They were in school when the evacuation orders came.

In 2020, middle schoolers in Estes Park, Colorado watched wildfires close in on their mountain town. They evacuated not knowing if they'd have homes to return to. When they came back, they didn't just move on. They got to work.

For five years, students at Estes Park Middle School have used Earth Force's framework to make their community more resilient — distributing emergency go-bags, clearing defensible space around elderly neighbors' homes, and eventually traveling to the Colorado State Capitol to advocate for statewide wildfire legislation. The bill passed and was signed into law. Colorado now has a Wildfire Resiliency Code Board, shaped in part by middle schoolers who had survived an evacuation three years earlier.

Their State Senator said afterward: "They were so knowledgeable about the bill and the legislative process, while most adult Coloradans have no idea how we function."

That law isn't going away. Neither is what those students now know about how democracy works.

This is Earth Force at work. Today, over 220 partner organizations across 31 states are creating the conditions for thousands more students like them — independently, without Earth Force in the room. We built the framework, trained the educators, and trusted communities to lead.

If you've been looking for a place where your concern about climate and democracy connects to something that actually lasts, this is it.