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This Week in Communities & Climate – Dec 18-22

This week, we saw many stories highlighting local climate leadership and a few fun Christmas stories. Our favorites are below.  Don’t forget to check out our blog post from earlier this week summarizing 5 Ways to Garner Support for Climate…

THIS WEEK IN COMMUNITIES & CLIMATE: DEC 11-15

We’re back to rounding up the most important stories for each week that you might have missed. Local climate leaders, the latest in community climate action, and new climate research are all featured to highlight the good news coming out of…

Seizing the Moment to Lead on Climate

Philosopher George Santayana famously said, “Those who cannot remember the past are doomed to repeat it.” When it comes to planning and action around climate change, though, we need to flip his advice: If we wish to avoid repeating the…

Lessons from Climate Day LA

Last week, leaders from Los Angeles to Washington DC came together to discuss how they are tackling some of the greatest climate challenges in their communities. The event, Climate Day LA, invited business, community, faith, government, and nonprofit leaders in…

Climate Leadership in LA: Interview with Araceli Campos

Araceli Campos is Executive Director of the Miguel Contreras Foundation and is a speaker for Climate Day LA. Tell us about your work on climate change. We serve working families in LA County.  This includes strengthening the wellness of communities where people migrate,…

This Week in Communities & Climate

Each week we share the stories that shouldn’t be missed. Local climate leaders, the latest in community climate action, and new climate research are all featured to highlight the good news coming out of cities. These are the top stories…

This Week in Communities & Climate

Each week we share the stories that shouldn’t be missed. Local climate leaders, the latest in community climate action, and new climate research are all featured to highlight the good news coming out of cities. These are the top stories…

This Week in Communities & Climate

Each week we share the stories that shouldn’t be missed. Local climate leaders, the latest in community climate action, and new climate research are all featured to highlight the good news coming out of cities. These are the top stories…

This Week in Communities & Climate

Each week we share the stories that shouldn’t be missed. Local climate leaders, the latest in community climate action, and new climate research are all featured to highlight the good news coming out of cities. These are the top stories…

This Week in Communities & Climate

Each week we share the stories that shouldn’t be missed. Local climate leaders, the latest in community climate action, and new climate research are all featured to highlight the good news coming out of cities. These are the top stories…

This Week in Communities & Climate

Each week we share the stories that shouldn’t be missed. Local climate leaders, the latest in community climate action, and new climate research are all featured to highlight the good news coming out of cities. These are the top stories…

This Week in Communities & Climate

Each week we share the stories that shouldn’t be missed. Local climate leaders, the latest in community climate action, and new climate research are all featured to highlight the good news coming out of cities. These are the top stories…

This Week in Communities & Climate

Each week we share the stories that shouldn’t be missed. Local climate leaders, the latest in community climate action, and new climate research are all featured to highlight the good news coming out of cities. These are the top stories…

This Week in Communities & Climate

Each week we share the stories that shouldn’t be missed. Local climate leaders, the latest in community climate action, and new climate research are all featured to highlight the good news coming out of cities. These are the top stories…

This Week in Communities & Climate

Each week we share the stories that shouldn’t be missed. Local climate leaders, the latest in community climate action, and practical climate solutions are all featured to highlight the good news coming out of cities. These are the top stories…

This Week in Communities & Climate

Each week we share the stories that shouldn’t be missed. Local climate leaders, the latest in community climate action, and practical climate solutions are all featured to highlight the good news coming out of cities. These are the top stories…

This Week in Communities & Climate

Each week we share the stories that shouldn’t be missed. Local climate leaders, the latest in community climate action, and practical climate solutions are all featured to highlight the good news coming out of cities. These are the top stories…

This Week in Communities & Climate

Each week we share the stories that shouldn’t be missed. Local climate leaders, the latest in community climate action, and practical climate solutions are all featured to highlight the good news coming out of cities. These are the top stories…

This Week in Communities & Climate

Each week we share the stories that shouldn’t be missed. Local climate leaders, the latest in community climate action, and practical climate solutions are all featured to highlight the good news coming out of cities. These are the top stories…

Finding Climate Solutions in Unexpected Places

When we think of our nation’s strongest climate leaders, cities like New York and Los Angeles often come to mind. With vast resources, deep pockets, and environmentally conscious residents, implementing climate solutions in these cities often comes with broad public…

