News & Blog
Our News & Blog section follows people and projects in the broad civic work of sustainability and resilience, as well as relevant policy issues and debates. It also provides notices of upcoming events, including those that nurture dialogue within and across fields of civic and green innovation. We aim to introduce our readers to some of the more innovative and interesting practitioners, and to provide links to further exploration of their work.
In addition, we provide links to news coverage and analysis of relevant Trump administration policies, including efforts to resist them.
Check Out Our Most Recent News & Blog Posts
Guardrails of Governance: Legal and Administrative Resilience in Trump 2.0
The Fate of the Inflation Reduction Act in the Second Era of Trump
Engaged individuals and organizations are striving to ensure that the Inflation Reduction Act stays and place, and more broadly, cities, mayors, and subnational entities are playing a critical role in continuing climate action amidst federal challenges.
Cities 1.5 Podcast, University of Toronto Press, Kate Johnson, C40 Regional Director for North America and Amy Turner, Director of the City’s Climate Law Initiative at the Sabin Center, Columbia University.
The New Economic Development Is Green…and it comes with $$$
Webinar, Institute for Local Government, Thursday, April 3, 11:30-1pm PST, 2:30am – 4:00pm EST
In just 10 years California economic development has transitioned from Retail to Residential and Redevelopment to Sustainability; with a focus on green infrastructure and resiliency. Accordingly, the landscape of economic development is rapidly evolving, with a growing emphasis on sustainability, energy, transportation, housing and infrastructure, largely driven by climate action initiatives. Over $1 trillion in private, state, and federal funding are available.
This panel will explain how to best harness these extraordinary financial and funding resources and unveils California’s new Climate Resilience District, a powerful new sustainability-focused Tax Increment Financing (TIF) district. Learn about this new world of green funding, renewable energy, hydrogen, tax credit bonds, value capture zoning and how to create green jobs and achieve a sustainable local economy. Speakers and registration here.
Western Collaborative Conservation Network, Collaboration Opportunities, March 26, 2025
The Altar Valley Conservation Alliance is holding a Spring 2025 Rangeland Resilience Workshop Series! This includes wildfire planning and preparedness. Join in person or online.
Thriving Communities Grantmaking Program: Cycle 2 Closing Soon! Applications for Cycle 2 of the Thriving Communities Grantmaking Program close on Monday, March 31 at 1 p.m. MST. These grants support community environmental health and safety projects in EPA Region 8, which includes Colorado, Montana, North Dakota, South Dakota, Utah, Wyoming, and 28 Federally recognized Tribes. Grants ranging from $75,000 to $350,000 are available for projects that monitor or address soil, air, or water quality; prepare for emergencies, like floods and wildfires; expand access to healthy, local, affordable food; work toward Indigenous cultural reclamation; educate communities about the health impacts of environmental issues; and more. See Mountains and Plains Environmental Justice Grants Hub.
Environmental Education: Revised Essay
March 21, 2025
This essay covers the development of the field of environmental education (EE) and how civic and professional associations, teacher networks, and federal, state, and local agencies have built institutional capacity for science-based learning and community engagement. Included are organizational websites, curricular resources, tools for engagement, strategic plans, scholarly references, policy designs, training programs, leadership development, guidelines for excellence, and case studies, especially of place-based sustainability, climate resilience, and environmental justice.
Communities for Climate Action: Engagement Strategies that Work
National Civic League, March 19th at 3:30 pm ET (2:30 pm CT, 1:30 pm MT, 12:30 pm PT). Register here.
Local governments across the U.S. are at the forefront of addressing the urgent challenges of climate change and environmental degradation, while simultaneously working to strengthen democratic practices by providing meaningful opportunities for residents to engage in decision making. In this webinar, we’ll explore the intersection of climate action and inclusive community engagement, emphasizing how cities can enhance both. We’ll dive into the Local Policy Lab’s innovative approach, which helps local governments effectively engage residents in the process of ensuring environmental sustainability and resilience while simultaneously strengthening democracy.
Student Climate & Conservation Congress
In partnership with the U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service’s National Conservation Training Center, the Green Schools Alliance is proud to host Sc3, the Student Climate and Conservation Congress once again. 2025 Dates: June 29-July 5.
Addressing Climate Emotions: A Groundbreaking Toolkit for Educators,
National Environmental Education Foundation, Tuesday, March 25, 2025 | 6:30 p.m. ET.
Developed over three years, including a nationwide research study to understand the experiences and needs of middle school teachers and their students, these resources aim to support both student and teacher mental health. Register here.
Crash Course in Effective Climate Change Communication
The National Network for Ocean and Climate Change Interpretation (NNOCCI) is offering its Spring 2025 training: “Framing the Conversation: A Crash Course in Effective Climate Change Communication”—a seven-week, 25-hour virtual training designed to help communicators like you talk about climate change in a way that is positive, solutions-focused, and action-oriented. Register here.
Building Blocks of Trust training series
River Network and WaterNow Alliance
The Building Blocks of Trust training series focuses on building trust-based relationships through a lens of transparency, consistency, and honesty. Geared toward water utilities, community groups, and other key stakeholders and leaders, the online training covers the “Foundations of Trust” needed to build these relationships. Based on case studies from 9 partnerships across the country, the training series integrates helpful readings, shareable resources, interactive reflections points, and more! Sign-up today for this free, self-paced training series!
Covering Climate Now, Fifth Annual Journalism Awards
Enter by March 31, 2025. Exceptional climate storytelling that upholds the highest standards of journalism. Award FAQs.
Guardrails of Governance: Legal and Administrative Resilience in Trump 2.0
Webinar, Trump’s Second Act: Power, Resistance, and the Limits of Governance, March 6, 2025, 1:15-2:15pm (EST). Richard Heinberg in Resilience.
