Youth Environmental Press Team supports middle and high school journalists producing content about the climate crisis and other environmental issues.
YEPT republishes original climate- and environmental-related content produced by middle and high school journalists; we also republish stories writers have already published in their school newspapers. Stories include a wide variety of student-selected subject matter related to human impacts: invasive species, data centers, animal agriculture, renewable energy, global climate politics, and much more. Republication requires permission of writer and faculty advisor/teacher and nets the student $30. We also assign fresh content for our site: $100 or more for a new assignment.
By 2026, over a dozen high school Directors represent numerous states that contribute to YEPT: Washington, California, Colorado, Texas, Nebraska, Minnesota, Wisconsin, Illinois, Indiana, Michigan, Ohio, and Florida. We regularly publish writers from other states as well as other countries.
In collaboration with college interns, high school Directors run YEPT operations, produce and edit stories, and promote YEPT content on social media; each state Director is paid $1,000 per semester for this work.
If you are interested in being part of YEPT, fill out this interest form or contact adult advisor Jim Poyser at [email protected].
Are you a news outlet interested in re-publishing our stories? If a story has a Creative Commons License blurb at the bottom, then you are free to re-publish. Please adhere to the license’s deed. If a story doesn’t have a CCL blurb, then the writer did not give their permission, and it is not available.
Leadership team:
Ana Rakita, Operations Intern: Ana is a junior at the University of California, Irvine (Zot zot!), majoring in Film and Media Studies and minoring in Literary Journalism. Her journey with YEPT began in fall 2022, when she joined a small but mighty group then based solely in her home state of Indiana. Ana served as a YEPT reporter her junior year of high school (2022-23), and as a director her senior year (2023-24), before graduating and moving across the country to pursue her love for the screen and stage. Soon enough, however, YEPT’s rapid growth reached her once again, and she feels so privileged to be back in a new role.
Ana’s primary mission in her work is to help the bright minds around her tell important stories—including, of course, about the climate crisis. She thrives in the spaces between creativity and logistics, between narrative and documentary. This is her second year as the producer of Anteater Television’s Campus Life department at UC Irvine, where she has also been an operations intern. Additionally, she was an assistant director and script supervisor for multiple student short films, and has stage managed and assistant directed theatrical productions. In her free time, you can find Ana exploring the trails and parks of central and southern California, or getting lost in a good book.
Evalina Sain, Development Intern: Evalina is a first-year student at Columbia University studying Sustainable Development and Political Science, with a particular interest in how sustainability influences global diplomacy, corporate operations, and energy infrastructure. She graduated from Central High School in Omaha, Nebraska, as valedictorian and Student of the Year, and earned her International Baccalaureate Diploma. At Columbia, she is a published, award-winning author for the Columbia Undergraduate Law Review; serves as the Climate Challenges Representative for the Council on Foreign Relations; and is Vice President of the Student Union of Sustainable Development. She also interns under Dr. Steve Cohen at the Columbia Climate School, where she conducts research and writes on New York City municipal policy, and leads a research project under environmental law expert Michel Gerrard focused on state responses to rising energy demand. She values working at the intersection of sustainability, policy, and scholarship, where her advocacy and research can reach broader audiences.
In her home state of Nebraska, Evalina served for three years as Executive Director of Students for Sustainability, where she co-authored sustainable stewardship plans for public entities, secured and coordinated advocacy efforts for sustainability amendments and legislation at the federal, state, city, and district levels, and organized events promoting conscious consumerism. Evalina enjoys traveling, history, Renaissance art museums, evening workouts, and maintaining her Duolingo streak.
Tova Weiss, Editorial Intern: Tova was born and raised in Ann Arbor, Michigan. A ’26-’27 participant in the Tivnu gap year program based in Portland Oregon, Tova is able to carry her passion for social action into internships at Portland nonprofits related to addressing a variety of different social injustices. Tova’s background in both journalism and climate activism is extensive, but her love for environmental reporting specifically was sparked when she wrote her first environment-related news article at 11 years old. Formerly a director for YEPT, Tova has loved working with this program so much she didn’t want to leave! In addition to enjoying supporting the fascinating stories YEPT reporters produce, Tova also is excited to be a part of empowering youth to spread youth narrative and exercise their talents, the same way the YEPT staff was able to empower her when she first got involved. Outside of environmental work and journalism, Tova loves participating in and facilitating many other forms of community action and collaboration, and is a strong believer in the power of intersectionality. In her free time, Tova can be found cooking, baking, sewing, practicing one of the three musical instruments she plays, or just spending time with her friends and family.
Adult advisor:
Jim Poyser, Adult Advisor: Jim is Director of Advancement for Earth Charter Indiana and over his journalism career served as an editor at numerous publications, including The Bloomington Voice, Breeze Magazine, Indiana Living Green and NUVO Newsweekly. His essays were published throughout the alternative newsweekly circuit and beyond. For many years, he was a member of the Society of Environmental Journalists. YEPT is a program of Earth Charter Indiana, whose mission is advocating for intergenerational climate action. Based in Indiana, Jim is a playwright and fiction writer, and enjoys bicycling, hiking and scrapbooking.
Funding:
We are grateful for support from Earth Rising Foundation, Glick Philanthropies, the King Family Foundation, the Allen Whitehill Clowes Charitable Foundation, and the Netherleigh Foundation.
We also welcome donations from individuals. In Spring of 2026, an anonymous donor gifted YEPT $40,000.
As artificial intelligence (AI) becomes more prevalent, Youth Environmental Press Team (YEPT) wanted to create a policy outlining when we will and will not use AI. We are cognizant of the carbon emissions and water usage that come from AI, as well as increasing dependence on the technology. With that being said, YEPT would like to make a commitment to use AI as little as possible. The following points outline our policy:
- YEPT staff are permitted to use AI for transcribing audio files.
- YEPT staff will not use Grammarly or other AI grammar checkers to edit content.
- YEPT staff will not run a document source into an AI program to “summarize” it.
- YEPT staff will not use AI for research.
- YEPT staff will not use AI to come up with interview questions. Instead, they will consult with editors and directors.
- YEPT staff will not write stories, captions, leads, headlines, or any other content using AI programs.
- YEPT staff will not use AI to create graphics, illustrations, or social media content; nor edit photos.
YEPT will ensure that the use of AI is as limited as possible in republished stories. However, we cannot ensure that all content originally created for a different publication follows our AI policy at YEPT.