This Week in Communities & Climate

Each week we share the stories that shouldn’t be missed. Local climate leaders, the latest in community climate action, and practical climate solutions are all featured to highlight the good news coming out of cities. These are the top stories…

This Week in Communities & Climate

Each week we share the stories that shouldn’t be missed. Local climate leaders, the latest in community climate action, and practical climate solutions are all featured to highlight the good news coming out of cities. These are the top stories of…

This Week in Communities & Climate

Each week we share the stories that shouldn’t be missed. Local climate leaders, the latest in community climate action, and practical climate solutions are all featured to highlight the good news coming out of cities. These are the top stories…

My Small City’s Big Commitment to Climate Action

This year has been a tumultuous one for climate change. While progress was made, international agreements were put into place, and cities, states and countries have sprung into action—the political commitment to climate action at the federal and global stage…

How to Take Your City to 100% Renewable

Vermont is now home to the nation’s first 100% renewable-energy city. The largest city in the state, with 42,000 residents, Burlington has grabbed the attention of mayors across the country searching for a model they can emulate in transitioning to…

How Extreme Weather, Health, and Communities Connect

Richard Jackson, MD, MPH, is a Professor at the Fielding School of Public Health at the University of California, Los Angeles. A pediatrician, he has served in many leadership positions in both environmental health and infectious disease with the California…

Celebrating the Good News On #P2Psustainability

While more often than not our news feeds are filled with the devastating impacts, seemingly insurmountable challenges, and overwhelming reality of climate change, progress is being made at every level. And this year in particular has seen great strides forward…

Climate Victories Require Climate Voters!

Over the past year and a half, there have been bold and inspiring moves in the right direction when it comes to climate. The Obama Administration put forward the Clean Power Plan, a landmark policy that promises to move the…

Setting Bold Climate Goals One Community At A Time

This has been a banner week for climate. While community leaders, mayors, and local officials throughout the country work to develop and implement climate action plans—several in particular stand out. The common thread between the approaches these cities are taking…

When it Comes to Climate and Cities, Trees Keep Giving

City leaders are constantly on the lookout for programs that can be implemented to improve the lives of residents in their communities. While cost restrictions, political considerations, and logistical constraints are always limiting factors, there is one simple climate solution…

How Cities Can Bring Solar Solutions To Communities

Anyone following climate action over the past decade is well aware that some of the greatest strides in renewables have come from the broad acceptance and implementation of solar panels. The combination of decreasing costs, increasing generation capacity, and programs…

How Our Cities Can Restore Our World

In our world of exponential population growth and rapid urbanization, environmental conservancy often takes a backseat to development. We see this happening all around the globe: in Asia, the Mekong River is being dammed to provide hydroelectric power to surrounding…

Networking For Climate Solutions

Developing and implementing a climate action plan is often a big task for mayors and city leaders. With countless demands, all requiring a share of already scarce time, resources, and attention, sustainability programs are sometimes seen more as a burden…

For Mayors, It Is Time To Act Boldly On Climate

Across the country, city and community leaders have been making progress on developing and implementing climate solutions. Facilitating rooftop or community solar programs, incentivizing water-wise landscaping, and pushing strong energy efficiency standards for new construction are some of the actions…

How The City By The Bay Is Going Solar

This Tuesday, climate leaders in San Francisco made a major step towards making the city a model sustainable city. In its quest to become powered entirely by clean energy by 2025, the city’s Board of Supervisors approved a policy that…

Two Cities, Two Paths For Climate Action

Philadelphia and New Orleans are two of America’s great cities. While their differences may seem greater than their similarities, both cities are on the frontlines of climate change. New Orleans and Philadelphia, and countless other cities across the nation, are…

Planting Seeds of Community Through Climate Action

Several years ago, as a graduate student, I participated in a school-based community garden serving at-risk students in a working class community. Since then, I have witnessed a tremendous growth of public gardens sprouting up in and around the community…

How Salt Lake City Is Leading On Climate

Salt Lake City is feeling the effects of climate change, and city leaders are taking note. For many cities and states throughout the country, the issue continues to divide politicians and residents, and exposes existing partisan cleavages. However, leaders in…

