Michigan’s MI Healthy Climate Corps is giving members the opportunity to help the state reach its climate goals. The group’s first class is more than halfway through the program.
The program is an AmeriCorps program run by the Michigan Department of Environment, Great Lakes, and Energy as part of the state's MI Healthy Climate Plan which outlines goals to reduce greenhouse gas emissions and carbon neutrality.
The cohort has 30 members across the state working on projects with different nonprofit and government organizations. But the goal for all members is the same: to help Michigan reach 100% carbon neutrality by 2050.
In addition to job placements, the program offers participants training and resources to continue working in the climate change sector.
Brendan Mortensen-Seguin is working with the Lansing Board of Water and Light.
“A lot of it is the in-the-field kind of work talking to people about electric rebates, energy waste reduction, decarbonization of the grid, which is one of the most complicated, most heavily regulated sectors in the entire county," he said. "It’s been a lot of learning.”
Mortensen-Seguin said he’s developing a large-scale climate risk report and doing environmental justice work internally with the utility. He said his placement has deepened his understanding of how to address climate issues.
"It’s a lot of creativity, a lot of these new kind of solutions that people haven’t thought of before, these new projects. This cutting-edge research and theory being applied for the first time in America,” he said.
Mortensen-Seguin is double majoring in political science and sustainability at Western Michigan University and hopes to continue working in the field in the future.
The deadline to apply for the next MI Healthy Climate Corps is Sept. 8.
