Dear Friends,
As economic and security issues have taken center stage, polls show the public’s concerns about climate change have receded. It’s understandable. Social scientists say we only have so much capacity for worry – a finite pool that is filled first with our day-to-day concerns, like raising our children and the price of filling up the car, and then with things that are farther afield. For many, the recession and Ukrainian war fill up any remaining space for worry, leaving no room for climate change.
Yet worry we must. Because if we don’t get ahead of the climate crisis, we will face even bigger levels of economic decline and geopolitical instability. Somehow, we have to find the capacity to continue to care and act on this longer-term issue. We believe that starts with a clear understanding of the scale and scope of the risk.
That’s why we are so excited about new developments at C-Change that are enabling us to expand our reach and impact, such as:
- Dynamic affiliates in Columbia, SC and Athens, GA, which were inspired by our Primer presentation to continue to educate their communities in a non-partisan, scientifically grounded way. Please let us know if you’d like to start similar outreach in your community.
- The first episode of our new Solutions Series, which showcases leaders that are making a difference right now on climate change. Stay tuned for our first episode – a deep dive with Sir Steven Cowley into the promise of fusion energy.
In addition, some of our earliest mentors and current science advisors have recently been recognized for their incredibly important work. Climate Central is knocking it out of the park in educating meteorologists, empowering these trusted messengers to translate the science of climate change, and helping people understand how it is impacting both their community and the world. The Climate Central team has inspired and encouraged us from C-Change’s earliest days, and we have tried to model and extend their non-partisan, scientific approach. They still inspire us every day!
As always, thanks for being on this journey with us. Your attention and support keeps our all-volunteer team going and makes our success possible!
Yours truly,
Kathleen Biggins
Founder and President
C-Change to Present Primer to National Audiences
Kathleen Biggins will return to her hometown of New Orleans in September to present Climate Change Education: Changing Hearts and Minds during Rally 2022: The National Land Conservation Conference. This will be the third time (but the first in person!) that C-Change has presented at the annual conference of the Land Trust Alliance, which is made up of land conservation practitioners from around the world. The organization is a leader in policy, standards, education, and training for the land trust community.
Other upcoming Primer presentations include:
● July 24 The Bridgehampton Club, Bridgehampton, NY
● August 17 Mantoloking Environmental Commission, Mantoloking, NJ
● September 13 Stony Brook Garden Club, Princeton, NJ
● September 22 Garden Club of Cleveland, OH
● October 20 Weston Garden Club, MA
● October 25 Penn Medicine Princeton Health, Plainsboro, NJ
Our turnkey process makes it easy to request and book any of our three climate change Primers: our original Primer, the Health Primer, and the Business Primer.
C-Change Athens is up and running! The team has identified other local organizations involved in climate change education as possible partners and is considering what kinds of information and activities C-Change Athens can offer its community. Building on successful Primer presentations in Athens in February, the local C-Change team plans to invite members of the local rotary club, community foundation, and garden clubs to subscribe to a tailored version of Curated Climate News that includes Athens-area news and activities. Planning has begun for hosting a climate change talk in the fall with elected officials invited to hear from a local expert.
The team also is talking to local newspapers about increasing their coverage of climate change and other environmental concerns and has met with the University of Georgia sustainability office about how C-Change can support a Spring 2023 event sponsored by the Georgia Initiative for Climate and Society.
C-Change Columbia continues to proactively educate its community and support mitigation efforts of the impacts of a warming planet, including one challenge no longer confined to the South: excessive heat. Heat is the leading weather-related killer in the United States and with climate change, extreme heat events are on the rise, affecting more areas more often, more severely, and for longer periods of time. Extreme heat is especially dangerous to the elderly, pregnant women, children, cancer patients, and people without indoor air-conditioning relief or those working outside.
So we were thrilled to learn that Columibia, SC was among 14 cities awarded a grant from the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) for heat mapping in the city. C-Change Columbia’s letter endorsing the project, led by the city’s Tree and Appearance Commission, was included in the grant application. Once this map is completed, it will be a game changer for identifying where the worst heat problems are and channeling appropriate remediation resources. C-Change Columbia volunteers will help with the mapping in August.
C-Change Columbia also recently helped publicize and recruit attendees to Climate Ready Columbia, a two-day conference sponsored by the University of South Carolina’s Ann Johnson Institute for Science, Technology, and Society and the city of Columbia, where area leaders gathered to discuss local and municipal policy options related to climate change. C-Change Columbia was pleased to have participated in this informative conference.
