About Us
Who are we as an Organization?
Massachusetts Climate Education Organization is a youth led grassroots campaign composed of students from schools across Massachusetts.
Our Beliefs
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We believe the extension of education on climate-related issues that face our generation today is imperative to foster initiative among youth. As an organization of schools all across Massachusetts, we feel that our education on climate change is currently inadequate.
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We believe that knowledge is power and if more students are educated on climate change and environmental issues, they will be able to make informed decisions, allowing them to take action in enacting change in their communities.
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We believe that as the climate justice movement has become a priority to youth everywhere, politicians and movement leaders have entrusted the youth to stand up against the practices that cause climate change in order to fight for their future. Our main concern is the fact that our leaders are expecting youth to fight the climate crisis when they are not providing adequate resources and standards for education on climate change from a human rights, scientific, and civic standpoint.
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We believe that human rights are the belief everyone should be treated equally, live their lives in safety and freedom, and be protected by their government, no matter their ethnicity, race, gender, sexuality, or economic status. Climate change further threatens many of our basic human rights, which include the right to health, food, life, and an adequate standard of living. Additionally, the climate crisis disproportionately affects indigenous communities and people of color. We believe that this fact should not be ignored when educating youth on the effects of climate change.
Coordinators/Team leads
Nico Gentile
The founder of the Massachusetts Climate Education Organization is Sandwich High School Junior Nicolas (Nico) Gentile. He was inspired to start MCEO due to the lack of climate change and environmental awareness education at his school. He states that at his own school, the first time he remembers being exposed to climate education was for a short period in the seventh grade. However, since moving onto high school he hasn't experienced any further climate education in required science classes. When he started working with the Massachusetts Audubon Society on Cape Cod to design youth climate action summits, he became aware of the lack of education that all students in Massachusetts were experiencing on climate change from a civic, scientific, and human rights standpoint. MCEO was created in hopes to connect activists and passionate students from schools all over Massachusetts who will fight for better climate education standards.
If you have any questions for Nico, please email him at: massclimateedu@gmail.com
Zoe Nagasawa
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Zoe Nagasawa is a junior at Boston Latin School. She is the co-president of the environmental club, the Youth Climate Action Network (YouthCAN), there, and is involved in various other projects and activities within her school. She believes strongly in the intersectionality of sustainability and social, racial, and economic justice; climate change is hitting poorer communities and communities of color first and worst, and that pattern will continue if we do not act now to stop it. With MCEO, Zoe hopes to ensure that every student in Massachusetts understands the reach and severity of the climate crisis through better, more comprehensive, and more sustainable climate education.
Soleei Guasp
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Soleei is a junior at BMC Durfee High school. She is an AMC for Project 351, President of her class as well as Key Club. In addition to having a passion for the arts, being in her schools Orchestra, Chorus, Theatre Company and Dance team, she is very passionate about racial and social justice and amplifying youth voices. Being the team lead for Equity and Justice for MCEO and a Global Youth Activist Reporter for Team Harmony, she believes that climate change as well as activism should be well spoken about and not just put aside. She believes the power of media and communication throughout the classroom in these topics are essential for a better world, to promote peace and unity, and that youth have the biggest power to make this change. Being a youth activist has been a very significant part of her life, being part of other organizations such as Diversify Our Narrative as a National Communications intern. With MCEO, she hopes that students from all over Massachusetts can be educated on the climate crisis and comprehend its significance through proper communications and through youth organizations like these, to fight for a better and more sustainable world.
Emma Williamson
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Emma is a senior at Old Rochester Regional High School in Mattapoisett. In school, she’s a member of student government, math team, mock trial, drama club, and the president of National Honor Society. Out of school, when she’s not doing climate work, Emma serves as an intern for the Sippican Historical Society, where she’s going through the documents of Cecil Clark Davis, a local painter. MCEO is Emma’s first foray into climate activism, but she loves being a part of the organization and working to make the world a cleaner place. In MCEO, Emma serves as the lead of the partnerships team and MCEO’s current consistent seat in the Massachusetts Youth Climate Coalition (MYCC). In MYCC, Emma works with other youth climate organizations to create change and serves on the education team. She also attends the Massachusetts Green New Deal Roundtable. She loves working in MCEO and is so excited to do more!!
Anna Wilcox
Anna Wilcox is a senior at Boston Latin School, where she is involved with her school’s environmental club, Youth Climate Action Network (YouthCAN), and works in her school’s hydroponic farm. She has completed a summer internship with a local non profit organization, Speak for the Trees, where she applied her environmental interests to helping underserved communities. She is also constantly inspired by the hard work of fellow youth activists in the Massachusetts Youth Climate Coalition, where she sees an innovative and hard working ambition that she believes has the power to change the structure of our society for the better. Aside from having a passion for environmental activism, she is also interested in building a better educated public through journalism. She is a part of her school’s newspaper where she works as a Head Editor and website manager, and she has attended numerous journalism courses, as well as taught middle schoolers about journalism during a summer program. She is excited to combine these two interests in the work of MCEO so that educated youth can make the necessary change for an equitable, climate resilient society.