News & Blogs
Thought Leadership, Current Events, and Resources for Climate Communicators
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Climate Chronicles: Empowering Voices in Urban Resilience
I’m thrilled to share a project that’s been close to my heart. For the past few months, I’ve collaborated with the City of District Heights Sustainability Committee to develop an inspiring initiative named “Climate Chronicles: Empowering Voices in Urban Resilience.” Now, we’re reaching out to you…
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Voting for Climate
From time to time, I get asked: what’s the most important thing I can do to address climate change? I always answer with two suggestions: talk about it and vote…
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Waiting for Your Gas Furnace to Break?
You might have heard climate advocates sing the praises of heat pumps. They’re incredibly efficient climate-friendly devices that can keep your home cool in the summer and warm in the winter. But replacing the heating and cooling system in your home can get expensive…
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How Does a Climate Action Champion Handle Fracking?
On Saturday, some 8.000 Californians converged to March for Real Climate Leadership in Oakland, in what some are calling the largest-ever anti-fracking rally. As Mark Hertsgaard points out in his opinion piece, Gov. Jerry Brown has yet to speak out against fracking, much less ban it, as he has the authority to do. And public…
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People vs. Cars: How Cities Are Becoming More Livable and Likeable
Forward-thinking city leaders and policymakers are listening to the changing priorities of their constituents and working together to transform their communities to become more sustainable, more walkable, more bikeable … in essence, more livable. Across America, city leaders and planners are collaborating with local community groups to re-allocate public and private land away from cars…
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How Minnesota Cities are Preparing for Climate Change Impacts
Duluth Mayor Don Ness thinks about infrastructure a lot these days. Warmer Minnesota winters have brought more freeze and thaw cycles, which means more potholes to patch and more roads to replace. Storm and wastewater systems pose even bigger problems, as the amount of rain has increased noticeably in recent years. Since 2000, Minnesota has…
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City of Burlington Leads the Path Toward 100% Clean Energy and $20 Million Savings
Burlington, the largest city in Vermont, became the first in the U.S. to use 100% renewable energy – including wind, solar, biomass, and hydro – to power all of the electricity needs for its 42,000 residents. Ken Nolan, who helps run Burlington’s local utility company, expects that switching from fossil fuels to clean energy will…
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Americans More Likely to Vote for Candidates Who Act on Climate
Here’s a simple quiz to test your knowledge about the opinions of our voting public. Are Americans more likely to vote for candidates who: a) support government action to curb climate change b) campaign on fighting climate change c) question or deny the science of human-caused climate change d) oppose policies to curb greenhouse gas emissions e) say…
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Will Our Greenest-Ever Super Bowl Lead to Lower Carbon (Green) Beer?
This year’s SuperBowl XLIX scored big points for being one of the greenest sporting events ever, using 100% wind power for all of its electricity needs and using energy-efficient LEDs to light the big game for the first time. The NFL and the University of Phoenix Stadium worked together to create zero waste within the 12-block…
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How to Make Efficiency Savings and Clean Energy Accessible in Your Community
Just like in the field of energy technology, early adopters of energy efficiency financing have an important role to play in proving – and improving – cutting edge innovations aimed at making efficiency investments pay. PACE programs around the country have emerged in fits and starts, but as more PACE programs become available and serve…
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A Key to the City: Why City Leaders Hold the Keys to Climate Change
Today, half of our global population resides in cities, and urban dwellers will account for almost 70 percent of our planet by 2050. The U.S. census shows an even greater slice of the pie for the urban population in America, about 80% or 250 million people. So it’s not surprising that cities are producing 70 percent of…
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Is Climate Change Finally A Public Priority? Survey says Yes.
American citizens view climate change as more important than they did two years ago, according to the annual Pew Research Center policy priorities survey published earlier this month. ‘Dealing with global warming’ ticked up a substantial 10 points since the January 2013 survey, along with a 12 point up-tick for ‘improving the nation’s infrastructure,’ which…
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Power to Portland: Water and Energy for the Price of One?
Does paying the same price for both water and energy use sound too good to be true? The city of Portand (Oregon) is testing this possibility by harvesting the energy potential of gravity-fed water moving through its city pipes to produce clean energy. Working together with Portland-based startup Lucid Energy, the city is piloting this…
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Find Out How Wind Energy is Creating New Jobs and Increased Revenue in a Local Ohio Town
Residents of Ohio’s Van Wert County, a rural farming community of about 29,000 people, never thought they would see the “windfall” of new jobs, better school services, tech training, and increased tax revenues all from clean wind energy. Perhaps best summed up by Eric Germann, Board President of Lincolnview Local Schools: “No large factories are coming here.…