Will climate action keep young people in Omaha? This activist thinks so

• Brain drain is a concern in Omaha
• High schooler Evalina Sain is advocating for climate action to prevent brain drain
• 4,600 educated adults left Nebraska in 2022
• Jobs and quality of life are key factors contributing to brain drain

BROADCAST TRANSCRIPT:

Brain drain is popular topic of conversation, why are young adults with college educations leaving our state? One teen says if Omaha wants to reverse brain drain they need to take action against climate change.

Evalina Sain is a senior at Central High School, she's an active member of the Dundee community and the Executive Director of Students for Sustainability.

"Environmentalism is just so critical in that, so, we are the 39th largest city, which means that we have a lot of capacity to hold a lot of people," said Sain.

She says if Omaha wants to keep her here the city needs to take preventative action against climate change.

"If there was a substantial amount of of advancement that would be enticing for me to return and be able to contribute to, that sort of development," said Sain.

The University Nebraska of Omaha took a deeper look at just how many educated adults are leaving the state and they found in 2022 4,600 people left.

"I think that plays into this larger question about quality of life and having a quality of life that meets my needs, also being surrounded with people like me that share similar values

And I think that's very important in folks decision to move to Nebraska or away from Nebraska," said Josie Schafer.

UNO professor Josie Schafer says the primary reason is jobs. The secondary is quality of life, Schafer says climate change falls in the second category.

"Young people care so much about safety, good schools, proximity to family things we have in abundance here in Nebraska.

They also care about inclusion and feeling valued and great opportunities across their lifetime. So, I could certainly see climate action being important to folks but lots of other values and political issues that young people care about," said Schafer.

The City of Omaha just entered the finalization process for the Climate Action Resiliency plan, which Sain says it a step in the right direction.