Empower Community Leaders with New Climate Communications Training Program

“We need new leaders, more leaders to address climate change. Leaders that can connect and inspire the best in others.”

Climate change demands big solutions that can scale up and truly match the breadth of this pervasive challenge. This includes technology solutions, financial solutions and -critically- social solutions.  We have been working in Utah on all these fronts, but perhaps most exciting are the social innovations occurring with our stakeholders.

One recent example is a new training program called the Climate Communications Leadership Series that occurred in Salt Lake City throughout spring 2018. This four-part series brought together over 50 professionals across a variety of sectors and backgrounds to hone their skills as climate communicators and build momentum for collaborative solutions in Utah.

The Climate Communications Leadership Series leveraged information from national communications guides (thank you, ecoAmerica), along with local presenters who shared personal experiences and coaching to guide participants. The series was facilitated by staff from Utah Clean Energy and the Salt Lake City Sustainability Department and is a model that can be replicated in your communiity.

Each two hour workshop featured a keynote presenter and core learning topic that was complemented with participatory exercises and individual engagement. The program replication guide offers curriculum suggestions based on our experience and shares the exercises, design files and recruitment materials used to deliver a successful program. Below is a list of workshop topics offered within the replication guide that we iterated upon when delivering the series.

1. Basics to Becoming an Effective Climate Communicator

2. Working With Local Climate Change Attitudes

3. Catalyzing Action Based on Local Climate Risks

4. Communicating Inspiring Climate Solutions Locally

5. Becoming a Local Climate Change Leader

Tailoring climate communications to reflect local risks and opportunities is an essential step to scale solutions on this issue. Our training series experience was more inspiring and useful than we could have imagined. We now encourage you to create a climate communications series of your own that connects with and inspires local stakeholders.

Check out the training guide below and don’t hesitate to reach out with questions as you help build effective climate communicators and leaders in your community.

Click here to download. 

Author’s Note: Our training series primarily recruited participants from two Utah-based climate initiatives, the Utah Climate Action Network and an ecoAmerica partnership titled Path to Positive Utah. These efforts have enhanced connectivity and helped deliver solutions locally and we welcome questions about creating similar efforts in your community.