For Mayors, Climate Action Isn’t A Partisan Issue

In San Diego, California’s second largest city, Republican Mayor Kevin Faulconer was thrust into the middle of a decision that could potentially chart the city’s climate path for the coming decades. After winning a special election, and defeating a Democratic…

These Mayors Are Leading Climate Action

The consequences and opportunities of climate change are local, and it is the imperative of mayors to inspire their communities to act on climate. This is the message of Jackie Biskupski, Mayor of Salt Lake City, Utah, and Cindy Lerner…

Why Mayors Are Crucial to Climate Action

This was an important week for mayors and climate. Three seemingly unrelated climate stories reveal a stark picture of the increasingly urgent call to action facing US mayors. As the leaders most responsible for preventing climate risk and dealing with…

How Communities Can Capitalize on Climate

In Southern Florida, the consequences of climate change are real. They threaten homes, businesses and are visible to residents throughout the region. In Miami, city and municipal leaders have been vocal critics of state and federal inaction, and have been…

Employing Americans With Climate Solutions

One of the great triumphs across the country has been the realization among city and community leaders that climate change is real, it is happening now, and it is caused by human activity. More difficult though has been the task…

How Cities Can Embrace Nature As A Climate Solution

Large climate impacts like sea level rise will, for many cities, require investing in large infrastructure projects. However, some cities in low-lying areas may have another solution at the ready: nature. In an ambitious collaboration between Miami-Dade County, an environmental…

Can You Bring Net-Zero to Your City?

Often, in discussions of climate solutions, policymakers target mass transportation, clean energy generation, and changing consumption habits. All important aspects of a robust climate action plan. Less discussed, but perhaps as or more important than all other solutions, is the…

Why Mayors Should Push On-Site Climate Solutions

As many regions throughout the country continue to struggle from a record setting drought, city leaders have begun to search for tools to reduce consumption, improve efficiency, and increase conservation and storage. While many climate solutions depend on large investments…

How Mayors Are Shedding Light On Climate Solutions

Mayors throughout the US are working through their climate tool-kit in search of effective climate solutions that can be quickly and easily implemented. One area that is often overlooked, perhaps due to its ubiquity, are streetlights. In a recent survey…

How to Expand Solar to All Communities

One of the challenges that mayors and city leaders face as they develop climate action plans is insuring that all communities are able to reap the rewards and opportunities that can accompany climate solutions. This is especially the case for…

Embracing Climate Action in The Big Easy

New Orleans Mayor Mitch Landrieu spoke before the Louisiana Coastal Protection and Restoration Authority this week in an effort to urge action on climate. Louisiana is at the forefront of climate change, with much of the state threatened by rising…

How Massachusetts Mayors Are Working To Save Solar

A new proposal before the state house and senate threaten to derail climate action plans across Massachusetts. The new policy affects the State’s robust net-metering program, which allows residents who invest in solar the opportunity to sell excess power back…

How Cities and Colleges Can Collaborate on Climate

A coalition of climate leaders has formed in Mason City Iowa. City officials, along with faculty and students from the University of Iowa’s Iowa Initiative for Sustainable Communities (IISC) are working together to create multiple climate action plans that would…

Why Clean Energy is an Easy Win for Mayors

With increasing technology, a more supportive public, and a recognition of the growing challenges and opportunities of climate change, mayors throughout the US are on the constant lookout for tested and proven climate solutions. Fortunately, recent agreements from the COP21-Climate…

How Seattle is Slashing Greenhouse Gasses

Cities are moving quickly to develop and implement bold climate action plans. One of the leaders in this sprint to climate solutions is Seattle Mayor Ed Murry. In a bold new initiative, the mayor at last week’s Climate Leadership Conference…

How Mayors Can Be The Conduit For Climate Concerns

Americans are increasingly becoming concerned with how climate affects the health and well being of their families and communities. They are looking for leadership from all levels of government—local, state, and federal. However, in a new report released by the…

For Cities, What Does It Mean To Be Green?

