| By Matthew Griffin and Todd Woody Standing on ladders and wielding flashlights, four people are bringing a dark, dank restroom at the San Joaquin County Fairgrounds into the energy-efficient future. Their mission is to remove old fluorescent lighting throughout a sprawling fairgrounds building in Stockton, California, and rewire the fixtures for LEDs. They're members of a state service organization, but the project is also now part of the work of the American Climate Corps (ACC), a nationwide program geared at placing young people in temporary jobs while giving them a pathway to federal service and climate-related careers. A long-held ambition of the Biden administration, the Climate Corps launched earlier this year and now boasts some 15,000 members. They've been deployed doing everything from cleaning up after wildfires to helping people make their homes more energy efficient. It's all part of a plan to pick up the torch from the Civilian Conservation Corps, a New Deal program whose members transformed farmland and natural spaces across the country.  California Conservation Corps members finish installing LED lights at the San Joaquin County Fairgrounds in Stockton, California. Photographer: Manuel Orbegozo/Bloomberg Among the foursome rewiring light fixtures at the San Joaquin County Fairgrounds is Noah Van Ekelenburg, 25, who studied environmental science in college before joining the California Conservation Corps. The program — among the state initiatives to partner with the wider American Climate Corps — is aimed at young adults, who spend a year doing everything from installing solar panels to responding to natural disasters. "It might not seem like a lot," Van Ekelenburg said of installing LED bulbs at the fairground. "But when you multiply that across hundreds of lights in this one building and then hundreds of buildings in the whole state, it adds up pretty quick."  Noah Van Ekelenburg Photographer: Manuel Orbegozo/Bloomberg In the Uinta-Wasatch-Cache National Forest, which stretches across parts of Utah and Wyoming, Kayleigh Martinez spent about two months from July to September doing work that would have been familiar to her predecessors in the Civilian Conservation Corps. The 20-year-old cleared trails, removed unwanted trees and surveyed fish populations alongside other members of the Forest Corps, a partnership between AmeriCorps and the US Forest Service. She also helped survey burned areas after two forest fires, checking for spots that were still dangerously hot. "The best part is just getting to work and live somewhere that's so beautiful," Martinez said in September, near the end of her time in Uinta-Wasatch-Cache. Her team's housing lacked internet access, so she'd posted up in a nearby library to speak over a video call. "Our worksite views are insane," she said. "Our lunch views are incredible." On the other side of the country, Morgan Glynn, 23, traveled the coast of Maine to help communities prepare for floods as part of her role within the network of Maine Climate Corps programs. She joined in January after studying environmental science and film in college. Glynn spoke to people who were seeing flooding threatening places where they had "deep roots," and who were thinking about what life would be like for their children and grandchildren. She says the job gave her a greater appreciation for people's connection to where they live, and changed her view of what service can look like. "I'm realizing that change can happen on a really small level," she said, "and it can have really big impacts." What does the future hold for Climate Corps after Biden leaves office? Read the full story on Bloomberg.com. Like getting the Green Daily? Subscribe to Bloomberg.com for unlimited access to breaking news on climate and energy, data-driven reporting and graphics. | 
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