Six ways you can work on climate action

Dear Faculty, Staff, Students and Community,

Check out the information below to help support clean energy climate solutions, sustainability in economic recovery, and  a more sustainable future! Thank you for sharing and using these opportunities.

1. Post-election civic engagement

Now more than ever it is important to be engaged in our communities to create the big changes we need for a sustainable future. There are plenty of opportunities to get your students involved in civic engagement beyond the elections.  We have a Beyond Doom and Gloom primer here with lots of great information including a video to inspire action in your students, a page for educators, and info on organizations that provide up to date information on state and federal climate solutions policies. We need to harness the emotions post election immediately to push for sensible and lasting environmental policies and these resources are a great place to start.  Additionally, we envision lots of movement on clean energy and jobs policies at both the federal and state levels after the election. Make sure to get involved with the organizations and resources below so we can take important action now! 

2. Change the Chamber

We’ve shared this information in the past but the opportunity and need to get  involved with @ChangeUSChamber is now a crucial component for climate solutions. Change the Chamber is a student led campaign focused on getting the climate laws we all need by changing a key obstructor – the US Chamber of Commerce.  While the US Chamber finally admitted the existence of climate change recently, its lobbying, litigation and support of climate deniers has been holding back science-based climate solutions!  The US Chamber is the largest lobbying organization in DC.  See more information on the website.  This student campaign already has the participation of over 80 student campus groups and 20 nonprofit environmental groups. It has reached over 60 million people on social media in just its first two months. Each Wednesday, people are using social media to ask the US Chamber of Commerce and its member corporations to support science-based climate legislation.  See the website and join. Follow them on all their social media!. Share their posts. They are on twitter (@LobbyForClimate and @ChangeUSChamber), Facebook, LinkedIn, and Instagram.

3. Higher Education Institutions: Partners in Social & Economic Community Resilience

Recent and on-going extreme weather events and the global pandemic have highlighted the urgent need for higher education to address issues of climate adaptation specifically and resilience readiness generally. Higher education needs to prepare its own campuses and communities, and also has an important role partnering with communities locally and around the globe to build resilience, especially those communities whose populations are most vulnerable. Higher education institutions and associations have a unique and important opportunity to help higher education create more climate adaptation and resilience readiness within our sector and within human societies across the country and the globe.

The adaptive and resilient higher education institution is designed to reduce unnecessary human suffering, save resources and money and help reduce pollution and climate change. Since it can be difficult to plan and take action for adaptation and resilience choices, this webinar highlighted domestic examples on a campus and with community partners to show how higher education research and applied projects can produce positive community outcomes.

The webinar included: 

  1. Free resources from the American Society of Adaptation Professionals
  2. The Resiliency Framework for higher education from Second Nature (home of the climate commitment)
  3. Very quick overview of the need for and benefits of adaptation and resilience planning and action
  4. Real world examples from higher education in partnership with other sectors (e.g. cities, campus, communities)
  5. Resources for planning, operationalization and continuous improvement
  6. Links and materials

4. Second Nature Partners with the EV Purchasing Collaborative

Second Nature, home of higher education’s climate commitments, recently became an official partner with the Electric Vehicle Purchasing Collaborative to expand the growing number of colleges and universities making the transition to electric vehicle (EV) fleets. This unprecedented collaborative can help YOU accelerate the transition to electric vehicle fleets by helping to remove common barriers to purchase whether you are looking to purchase your first EV or making the switch across your entire fleet. 

For more information on the Collaborative and how to join, please see the  recent webinar with representatives from UCLA Fleet Procurement, Climate Mayors, and the Electrification Coalition and/or contact Sarah Reed (sreed@electrificationcoalition.org).

Partnership Announcement

For More Information

5. TEDxUNEP: Racing to Zero with Higher Education: Acting and Enabling Global Decarbonization

On October 13th, Second Nature and the United Nations Environment Program (UNEP) co-hosted a virtual program focused on higher education’s role in acting and enabling global decarbonization. 

This program was part of the work that Second Nature, the UNEP, and The Alliance for Sustainability Leadership in Education (EAUC), and others are doing to support campuses in reaching their carbon reduction goals.  It was also a part of the TEDx Countdown.      

Panelists included University of California System President Michael Drake; representatives from the EAUC, COP26, UNEP; the Minister for Higher Education and Research for the Government of Sweden; and Chatham University President David Finegold. 

Watch the Program

6.  Sign up for key information.

Now more than ever, the policies and programs being passed at the state level will play a key role in our energy and climate future. Use these links below to look up ongoing up to date information for civic engagement opportunities about climate and energy related policies.  These links are also all at the Sustainability Policy Partner page.  (You can also include  them on your Get Involved webpages.) 

Solar

Wind

Natural Gas

Clean Energy (General)