehicles, while providing a lifeline for residents who don’t have a personal vehicle. 

But Kelly believes a lack of funding and awareness is preventing public transit from reaching its full potential as a climate solution.

“If you don’t rely on it,” she said, “It can be difficult to understand why (public) transportation is important.”

So she is spending her time with the organization working on a campaign to expand transit spending and improve conditions for riders.

Some days, that looks like meeting with transit riders and local government officials. Other days, it’s walking the city to flag where sidewalks, bike lanes and crosswalks need improvements to make it easier for residents to choose something other than a polluting passenger vehicle.

Back in Lansing, Mitchell plans to give tours of Lansing’s food scrap drop-offs, once the sites open later this summer. They see the project as a catalyst for residents to get involved in the climate fight.

“Just changing a couple hundred people’s minds about collecting food scraps can eventually lead to a monumental change,” they said, “because people connect and people share.”