What are the most effective strategies for reducing greenhouse gas emissions and slowing, and eventually reversing climate change? The stories in these collections illustrate how people around the world are implementing climate change solutions aligned with Project Drawdown, a research organization that ranks current solutions to climate change by impact. This month, we are highlighting seven actions accessible at the individual and household level.
Image by Jessica Reeder / BlackSolarRock / licensed under CC BY 2.0.
https://www.npr.org/2019/10/04/764637564/how-penn-state-is-cutting-greenhouse-emissions-in-half-and-saving-money
Dan Charles
NPR
4 October 2019
Multi-Media / 5-15 Minutes
Enrolling administrators and financial planners in sustainable projects takes proving that investments pay for themselves. With the help of pressure from students and faculty, Penn State Universities administrators have adopted a long-term strategy to reduce the university’s carbon footprint and implement sustainable practices. Students produced the data that illuminated the university’s unsustainable practices; the numbers now show that their efforts are paying off.
https://www.boulderweekly.com/news/the-way-we-talk-about-climate-change-matters
Angela K. Evans
Boulder Weekly
26 September 2019
Text / 800-1500 Words
The Media and Climate Change Observatory at the University of Colorado - Boulder has been tracking media coverage of climate change in an effort to improve and provide analysis of it. As awareness of the climate crisis grows around the world, the need to shift away from alarmist information and toward actionable, applicable information also increases. While scientific reports are necessary, delivering information through mediums like comedy or performance art has proven to reach a wider audience.
https://beltmag.com/climate-resilience-detroit-east-side
Nina Misuraca Ignaczak
Belt Magazine
13 September 2019
Text / Over 3000 Words
Working toward environmental justice takes organizing on the community level. In Detroit, the Women of Empowerment promote resilience against the adverse effects of climate change on the city’s east side by spearheading projects that range from legal cases to the installation of solar panels. The group also partners with local nonprofits like the Eastside Community Network and Heatwaves Housing and Health (HHH), to collect data that can inform climate-resilient city planning.
https://www.forbes.com/sites/christinero/2019/09/03/spray-parks-have-been-helping-to-keep-cape-town-cool
Christine Ro
Forbes
3 September 2019
Text / Under 800 Words
As temperatures across the world increase, many low-income areas are being hit the hardest without anywhere to turn. In South Africa, spray parks are becoming more popular as a solution, providing an inclusive place for children to not only play, but also keep cool in the rising heat.
https://www.buzzsprout.com/306560/1655857
Aleksandr Nechaev
Shake the World
2 September 2019
Podcast / Over 15 Minutes
This podcast is an interview with Gonzalo Muñoz, the founder of a successful recycling organization called Triciclos that started in Chile and has since reached 8 other countries. Triciclos was the first certified B corp in Latin America, and Muñoz is now also High-Level Climate Champion for COP25 by the government of Chile. Muñoz shares his insights on the Triciclos approach, waste as a design error, climate change, and more.
https://www.dailyclimate.org/heat-is-deadly-even-in-montana-but-the-city-of-missoula-is-doing-something-about-it-2639940418.html
Laurie Mazur
The Daily Climate
29 August 2019
Text / 800-1500 Words
Adapting to climate change takes planning and partnerships. In Missoula, Montana, partnerships with nonprofits like Thriving Earth Exchange (TEX) and Climate Smart Missoula reinforce the city’s climate planning. TEX connects cities and urban planners with professors, experts, and other nonprofits that can assist in tackling climate change issues. By layering socioeconomic data over a heat map of the city, TEX scientists could reveal populations at highest risk of extreme temperature impacts. The team then shared data with health officials, policy makers, and the community.
https://nonprofitquarterly.org/equity-health-resilience-and-jobs-lessons-from-the-just-growth-circle
Elizabeth Sawin
Nathanial Smith
Tina Anderson Smith
Nonprofit Quarterly
22 August 2019
Text / 1500-3000 Words
A collaboration between an Atlanta-based nonprofit and an international climate organization sparked the Just Growth Circle, an initiative that brings topics like racial equity, economic justice, and climate change to the forefront of urban planning in Atlanta. The organization puts responsibility into the hands of residents and has updated city plans to center around building community trust and long-lasting relationships between locals and city officials.
https://www.nbcnews.com/news/world/how-teen-greta-thunberg-shifted-world-s-gaze-climate-change-n1043151
Linda Givetash
NBC News
17 August 2019
Multi-Media / 800-1500 Words
All over the world, more than 2 million children and teens are participating in classroom walkouts in an effort to bring attention to the severity of climate change. Called, Fridays for the Future, leaders of the movement are gaining traction, and have developed a declaration that emphasizes their demand that world leaders do something to stop the rising global temperature. This movement was sparked by Sweden’s Greta Thunberg, who, at 16-years old, has started this movement, spoken to global leaders, and continues to do what’s needed to demand action in the face of climate change.