One of the most important trends for cities implementing climate solutions is the push to invest in “going green!” But what does this really mean? For many, the transition to green includes steps like increasing building efficiency, investing in becoming…

Why Communities Are Cutting Coal

The announcement of the Obama Administration’s Clean Power Plan prompted immediate action throughout the country. At the state level, policy makers and elected officials varied in their responses—as many challenged the federal program in federal courts. At the lower levels…

Bringing a Clean Climate and Clean Jobs to Illinois

Often the greatest hurdle to climate action is the misperception that investing in climate solutions will cost jobs. In Illinois, lawmakers are addressing this head-on, and have introduced a bill that would boost local economies, create clean jobs, and improve…

How to Combat Climate Change One Community at a Time

In California, an experiment is underway which may change how communities act on climate. Three cities are collaborating in an effort to enlist residents to work on implementing climate solutions. Dubbed the Cool Block program, community climate leaders seek to…

How Cities Continue To Lead On Climate

With more than half of the world’s population now living in cities, mayors and community leaders are increasingly on the front lines of the consequences of climate change—rising sea levels, more severe weather events, and public health challenges. However big…

Can Rural Renewable Use Be A Model For All Cities?

Rural communities, residents and utilities have traditionally relied on cheap, dirty fossil fuels. Often too remote to be connected directly to the national energy grid, rural Americans have traditionally banded together into co-ops, generating and purchasing enough power to sustain…

Why Mayors Should Prioritize Pedestrians

Sometimes the greatest hurdles to getting residents to act on climate are the most simple to resolve. This is especially true in large cities and urban centers where residents don’t yet make use of mass transit, cycling paths, and walking…

Oregon Ramps Up Renewbles

Climate leaders in Oregon are at it again as the State Senate considers a bill that would redefine where residents source their energy. The bill would eliminate coal energy production by 2030 and would double the amount of renewable generation.…

How Maryland is Leading the Way on Climate Action

Progress is being made in Maryland. This week, in a bipartisan vote, Democrats and Republicans came together in the state’s Senate, and overwhelmingly supported a new bill that would require the state to slash greenhouse gas emissions by 40% over…

What Mayors Should Know About Microgrids

Alaska’s rural communities have long been self sufficient—having to deal with the challenges of extremely remote locations, a lack of roads and transportation options, and being disconnected from the grid. Out of necessity, residents and community leaders throughout the state…

How Solar Can Bring Power and Hope to Cities

Solar has quickly become one of the greatest resources in the transition to clean energy. Falling prices, an increased availability of community solar programs, and technology that is more efficient than ever are all major factors in the rise of…

A Coalition of Climate Consensus

An unprecedented coalition of 17 governors from across the country just pledged to take bold new action on climate. Elected leaders from both sides of the political divide are increasingly recognizing the necessity, and the benefits, of investing in climate…

How to Empower Mayors, Communities, and Homes

Not long ago, solar energy was relegated to a small number of homeowners able to shoulder the burden of high cost panels. However, much has changed in recent years, and developments in technology, lowered price points, and more accommodating utilities…

How Connecticut is Closing the Chapter on Coal

In Connecticut, the last remaining coal-fired power plant just received its death sentence. Five years from now it will be shut down; replaced by a cleaner natural gas power plant. The transition to cleaner energy represents a greater shift away…

The Sun Is Rising Across America

Now employing more workers than the coal industry, solar represents a growing source of both power and jobs in communities throughout the country. The Solar Foundation, an organization that analyzes the impact and issues surrounding solar generation, just released a…

New England’s New Plan for Renewables

Bold action is underway in New England. States throughout the region have begun weighing options for meeting clean energy goals, and everything is on the table. The goal: signing long-term contracts for renewable energy generation that will fundamentally transform where…

Connecting Communities in New England to Act on Climate

Developing and implementing an ambitious climate action plan can be a difficult, and often expensive, endeavor for small cities. Identifying possible solutions and mobilizing resources to effectively advance climate solutions can often seem out of reach, and as though the…

While Politicos Debate, Mayors Act!

