The Biden administration has planted the seeds of a Civilian Climate Corps that would hire workers for projects aimed at conserving and restoring public lands while addressing climate change.
The Civilian Climate Corps, much like the Civilian Conservation Corps during the Depression, would provide jobs while boosting local economies.
Among several executive actions taken in late January, President Joe Biden directed the Interior and Agriculture departments to flesh out by late April the specifics of a Civilian Climate Corps “to put a new generation of Americans to work conserving and restoring public lands and waters, increasing reforestation, increasing carbon sequestration in the agricultural sector, protecting biodiversity, improving access to recreation, and addressing the changing climate,” according to a White House fact sheet.
The Agriculture secretary has been directed to collect information from farmers, ranchers, and others on how to use federal programs to encourage adoption of “climate-smart agricultural practices that produce verifiable carbon reductions and sequestrations and create new sources of income and jobs for rural Americans.”
Biden’s first steps toward a climate corps drew praise from the Sierra Club.
“We are very excited by President Biden’s executive order,” Sierra Club Outdoors for All Director Jackie Ostfeld said on the club’s website. “A Civilian Climate Corps is the perfect way to address multiple crises we currently face as a country.
“Providing conservation jobs for young people is an essential part of a green recovery and will help a generation of Americans struggling in the economic crisis caused by the Covid-19 pandemic, all while doing the work we need to protect our public lands and stave off the worst effects of climate change.”
The Depression-era Civilian Conservation Corps put 3 million jobless men, most of them ages 18 to 25, to work in camps nationwide. They planted trees, built trails, roads and visitor facilities in national parks, and helped state governments create more than 700 parks.
But the corps offered few opportunities for women, and segregated the men’s camps by race.
“A Civilian Climate Corps could offer nonwhites, particularly in urban areas, an entry into work and careers they might otherwise not consider,” the Los Angeles Times said in an editorial.
“Such a corps should not be just a temporary jobs program,” the Times wrote. “It should link the work with training for potential future employment, perhaps meshing with existing apprenticeship programs, and give preference to people currently unemployed or underemployed, the homeless or others showing clear need for economic help. Those who sign up should be able to use the training and experience to gain certifications that would help them move on to better future jobs and perhaps establish careers.”