Coming to a Screen Near You
One of the things that sets C-Change apart is that we offer both the facts about climate change (making the case for why more people should care about it) and hope for the future. In our Primer, on our website, and in our newsletters and blogs we showcase solutions to the problem and why we need to support them.
C-Change Conversations is excited to announce the launch of what we believe is a unique program in the climate change education space: Solutions Series: Ideas, Innovations, and Advancements in the Fight Against Climate Change. This new series of studio-recorded interviews will feature conversations with scientists, entrepreneurs, policy makers, energy experts, and others who are promoting ways to help us address the challenges of a changing climate. Watch your inbox and follow us on social media to see upcoming episodes.
C-Change Hires Communications Firm
C-Change Conversations is excited to bring on Taft Communications to support our mission through the creation and execution of a strategic communications outreach program that will enable us to share vital information about climate change to new audiences, markets, and associations across the country.
Taft Communications, a boutique communications consultancy based in Lawrenceville, NJ, has been helping organizations and causes inspire meaningful change in the world for nearly 40 years, including Fortune 500 companies, emerging businesses, leading nonprofits, advocacy groups, and foundations. For a good part of the last decade, Taft has also been deeply engaged in the climate change fight, building and executing campaigns and helping various nonprofits refine their message platforms for maximum impact.
Meet the Team
Kathleen writes:
I first met Kappy Hubbard in March 2019, when she attended a Primer presentation sponsored by the Palmetto Garden Club in Columbia, SC. She left that meeting inspired and energized. Before we knew it, Kappy had worked with a team of talented friends and colleagues (that later founded C-Change Columbia) of both the Palmetto and Columbia Garden Clubs to bring us back in early March 2020 to present to an audience of more than 200. Kappy also arranged for us to give a special presentation at Nelson Mullins law firm to business, university, and other community leaders.
Kappy is gracious, tenacious, and all-in when it comes to gently helping people learn why they should care about climate change and take action. We are so lucky to have her on our team!
Kappy writes:
Why I’m involved with C-Change: I consider it a privilege and honor to be affiliated with C-Change. By presenting the sobering realities of climate change, while also offering strategies for mitigation, C-Change provides information and tools to encourage and empower individual and collective action. As a woman of faith, I believe C-Change provides a means to answer the call to be a steward of creation. I can think of no more productive use of my time than to support these efforts to address this existential challenge.
What have you learned about climate change that makes you hopeful? While C-Change presents the unvarnished truth about climate change, I am hopeful because they simultaneously emphasize and encourage opportunities for action. In particular, by showcasing renewable energy and emerging sources of non-fossil fuel technologies, C-Change offers the hope so desperately needed in today’s world. Plus, C-Change invites and encourages all to participate in this critical effort.
C-Change Climate Advisor Garners National Media Exposure
Credibility is key to educating any audience on any topic but is especially important when it comes to climate change. According to research, the more someone likes a TV weathercaster, the more likely they are to be positively influenced by that weathercaster’s discussion of climate change.
Finally, climate-conscious meteorologists are getting the attention they deserve. We were pleased to see The Atlantic shine a light on “The One Group of People Americans Actually Trust on Science,” including Climate Central, C-Change’s go-to source for non-partisan, science-based information. Bernadette Woods Placky, a meteorologist and one of C-Change’s climate science advisors, is featured in the story. She directs Climate Central’s Climate Matters program that – among other things – responds to weathercasters’ desire to report on climate change by providing the research, images, videos, and other tools needed for on-air segments.
Bernadette also was interviewed on an excellent PBS Newshour segment about how weather forecasters are increasingly addressing climate change. Jeff Beradelli, a Tampa, FL-based meteorologist who interviewed our own Kathleen Biggins on CBS Saturday Morning about electric vehicles, is prominently featured, along with Amy Freeze, a Fox Weather reporter.
In Case You Missed It
Check out recent Q&A where our readers Ask a Scientist:
● Is climate change exacerbating allergies?
● Are hurricanes getting worse?
● With record heat and drought, where does the water go?
● Is COVID-19 tied to climate change?
And be sure to read – and share – the latest issue of Curated Climate News, C-Change’s monthly review of both hopeful and concerning top news reports on climate change.