As residents on the east coast recover from the record snowfall of winter storm Jonas, the usual suspects are in full force claiming that cold weather is evidence enough that climate change is a myth. In a series of new…

Greening The Way To Happy, Healthy Cities

Mayors and community leaders have traditionally focused their efforts at building and maintaining infrastructure, implementing new programs, and working with residents to improve the quality of life for city dwellers. So often, these improvements are complex, but from time to…

Why Mayors Back Bike Lanes

In an effort to address the growing problem of traffic, and the prohibitive costs of expanding roads and infrastructure, mayors are now nudging residents to take up cycling. The transition from horsepower to pedal power helps save cities money, improves…

How NY is Investing in Climate Action

Elected officials and climate leaders in New York just took a major step in committing to climate solutions. Their plan: to invest $5 billion into the clean and renewable energy sectors over the next ten years. In a move spearheaded…

A Climate Solution for Cities that Doesn’t Stink!

Mayors and city leaders are constantly searching for new and innovative ways to bring climate solutions to their communities. Grand Junction, Colorado is a standout, particularly for its investment in transforming the city’s sewage into usable power. And so far,…

How to Bring Jobs and Climate Solutions to Your City

Mayors across the country are charged with the difficult task of bringing jobs to residents, building up infrastructure, and providing a healthy environment for families. However, too often, the solutions to these challenges are at odds with one another—and bringing…

How Local Governments Can Phase Out Coal

This week, New York Governor Andrew Cuomo, in his state of the state address, announced an ambitious new plan to slash fossil fuel emissions in the state, and reinvest in renewables. The aim of the plan is to quickly phase…

Trees: The Simple Climate Solution For Any City

What do the rejection of the Keystone XL Pipeline, development and implementation of the Obama Administration’s Clean Power Plan (CPP), and the Paris Climate Negotiations all have in common? Each of these marks a bold step forward in addressing fossil…

Is Climate Action Finally a Bipartisan Issue?

2015 was a banner year for climate action. The Clean Power Plan, the Paris Agreement, and a number of local and state actions throughout the country proved that leaders are finally getting serious about climate change. However, many elected officials…

How Oregon Utilities are Leading on Climate

In communities throughout the country, mayors and regional leaders have pushed hard to facilitate a transition to renewable energies—like solar and wind. Some of their greatest impediments to this shift come from locally operating utilities. However, in a statewide effort…

Why Solar is A Bipartisan Political Winner

Environmental conservation, climate change, and clean energy have traditionally generated deep political divides. As the consequences of climate change have increasingly become visible in cities, regions, and states throughout the country, elected leaders on both sides of the aisle are…

4 Insights on Climate Action from Sweden

When looking for climate inspiration, mayors and local leaders tend to turn to one another. However, much can be learned by looking internationally, and by identifying opportunities to implement climate solutions that have already been proven elsewhere. Bold climate leaders…

Is Oregon A Model For Pushing Clean Energy?

In August 2015, President Obama announced a new Clean Power Plan (CPP), which seeks to dramatically reduce the levels of greenhouse gas emissions throughout the United States. While some states across the nation begin to take steps to fulfill the…

Why Mayors Matter When it Comes to Solar

Solar power has experienced an explosion of growth over the past few years. New investments have made solar technologies more efficient, affordable, and have helped to spread solar’s populatiry throughout the country. Last year, rooftop solar set new records, however,…

3 Lessons On Climate Leadership

In 2005 an important meeting took place between would-be presidential candidate, John McCain, and then Florida Governor Charlie Crist. After covering campaign strategy and politics, McCain left Crist with one final thought: the need to act on climate change. A…

ecoAmerica’s 11 Biggest Milestones of 2015

2015 was an incredible year for the climate movement, with leaders in every sector speaking out and demanding climate action. ecoAmerica continued to empower those leaders through summits, programs, and research designed to reinforce effective climate messaging and strategies. It…

How Cities are Acting on Climate Change

One of the major disputes at the recently held COP 21 climate talks involved the need for an enforcement scheme to ensure that climate pledges would be met. With too many countries unwilling to accept such measures, a compromise deal…

Climate Lessons from 2015

2015 was an important year for climate action – and one of the most significant climate achievements was the defeat of the Keystone XL pipeline. After seven years of wrangling with the oil industry and politicians, Americans won an important…

Why 2015 Was A Banner Year For Climate

Much has happened this year globally, across the US, and here at Path to Positive Communities. Leaders from all sectors have a lot to be proud of, and their work in 2015 may just mark a turning point for finally…

What Mayors Need to Know About Carbon Pricing

Following COP 21 in Paris, mayors around the globe have been tasked with implementing ambitious climate action plans that will lead their country towards reaching their pledged goals as specified by the Paris agreement. For national, state, regional, and city…

