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Little Girl
Joyce Carroll

How to talk honestly to kids about climate change — and still give them hope

Too often the message against renewables touts the negative impact on bird populations. Yet the impact of climate change on birds continues to grow, and the need to dramatically slow down climate change is increasingly apparent.

Climate change is no longer a future issue. It’s already affecting nearly every aspect of our lives and our children’s futures. It’s making our heat waves more deadly, our storms more intense, and our wildfires burn with ferocity.

When we talk to our kids, we have to be honest. Climate change is real, and it’s serious. But the most important thing we can give them is hope: that there are solutions, and everyone has something to contribute no matter their age…

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Monarch
Unsplash

‘Climate change’ may be a key factor in declining butterfly populations

The public tends to blame habitat loss and pesticides for the declining butterfly populations in the Western United States. But climate change maybe an equal, if not greater, factor.

As Pennisi points out, “butterflies are at risk in open spaces, too.” She writes: “Art Shapiro, an insect ecologist at the University of California, Davis, and colleagues have shown that over the past 35 years, butterflies are disappearing even in pristine protected areas such as the Sierra Nevada mountain range in the western United States”…

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Sun Spot
Unsplash

Scientists lay out 10 golden rules for restoring forests

In January, scientists at Royal Botanic Gardens Kew in the UK warned that tree planting was often being presented as an easy answer to the climate crisis, and a way out for businesses to mitigate their carbon emissions.

“Scientists from the Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew (RBG Kew) and Botanic Gardens Conservation International (BGCI) have set out ten ‘golden rules’ for reforestation, published today in an open-access article in the leading journal Global Change Biology…”

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Lupine
Getty Images

The reason wild forests beat plantations

Trees can help pull carbon out of the atmosphere by trapping it in their trunks, roots, and leaves. But what if planting them wasn't the solution? We look beyond the U.S. to track relevant science.

In January, scientists at Royal Botanic Gardens Kew in the UK warned that tree planting was often being presented as an easy answer to the climate crisis, and a way out for businesses to mitigate their carbon emissions. But it was not as simple as it seemed. The wrong trees in the wrong places can cause considerably more damage than benefits, and fail to help people, nature, or capture carbon.

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Solar Panels
AEN

Why put a price on carbon?

We are going to need to promote energy conservation incentives and renewable energy if we are to save the species we all cherish. That means advocating for dual-use, compatible renewables like wind and solar.

It also might mean that you encourage your local and regional conservation groups to support the Citizen Climate Lobby’s work on bipartisan efforts to put a price on carbon pollution…and then talk about why they are doing that.

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moose
Flickr

Moose in a warming climate

I love moose. They and other wildlife are part of the reason why I work so hard to slow down climate change. Yet the future of moose in this country is looking grim if we don't work quickly to slow down climate change, and get off fossil fuels.

“Moose populations across the northern United States are declining as the climate warms up. You wouldn’t think that a temperature increase of only 1.5 to 2 degrees Fahrenheit would kill a moose, but it appears that it does. In northwestern Minnesota, nearly all the moose have disappeared, and in northeastern Minnesota over 90 percent of the moose calves are dying during some years. Moose hunting is no longer allowed in Minnesota…”

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Urban Trees
Unsplash

Any infrastructure plan also needs to invest in trees and green space

The American Jobs Plan proposal would significantly boost community infrastructure as well as jobs — many of which would support long-term investments in conservation and reduce the impacts and pace of climate change. Is your local land conservation group following this?

It’s up to community leaders, neighborhood organizations, nonprofits, and more to ensure that green strategies are not an afterthought but a critical foundation of any infrastructure plan introduced in Congress…

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Songbird
Unsplash

Climate change strategies

Land trusts all over the country are focusing on landscape-scale, climate-resilient lands for protection. It will also be important to prioritize community lands, as well as lands for human refuge and resilience.

The Land Trust of Napa County (LTNC) is actively working to incorporate the challenges and threats posed by climate change into both its land conservation and natural resource management strategies, with a focus on protecting and restoring the ability of our local ecosystems to respond and adapt to warming temperatures. LTNC has dramatically increased its pace of land protection and stewardship throughout Napa County over the last five years to more effectively address these pressing issues…

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Wetland
Judy Anderson

How does climate change affect land trusts?

The Land Trust Alliance has a website dedicated to climate change. There are numerous resources available for land trusts to use, reference, and expand upon.

The Land Trust Alliance manages a website dedicated to climate change. There are numerous resources available for land trusts to use, reference, and expand upon. Topics include climate adaptation, resilience, carbon finance, mitigation, and case studies…to name a few.

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Female Farmers
Pixabay

Empowering women farmers and landowners to protect their land and embrace conservation

American Farmland Trust recently featured this article in their eNews and linked some of its points to work they are doing to be more inclusive and focus on healthy soils, farm/ranch viability, and climate change. Is that something you or your land trust finds interesting? If so, you could do the same.

“The future of agriculture is increasingly female.

43 percent of U.S. farmland —nearly 388 million acres— is now farmed or co- farmed by women. Many of these women have a strong conservation ethic and are deeply committed to healthy farmland, farm families, and farm communities.

But women face gender-related barriers to managing their land for long-term sustainability…”

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