https://www.azfamily.com/news/arizona_schools/south-mountain-hs-cross-country-team-pushing-for-electric-school/article_cf6ccc1e-bfb5-11e9-8457-b372e6d5447e.html
Kristine Harrington
AZFamily.com
16 August 2019
Multi-Media / 5-15 Minutes
Because of a collaborative effort between a high school cross country team and Chispa, an environmental advocacy group, Arizona’s Phoenix Union High School District has bought its first electric school bus. While nearly three times more expensive than a regular school bus, the school district considered the long-term sustainability, not just in terms of fuel and maintenance costs, but in regards to larger, environmental efforts as well.
https://apolitical.co/solution_article/inside-the-innovation-lab-solving-climate-financing
Amelia Axelsen
Apolitical
16 August 2019
Text / 800-1500 Words
Turning climate solutions into opportunities for investment can help mobilize capital to address climate change. The Global Innovation Lab for Climate Finance (The Lab), part of the Climate Policy Initiative (CPI) based in San Francisco, California, promotes public-private partnerships to reduce the risk of investment in large-scale projects. Nature Based Solutions, such as the Lab’s initiative to restore mangroves in the Philippines, contributes tremendous economic value in areas like flood mitigation.
https://www.houstonchronicle.com/news/houston-texas/texas/article/New-Texas-nonprofit-offers-novel-approach-for-14302307.php
Perla Trevizo
Houston Chronicle
14 August 2019
Text / 1500-3000 Words
To protect the natural lands of the Texas coast and battle climate change, a new nonprofit is working to create a carbon dioxide storage program in partnership with private landowners. The innovative models give landowners money in exchange for not developing or selling their land for the next decade, paid for by businesses or individuals who donate the equivalent of their "carbon footprint." Texas Coastal Exchange creates a carbon dioxide storage program with the goal of protecting the coast's natural lands and fighting climate change.
https://coloradosun.com/2019/08/12/boulder-ozone-garden-climate-change
Amanda K. Clark
The Colorado Sun
12 August 2019
Text / 1500-3000 Words
A garden at Boulder, Colorado’s Museum of Natural History is being used to track the effects of smog and educate visitors as well. Called an “ozone garden,” this plot – and other like it around the world – shows researchers and visitors how plants are damaged by ground-level ozone levels. Beyond education, the researchers behind the ozone garden are using it to show how crops and food availability will diminish as climate change continues.
https://qz.com/1684903/chevron-starts-gorgon-gas-project-that-buries-co2-underground
Akshat Rathi
Quartz
10 August 2019
Text / Under 800 Words
In the wake of a massive natural gas extraction project by Chevron, the Australian government asked the oil behemoth to bury as much as 4 million metric tons of carbon dioxide, which would otherwise be released into the atmosphere. The technology fueling the burying initiative, called carbon capture and storage (CCS), has had success in similar projects around the world in reducing greenhouse gas emissions from the oil creation process.
https://qz.com/1683044/you-can-now-pay-climeworks-to-turn-your-carbon-emissions-to-stone
Akshat Rathi
Quartz
8 August 2019
Text / Under 800 Words
A company based in Zurich pulls carbon dioxide from the air and turns it in to stone -- and you can subscribe to their services. The subscription program through Climeworks allows customers to sign up for different price levels in order to purchase the trapping of a certain amount of carbon dioxide per year.
http://thingsthatworkuganda.com/2019/08/02/refugees-and-host-community-gang-up-to-fight-climate-change
Noah Omuya
Things that Work Uganda
2 August 2019
Multi-Media / 800-1500 Words
The Bidibidi refugee settlement in Uganda, the largest such settlement in the world, is working with a number of agencies including the UNHCR and The Office of the Prime Minister to address environmental issues in their ever-growing settlement. They are strategizing about a number of initiatives to improve life and conditions where they live with topics like Water Sanitation and Hygiene, Education, Health, or Infrastructure. Current solutions include planting over 470,000 trees, local communities donating land for settlers to build their own crops, and environmental education in the local schools.
https://www.cbsnews.com/video/storm-water-management-dutch-solution-henk-ovink-hurricane-damage-60-minutes-2019-07-21
Nichole Marks
CBS News
21 July 2019
Broadcast TV News / 5-15 Minutes
Designing room for rivers and coastlines can mitigate catastrophe. Following a massive flood in 1953, the Dutch government reallocated its resources toward disaster prevention and mitigation. Through measures like building surge barriers and reservoirs into recreational spaces, the Dutch have moved implemented defensive design methods. Additionally, by lowering some dykes, practices have moved from flood control to controlled flooding. The Dutch Water Ambassador serves a global role advising the UN and other countries about the Dutch engineering and design methods.
