It's better to dance together.
On non-military national service and rebuilding a trusting culture.
About two weeks ago, President Biden announced the creation of the American Climate Corps. We’ll refer to this program as the “corps” in this essay. The corps seeks to “put more than 20,000 young people on career pathways in the growing fields of clean energy, conservation, and climate resilience.”
Green New Deal advocates like AOC have been advocating for the creation of this program for years. Beyond climate advocates’ wanting to do anything about the consistent breaking of the “hottest month in recorded history” record every summer, the impetus for this specific program is actually rooted in history as much as it is in statistics. The new corps had a New Deal-era predecessor implemented by FDR: the Civilian Conservation Corps.
According to the National Parks Service website, the CCC employed about three million men nationwide over its nine years of existence. What is interesting about the CCC, though, is that these three million men were not scientists or researchers: they were builders. Using materials native to where they were working, they built “roads, trails, culverts, and structures.”
Now, the connection between building and the Green New Deal policies from the eras of FDR to today may seem to be a difficult one to formulate. Sustainable infrastructure growth is absolutely necessary to ensure that the valves of the economy and the atmosphere do not literally crumble apart. But a more important angle as to why this connection is vital is how these programs can benefit the mental health and well-being of young people, which may manifest a transformation into a more civil and trusting society as a whole.
In this way, the climate corps is not only a response to the urgent threat of climate change but also a recognition of the needs and aspirations of Gen Z. As discussed last week, this generation has grown up with an expectation for institutional failure (see the 2008 financial crisis, withdrawal from Afghanistan, inability to contain COVID deaths). As a result, young people have developed a deep distrust in government. Where this manifests itself beyond politics, though is in reading that younger adults have lower levels of personal trust than other Americans. This 2019 Pew Research study indicated that “levels of personal trust tend to be linked with people’s broader views on institutions and civic life.”
This is where non-military national service programs can play a vital role. By providing young people with opportunities to serve their communities and their country, these programs can help Gen Z gain valuable social skills, practical experience that can be used in vocational careers, diverse social networks, and a broader sense of civic engagement. And can you imagine if work incentives within these programs could provide the government with a back-door opportunity to clear or lessen federal student loans, or provide this generation with the opportunity to have a piece of a federal pension plan? With the environment being Gen Z’s number one concern, the government has an absolutely golden opportunity here to utilize the new climate corps as an experimental lab for future programs.
There is a personal angle to my belief here. I witnessed the power of our generation’s ability to align its goals and hopes for the future with public sector contributions while serving as a Congressional Fellow on Capitol Hill this summer. As I wrote last week, I do NOT perceive Gen Z to be a passive or pessimistic generation. On the contrary, we are active, creative, diverse, and resilient. We are willing to take action on our own and collaborate with others who share our vision.
As a Fellow this summer, I was between a senior intern and a full-time staffer. So, I had the privilege of spending a ton of time with the undergraduate interns in our office. Professionally, I had not ever spent this much time with people ~5 years younger than me before. My colleagues were not only eager to learn about the legislative process and policy issues but also eager to contribute their ideas and perspectives.
Especially in the legal sphere, I’ve noticed that public service or employment in the public sector broadly is something that people would usually wait until the late stage of their career to do. People will join the public sector to “give back” at the end of their careers. But what if we could flip the script, and public service could be seen as a way to launch a career?
In an article released this past September, the New York Times Magazine noted that the percentage of young adults who said that a college degree is very important has dropped to 41% from 74% over the last ten years. Noting this trend, perhaps non-military national service can also contribute to the future landscape of higher education. Imagine that those participating in the new climate corps could be put on track for an accelerated degree in environmental science from a public university near their team’s project, for example. Or, if the corps member would prefer not to be on an academic path, the corps could provide them with industry-recognized credentials that could lead to a fruitful career. A career, hopefully, that includes union membership as well.
One would hope that a program that could have such a positive impact will not be corrupted by the forces that usually plague good governance. Rampant bureaucracy will prevent positive experiences for a generation that is used to speed, and you would hope that the building done by this program will be equitably distributed to the parts of the nation that truly need it the most.
Despite the risk of failure, I would argue that exploring a new era of non-military national service is worth the effort - especially given the current economic and cultural environment. If successful, the new climate corps could be replicated in other industries as well. After all, in the context of our business, civic, and personal relationships, it’s better to dance together.
I like writing about opportunities for change for the next generation because it gives me hope. In the future we’ll build on this series further by discussing apprenticeship.