5 Steps to 100% Renewable in Your City

With the Paris talks now over, many around the country are eagerly waiting to see how the country will fulfill its emission reduction targets. While this has captured the public’s attention, across the US, city and local officials have been…

6 Key Lessons on Talking Climate in Your Community

Last week, we released our latest research report, Let’s Talk Climate: Messages to Motivate Americans. Collaborating with Lake Research Partners, ASO Communications, and the Natural Resources Defense Council, ecoAmerica has developed market-tested messages designed to engage Americans on climate solutions and…

7 Ways to Talk About COP21 With Your Community

For the next two weeks, local and community leaders from across the country will be in Paris to take part in International Climate Negotiations. In a series of events specifically geared to municipalities, leaders will learn and collaborate on strategies…

How Megacities Continue to Lead Climate Action

Climate change increasingly poses risks to all nations and can no longer be ignored. While debate and political action often stymie national action, cities are well situated to craft and enact bold climate action plans that can slash greenhouse emissions,…

Let’s Talk Climate

Local and community leaders are key to advancing climate solutions. Their work has drastically amplified national and international efforts to decrease greenhouse emissions and improve the lives of individuals through cleaner, healthier, more economically stable cities. However, in addition to…

Is the Road to Renewables Paved with Solar?

Over a year ago, ambitious city leaders in Amsterdam decided to boldly experiment with a new technology. The plan: to retrofit bike paths with new pavement segments with embedded solar panels. The solar roads look and feel like a normal…

When the Feds Fail, Cities Rise Up

87 Mayors from across the country are stepping up to meet the challenges of climate change. After years of waiting for congressional action, city and community leaders recognize that advancing climate solutions must begin at the local level. To meet…

One Consequence of Renewables: Free Energy

An energy revolution is underway in Texas. While better known for its sprawling oil fields, Texas now has more wind energy capacity than any other state. And the investments in renewables are beginning to pay off. One of the state’s…

Why Mayors Should Embrace Trees

Recently, a number of studies have called into question the assumed benefits of too many trees in densely developed urban areas. The research suggests that trees may be responsible for trapping harmful pollutants by obstructing avenues that pollutants would otherwise…

3 Practical Climate Solutions for City Leaders

Cities have become a hotbed of climate action. Responsible for the majority of the world’s population, economic output, and greenhouse gas emissions—they have become indispensable components of any serious plan to combat climate change. While national leaders are still navigating…

3 Reasons Climate Change is a Political Winner for All

For decades, climate change has been a politically charged issue in American political discourse. Candidates and office holders often had to carefully navigate the science of climate change with alternative considerations, such as their local economy, jobs, and political affiliation…

The Good News About Climate Change Comes From Cities

With less than 6 weeks until the long-awaited UN Climate Summit in Paris, leaders are looking for opportunities where the least amount of resources can have the greatest climate change impacts. While large-scale projects and international agreements are necessary components,…

What A Quaint Danish Town Can Teach American Cities

Throughout Denmark, coastal cities, towns, and villages are consistently under threat of rising waters, which is being exacerbated by climate change and rising sea levels. While many municipalities focus their efforts entirely on climate change mitigation, a host of cities…

How New York Continues To Be A Model Of Climate Leadership

A common misconception among those wary of implementing bold climate action plans is that working towards sustainability comes with costs that may simply be too high. However, as technology progresses, ambitious climate action plans have become economic opportunities for communities…

3 Cities in the Climate Leader Spotlight

As the countdown to the Paris COP21 Climate talks approaches, leaders are intensifying their search for answers on how to best address climate change. The international negotiations will feature leaders from roughly 190 countries, however, a growing number of city…

Why LA is Ready for its Close-up

Los Angeles has a well-deserved reputation as a trend setting city, a place that sets the standard on style, fashion, art, and music. At the center of all this influence is Hollywood and the film industry. Some of the most…

Can Colleges Inform Climate-Wise Community Developments?