https://www.theguardian.com/world/2019/jul/19/could-camdens-climate-assembly-help-fix-democracy-too
Mark Rice-Oxley
The Guardian
19 July 2019
Text / 800-1500 Words
In the London borough of Camden, randomly selected locals, including students, builders, civil servants, restauranteurs, and others, came together to discuss what to do about climate change. This climate assembly allows jurors to listen to briefings, pose questions, analyze data, debate, and discuss action items. The council took inspiration from a citizen assembly around abortion in Ireland in 2016 that led to the national referendum in 2018.
https://qz.com/1662800/the-uks-committee-on-climate-change-is-a-model-for-all-countries
Akshat Rathi
Quartz
11 July 2019
Text / Under 800 Words
The United Kingdom’s Committee on Climate Change has helped the country lead the way in cutting emissions and preparing to adapt to climate change. The committee is independent – meaning it isn’t bound to who is in power – which gives its research more stature. Beyond publishing on climate related issues, the committee offers recommendations and sets goals for the country’s work to combat climate change, inspiring other countries to form similar committees.
https://nextcity.org/features/view/when-green-infrastructure-is-an-anti-poverty-strategy
Barbara Brown Wilson
Next City
8 July 2019
Text / Over 3000 Words
In many low-income neighborhoods, new green infrastructure elements and green spaces signal the beginnings of gentrification. A coalition in one of the most ethnically diverse neighborhoods in Portland, Oregon is drawing on grassroots leadership, leadership development and job training programs, and culturally-specific green infrastructure construction to fight displacement and ensure that the current residents can benefit from the sustainability and livability improvements they make to their neighborhood.
https://www.nytimes.com/2019/07/06/climate/nashville-floods-buybacks.html
John Schwartz
The New York Times
6 July 2019
Text / 800-1500 Words
The city of Nashville is a model for other U.S. cities focusing on how to deal with homes that are flooding more consistently than before. The National Flood Insurance Program exists to help insure homes that wouldn't be covered by private insurance; for some homeowners, the frustration of constant flooding is alleviated by the city's initiative to buy back those properties from their owners, turning them instead into more environmentally friendly parks, paths, and other flood buffers.
https://www.globalgroundmedia.com/2019/06/25/radical-new-approach-to-fighting-global-warming
Daniel Hurst
Global Ground Media
25 June 2019
Multi-Media / 1500-3000 Words
Geoengineering, a term used to cover a broad range of large-scale, drastic measures to combat climate change, has the science and policy communities divided. These measures are currently being explored across the world, and while they could work as a response to climate change, many cite them as temporary band-aids that will only delay the effects of global warming. Many cite the need to understand the complexity of the issue and, rather than bandaging the issue, take a comprehensive, structural approach.
https://www.theguardian.com/world/2019/jun/19/planting-billions-trees-save-planet
Patrick Barkham
The Guardian
19 June 2019
Text / 1500-3000 Words
Across the world, TreeSisters is partnering with local organizations to help reforestation efforts. The nonprofit is centered on bolstering local, community-based, and usually women-led initiatives in countries like Kenya and Madagascar. The organization cites the fact that women are most often the ones interacting with the environment, and so raising awareness and taking action in such a gendered way can leverage the most impact.
https://www.hcn.org/articles/wildfire-the-rise-of-wildfire-resilient-communities
Liz Weber
High Country News
17 June 2019
Text / Under 800 Words
Coordination and planning can prove to be the best defensive measures against wildfires. Funded by the US Forest Service, the Community Planning Assistance for Wild Program (CPAW) promotes community fire adaptation, including measures like prescribed burns. Policymakers and city planners enrolled in CPAW benefit from teaming up with foresters, economists, and other experts to model risk and mitigate the impact of fires.
https://ensia.com/voices/individual-communal-action-policy-green-new-deal-environmental-narcissism
David Soll
Ensia
13 June 2019
Text / 800-1500 Words
The rollout of the Green New Deal signals a changing culture and mindset toward climate change. While many past responses have been on the individual level – not using plastic straws or carrying reusable bags when going to the store – there is a growing call for and understanding of structural changes across the designed systems that are currently harming the environment.
https://www.vox.com/2019/6/11/18661230/sea-wall-staten-island-hurricane-climate-change
Kimberly Mas
Diana Budds
Vox
11 June 2019
Video / 5-15 Minutes
Resilient infrastructure is one way to prepare cities for the unpredictable effects of climate change. In Staten Island, which was devastated by Hurricane Sandy, officials have secured millions in funding to build a seawall, which will prevent coastal erosion and decrease the risk of flooding. Seawells or any type of resilient infrastructure, however, need to be combined with other solutions for the best chance of success.
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