MOVING FORWARD TOOLKIT

No one ever ran for city council, county commissioner, or mayor to solve climate change, but its challenges are now present in our communities— along with opportunities to solve them. Meaningful local climate solutions are within reach. Moving Forward: A Guide to Building Momentum on Climate Solutions in Your Community will provide you with the ideas and resources to act. By embedding local solutions in your planning and management activities, you can achieve financial benefits with little or no incremental costs. Reinvesting savings in additional climate action steps can help build the momentum further, and addressing climate change at the local level provides many benefits.

Download the Guide

Cover of Moving Forward Guide

This guide is for civic leaders in smaller and mid-size communities that want to lead on climate and sustainability but may lack full-time sustainability staff. We are teaming up to provide you with these resources, including guidance on how to best engage your residents using clear, positive, inclusive and relevant messages.

Helpful Resources

  • Checklist: Local Actions to Mitigate and Build Resilience to Climate Change
    • A comprehensive checklist that builds on the basic list in the Moving Forward guide, with concrete steps for climate preparation/resilience and mitigation, plus links to additional resources.
  • Sample Climate and Clean Energy Declarations/Resolutions
    • Real declarations and resolutions from Utah, Charlotte, and the Mississippi River Towns and Cities Initiative to use as templates to customize for your community, to advance policy engagement with city councils and mayors.
  • Sample Letter to the Community About Your Local Climate and Sustainability Initiative
    • This letter provides a template for announcing your community commitment to climate action, whether through your website, community newsletters or blogs.
  • Let’s Talk Communities & Climate 
    • This tool provides guidance for empowering and effective messages and communications on climate change that have been proven to move Americans toward support for climate solutions and action.
  • Blessed Tomorrow Moving Forward Guide
    • A guide to provide you with information and resources to reduce energy use, to build resilient houses of worship as refuges from a changing climate, and to encourage support for policies that better care for creation.
  • Let’s Talk Faith and Climate
    • A guide similar to the Let’s Talk Communities and Climate Guide, but instead including research-based, tested messaging that is proven to resonate with people of faith.
  • Let’s Talk Health and Climate
    • A guide similar to the Let’s Talk Communities and Climate Guide, but instead including tested messaging on health and climate that is proven to resonate with a broad swath of Americans.
  • Mental Health and Our Changing Climate
    • Created by ecoAmerica in collaboration with the American Psychological Association, this guide reviews the implications of a changing climate on personal and public health, and offers guidance for community leaders in preparing for and addressing climate impacts.