City leaders often look to businesses, non-profits, and municipal partners for inspiration in implementing climate action plans. However, one under appreciated source of climate solutions is academia. Researchers and students at Cornell’s School of Sustainable Design are undertaking bold new…

Courting Communities to Combat Climate Change

Top-down leadership has been the prevailing model for advancing climate solutions at the state and federal level. However, Washington voters, through a coalition of community groups, are now attempting to leverage citizen action to implement bold climate policies in the…

How Local Solutions Can Solve Global Problems

Chronic inaction on climate change by national and international governments has made many refocus efforts at getting local governments to take action. Many have called for national government support and financial assistance to communities so that monetary aid is more…

Why Your City is Needed to Help Combat Climate Change

For over two decades, international negotiations have failed to make substantial gains in the battle against climate change. While many are focusing on how to increase international collaboration, others have begun to refocus their efforts on getting cities to develop…

NYC’s Collaboration For Climate Solutions

New York City has committed to cut greenhouse gas emissions from privately owned buildings by 80% over the next 35 years, and the City’s Mayor, Bill de Blasio, just released a new plan to speed up that process. The plan…

40 Cities Pledge to be Climate Leaders

Last week the Pope toured through the US, bringing with him a message of hope and a call to action on climate change. His efforts were echoed at Climate Week NYC, and an in an important series of new commitments…

10 Cities Lead the Call for Climate Action

This week saw the Pope speak before Congress expressing the imperative to act on climate. In New York City, the Climate Group hosted its seventh annual climate week to draw together leaders and explore climate solutions. In the South, 14…

Why Cities Are Now Laboratories Of Climate Action

CDP, a strategic research group that focuses on finding economically viable business solutions to climate change, recently released a report emphasizing the indispensible role of cities. While they surveyed a diverse mix of cities from around the globe, a common…

4 Keys to Make Cities Climate Leaders

As the world becomes more urbanized, and as populations increasingly shift to cities, community leaders will be presented with a host of new challenges and opportunities prompted by climate change. In response, the United Nations is convening a summit on…

3 Clear Signs of Climate Momentum

This December, the Conference on Climate Change will take place in Paris. Already, prime ministers, presidents, religious and even corporate leaders are anticipating the direction of international negotiations, and the promise of climate action. In an event jointly hosted by…

What Vermont Can Teach Us About Clean Power

Vermont is often associated more with maple syrup and autumn leaves than clean power. However, the state has long been a model of sustainability—illustrating how leadership by residents, communities, and elected officials can make a difference when it comes to…

Cities Can Lead and Prosper through Climate Action

The choice between prioritizing economics or the environment remains a strong burden for city leaders. However, this week, current and former mayors from New York City, Houston, and Rio de Janeiro are calling for strong climate action that will improve…

4 Reasons to be Hopeful about Climate Change

For decades now, the difficulties in addressing climate change have been multifaceted—involving economics, national security, and even technological feasibility. Today, much has changed, and all that stands in the way of climate action is political will. But the situation is…

How Financial Tools can Boost Municipal Climate Solutions

In Virginia, city and state leaders are seeking new and innovative ways to encourage climate friendly investments. To this end, Governor McAuliffe, created a commission to explore opportunities for implementing climate solutions that would also improve the state’s economy. The…

How Cities can Transform Water Woes into Resource Solutions

Urban sprawl and climate change create an environmental double-threat for many cities throughout the United States. Increased infrastructure, housing projects and roads prevent the slow, natural, absorption of rainwater into the ground, and often require vast networks of drainage corridors…

Hawaii’s Bold Move To Renewables

In an unprecedented move, at the Asia Pacific Resilience Summit in Honolulu, Hawaii’s Governor David Ige made public his intention to lead his state towards 100% renewable energy. The bold actions instantly transform the state into a world climate leader,…

How City Leaders in New Orleans are Planning for Success

Last week marked the 10th anniversary of Hurricane Katrina. Leaving behind nearly 2,000 casualties, leveling homes, and blazing a trail of destruction throughout the Gulf—the Hurricane exposed how vulnerable cities are to natural disasters. While it is impossible to claim…

How a New Policy will Empower Cities with Solar

This week President Obama addressed the National Clean Energy Summit in Las Vegas, Nevada. The event was to promote a new series of loan guarantees to provide municipalities with the resources to invest in renewable energy. These commitments are just…