Webinar Friday February 21, 2025, 11:30 am to 1pm EST, Security and Sustainability Forum, George Washington University, Environmental and Energy Management Institute.
The Corps Network, 2025 National Conference, Arlington VA, March 10-13, 2025.
Register for the annual meeting of the largest network of conservation and youth corps. The agenda includes coalitions working on public lands, state and local projects, conservation and disaster services, leadership development, GIS tools, Corps-College partnerships, urban forestry, tribal restoration partnerships, career pathways, workforce development strategies, and the role of philanthropy in view of shifts in federal priorities. Plus a 40th anniversary party! Agenda, registration, hotels here.
The Power of Narrative: How Storytelling Can Amplify Climate Solutions
Yale Program in Climate Change Communication
Noon – 1pm ET, Wednesday, February 26, 2025
This panel will explore the power of incorporating climate solutions in storytelling and journalism. Moderated by Erika Street Hopman, producer of the Yale Climate Connections radio program, the session will dive into ways to amplify effective climate solutions, counter defeatist narratives, engage diverse audiences, and help people connect individual and collective actions to broader change. The discussion will also highlight examples of impactful storytelling initiatives, such as our recently-launched Climate Solutions Hub (yaleclimateconnections.org/solutions/), which provides ways audiences can take climate action, alongside articles about these solutions in practice.
Insurers Are Deserting Homeowners as Climate Shocks Worsen
by Christopher Flavelle, New York Times, December 18, 2024.
Application Deadline February 27: All-America City Award.
This year, climate and sustainability initiatives are part of the award honoring local innovation, civic engagement, and cross-sector collaboration. Learn more at National Civic League/America-City-Award/.
About the All-America City Award:
The National Civic League invites you to apply for the 2025 All-America City Award, the nation’s most prestigious community recognition. This award, now in its 76th year, offers a moment for reflection, celebration, and recognition.
2025 Theme: Strengthening Environmental Sustainability through Inclusive Community Engagement.
As communities grapple with the urgent challenges of climate change and environmental degradation, the 2025 All-America City Award will recognize the pivotal role that community engagement plays in advancing environmental sustainability and resilience.
The 2025 All-America City application will ask applicants to discuss the strength of their civic capital—the formal and informal relationships, networks and capacities they use to make decisions and solve problems—and to provide examples of three community-driven programs that have adapted and transformed the community. At least one of these efforts must be focused on the 2025 theme: Strengthening Environmental Sustainability through Inclusive Community Engagement.
The 2025 award will recognize these communities, specifically those that demonstrate a commitment to environmental sustainability through meaningful community engagement initiatives. By engaging residents, businesses, and government stakeholders in the pursuit of environmental goals, they create lasting impacts that reduce and mitigate the effects of climate change while bolstering residents’ well-being.
Michael Méndez
Congratulations to Michael A. Méndez, recipient of the 2021 Henry and Bryna David lecture award!
Congratulations to our Senior Associate Editor, Dr. Michael A. Méndez, for receiving the 2021 Henry and Bryna David lecture award! The Henry and Bryna David Endowment makes an annual award to a leading researcher who has drawn insights from the behavioral and social sciences to inform public policy.
In this lecture, Dr. Méndez will detail why it is crucial to understand the connections between the increasing threat of wildfires in communities across the United States and existing inequalities. He will also explore how to lessen the resulting harms, in particular for the most stigmatized populations, such as undocumented Latino/a and Indigenous migrants. This lecture builds from and expands on Mendez’s previous book Climate Change from the Streets: How Conflict and Collaboration Strengthen the Environmental Justice Movement, which can be found summarized and reviewed on the CivicGreen Bookshelf here.
The lecture will take place on October 14, 2021, at 3:00 pm ET and will be accessible online via webcast. Anyone who wishes to attend can register here. This award is sponsored by the Division of Behavioral and Social Sciences and Education of the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine and Issues in Science and Technology magazine.
Again, hearty congratulations to Dr. Méndez for this well-deserved award!
Carmen Sirianni
Ann Ward
Environmental Protection Network maps path forward at EPA
This past August, a bipartisan network of more than 500 former career employees and political appointees at the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), who have served under multiple Democratic and Republican administrations, issued an extraordinarily thoughtful and timely report calling for a major course correction at the agency. The report, Resetting the Course of EPA: Recommendations from the Environmental Protection Network, calls for EPA to reaffirm its commitment to fully protect public health and the environment free from political interference. While its detailed recommendations range over science, economics, enforcement, budget, workforce, and international cooperation, it locates civic engagement, collaboration, and environmental justice as core values that should be driven still further into agency practices.
Joel Mills
An Urban Reality Check: Lessons Learned from COVID-19
To paraphrase revolutionary leader Thomas Paine, these are the times that try our souls. A global pandemic is sweeping our communities and leaving destruction in its wake. As the death toll mounts and the cascading impacts on our economic and social health become apparent, it is hard not to feel a sense of despair. Everyone across the globe – all of us – have suddenly been thrust into a shared experience that both unites humankind and forces consideration of where we are as a society. If ever there were a time for reflection and an assessment of our collective well-being, it is now. We have reached a moment of reckoning.
Carmen Sirianni
Peter Levine
Ann Ward
Welcome to Civic Green!
Today we are launching a new project that has emerged from the work of many innovative civic activists, teachers, students, and professionals in the U.S. who are committed to more democratic, sustainable, and just communities in a time of climate crisis. We are calling this project CivicGreen because its resources for learning and practice extend across a very broad range of arenas where civic engagement intersects with green innovation in communities and ecosystems, institutions and policy.