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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Transitioning to Cleaner Energy in Coal Country: Are Voters Tired of the Hardline?
For voters in the mining regions of Kentucky, the culture of coal is a way of life. Yet, John Yarmuth, Louisville’s Congressman (D) since 2006 and a vocal advocate for sustainable energy policies, won his re-election handily last November. As the only Kentucky congressman endorsed by the Sierra Club, Yarmuth has not been afraid to…
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How Small Cities are Helping to Solve Problems in Climate Change
Our urban centers have historically acted as barometers of change and innovation in this country, and it’s easy to see why. As Pooja Bhatia explains in this USA TODAY article, higher population densities come together with greater concentrations of wealth and poverty, more infrastructure demands, and greater local impacts from climate change. So it’s not…
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Why Rooftop Solar is a Sure-fire Investment
If you could invest in something that would outperform the stock market while also helping the planet, wouldn’t you? Here’s why rooftop solar can’t miss. The cost of installing solar on homes has dropped by 60% over the past 15 years, bringing the costs within reach for millions of homeowners. A combination of incentives and…
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5 Reasons Why Local Governments Deserve a Voice in Climate Solutions
Our local government leaders are closest to the hearts and minds of the Americans who live, learn, work, worship, and vote in our communities. So doesn’t it follow that these regional, city, and town policymakers are best suited to engage and inspire the public toward climate solutions that will affect their daily lives? This is…
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How Communities Can Make Local Sustainability More Inclusive
Communities on the front line of climate impacts are leading the movement to address this challenge and prepare for the future. More than 80% of Americans now live in urban communities, including cities, towns, and populous counties. These communities, where Americans live, learn, work, worship, and vote, are incubators of policy innovation and public engagement.…
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Get Active: Transit Looks Good On You
It is unlikely anyone will look at you and say, “You look great – have you been riding the bus?” But they could because, as a study in the UK has shown, people who use active and transit modes of transportation are thinner than those who drive. In the study authors’ words: “Our findings show a robust, independent…
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What Do Bike Sharing Systems Tell Us About Urban Sustainability?
As American cities reinvent themselves as dense, sustainable centers of commerce, opportunity, and social networks — attracting young, educated residents by the thousands — they are increasingly promoting sustainability in their building stock, land use patterns, and in their transportation networks. A relatively new sustainability feature, “bike sharing” systems are now available in more than…
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Hot Town: Summer in the City
Among the many anticipated and increasingly observed adverse impacts of a warning climate is a rise of the urban “heat island” effect. Local leaders have begun addressing this problem with simple measures that protect their citizens from dangerous heat while also saving energy. Climate Central recently posted a report detailing observed increases in urban heat…
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How Millennials Are Making U.S. Cities Future Ready
According to a recent article in the Washington Post, things are finally improving for millennials on the employment and economic fronts. What are the potential climate ramifications of what appears to be a watershed demographic moment? And how can leaders of sustainable communities leverage the millennial generation’s economic coming-of-age for the local and global common…
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How Do You Green a City?
One could debate the cause and effect relationship between the increasing sustainability of American cities and their recent population growth, but whether people are moving to cites because they are more sustainable or city sustainability is rising because of the benefits of increased population, the fact is that U.S. cities continue to lead in the…
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U.S. Mayors Act to Support New Carbon Regulations
U.S. mayors have established themselves as national and international leaders in the effort to fight global warming. Since having formed the Mayors Climate Protection Agreement (MCPA) in 2007, which has now been signed by more than 1,000 mayors, hundreds of U.S. cities have made good on their mayors’ promises to apply the goals of the…