Rooftop Solar: A Bipartisan Climate Solution

Energy generation and access has long been controlled by a limited number of monopolies. Consumer choice has mostly been absent, and geography has been the primary determinant of where one’s energy comes from. This is all beginning to change. Rooftop…

How Cities Have Become the Solution to Climate Change

As populations concentrate in major world cities, communities are increasingly becoming political powerhouses. Recognizing this, former New York City Mayor, Michael Bloomberg, is calling for bold action on climate change by specifically focusing on cities to take the lead. Each…

3 Tactics Local Leaders Can Use for Climate Solutions

National political discourse still features intense “debates” over the reality, effects, and potential responses to climate change. However, at the local level, leaders from both sides of the aisle are forced to confront the challenges of a changing climate.  Alaska,…

Connecting Communities for Clean Energy

The recently proposed Clean Energy Plan laid out by the Obama Administration aims to decrease by a third the amount of greenhouse gas emissions that result from energy production. However, rather than being a one size fits all approach for…

Could your Community Use an Economic and Energy Boom?

Last week the Obama Administration released its Clean Energy Plan, which seeks to reduce by one-third the amount of emissions released from electricity production. Many communities have already made the commitment to develop cleaner energy solutions, including the small southern…

Communities the Key to the New Clean Power Plan

The new clean power plan set forth by the Obama Administration this week is already being lauded as the biggest climate policy proposal in US history—even a legacy-maker for the President. While most of the media’s attention has been focused…

What President Obama’s Climate Plan Means for Communities

This week, the Obama Administration issued new rules to address climate change. The ambitious federal plan aims to significantly decrease emissions from a previously untouched sector: power plants. While contributing 1/3 of carbon emissions, power plants have long gone unregulated—until…

Marching to Paris for Climate Solutions

Last year, in a historic climate march across the nation, nearly 700,000 concerned citizens took to the streets to demand climate action. The marchers, united in their frustration with a lack of political leadership, peacefully allied with non-profit organizations, faith…

Connecting the 3 C’s: Community, Collaboration and Climate

As city leaders across the country search for ways to implement climate action plans, they are increasingly turning to multi-sector partnerships. Such collaboration efforts bring together businesses, government, non-profits, and community leaders in an attempt to implement programs that without…

Can Cities use Electric Busses to Cut Emissions and Costs?

The electric car revolution is gaining ground, with manufacturers increasingly developing hybrid and all-electric vehicles. While an improvement on the traditional combustion engine, these cars still contribute to traffic congestion, and clog up already stressed city streets. However, a recent…

The Conservative Case for Solar: Key Talking Points

One of the 10 principles of climate change communication is to connect climate change to issues that matter to your audience. As Tea Partier Debbie Dooley points out, this sometimes means avoiding the use of climate change lingo altogether, focusing instead…

How to Become a World-Class Bicycling City

Mayor Libby Schaaf believes that improving Oakland’s transportation system is critical to ensuring that residents are safe, happy, and healthy. She’s been a vocal advocate for alternative modes of transit and appointed Oakland’s first-ever policy director for transportation and infrastructure…

Are Electric Cars Cool for Cities?

Climate change is heating up our planet, due to the rise of greenhouse gas emissions, and it turns out that our nation’s city dwellers are feeling the heat even more than our country cousins. Michigan State’s Jianguo “Jack” Liu is…

Announcing the 2015 MomentUs Leadership Summit, May 20-21

ecoAmerica is pleased to announce our 5th annual leadership summit. Path to Positive, the 2015 MomentUs Leadership Summit, is being held on May 20th and 21st, 2015 in Washington, DC.  The Path to Positive begins with the simple premise that the greatest obstacle to our nation…

Divestment from Fossil Fuels: Coming to a City Near You?

The fossil fuel divestment movement is rallying across six continents and 48 countries for Global Divestment Day to demand action on climate solutions. So far, an estimated 200 institutions worldwide, with combined investment assets of more than $50 billion, have committed…

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…

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…

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…

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…

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…

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…

5 Tips for Catalyzing Climate Solutions at the Local Level

In the twenty years since the release of Santa Monica’s city-wide sustainability plan, four-term mayor Pam O’Connor has championed climate solutions and community livability to make Santa Monica into one of the country’s greenest cities. The Guardian recently interviewed O’Connor…