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Mendocino Smiles
Mendocino Land Trust

Climate change and care

Your local land trust can help talk about climate change by showing solutions and connecting around issues that people care about. People are looking to land trusts to make it clear that we have to act now—and how to do that creatively and thoughtfully.

Rising sea-level? Weird weather patterns of droughts and flooding? Violent storms? Is it true that large portions of the Antarctic ice shelves are collapsing into the ocean? Are glaciers really melting at an unprecedented rate? Even if true, there’s little we can do about such global phenomena, right?

These changes, associated with the heating of the earth’s atmosphere through the burning of fossil fuels, are really happening. Climate change is real. And the Mendocino Land Trust takes exception to the idea that little can be done in the face of climate change…

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Yellow Warbler
Shutterstock

Free 3-week series for land trusts to address climate change

Even if you aren't located in Wisconsin, this free 3-week series on climate change could be a good opportunity to consider natural climate solutions to climate change.

Addressing climate change is a high priority among Wisconsin land trusts. In this three-week series, explore roles your land trust can play in slowing climate change and adapting to changes that we are already seeing on the landscape.

Sessions topics: 
Framing the challenges and opportunities; leveraging tools for climate resilience strategies; developing carbon markets

In order to maximize your learning experience, they recommend you sign up and participate in all three sessions. Get the most out of the learning cohort, including resources for learning between sessions.

Session information:
Cost: FREE
Dates: Thursdays February 18, February 25, and March 4, 2021
Time: 1:30–3:00 p.m. CST

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Climate Change Sign Holders
Shutterstock

Black Lives Matter in the climate movement

Land trusts all over the country pledged to address racism and make their lands, and community, welcoming places for all. Yet many aren't thinking about how climate change will impact those who have been disenfranchised in their community. This coming year is a great time to consider that—and talk about solutions.

We have come to a time when the United States is having yet another reckoning with racist institutions that have pervaded since its founding. Corporations, sports teams, and brands alike have been publicly re-evaluating their policies to declare how they stand with the Black community.

While preliminary policy changes are a start, what is really needed is a more thorough investigation of what it means to be anti-racist.  Especially for corporations, anti-racism should also be incorporated into climate change mitigation efforts. While it may seem that climate change activism has taken a backseat in light of the COVID-19 pandemic and the Black Lives Matter Movement, how we address these issues can help forge a path forward for the climate movement…

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Grateful Little Girl
Chelsea Carroll

They’re climate scientists. They’re mothers. Now they’re joining the battle to get Americans to act

Very few people in the U.S. hear about climate change and climate solutions. A new $10-million campaign ad program will put climate scientists who are mothers in the living rooms of families across the country, so they can speak to parents like them. The campaign, called "Science Moms," will include TV and digital advertising and will run in Pennsylvania, Colorado, and Florida.

“Those of us who understand climate change are disappointed by gridlock on the issue,” said Emily Fischer, a climate scientist at Colorado State University, who narrated the 90-second spot featuring her daughters enjoying the outdoors. “The goal of Science Moms is to push through that—to reach directly to mothers and let them know this is a threat to their kids. The kids they make sandwiches for, the kids who crawl into their beds at night, the kids who drive them crazy sometimes. To those kids. Not someone else’s kids…”

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Mother Child East Coast Beach
Patty Tipson

Let’s talk climate

You know that the science on climate change is clear. But less than half of us talk about it with family and friends—and we can’t fix what we don’t talk about.

Check out our how-to guide for simple tips to get the conversation started. You’ll learn:

  • What’s more important than being an expert on the facts
  • How to connect to the person across from you
  • The kinds of questions to ask if you get stuck…
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Farmland Low Sun
Creative Commons

Smart Solar Siting for New England: free webinar series

While focused on New England, there are many transferable concepts in this series that you and your land trust might appreciate.

Join American Farmland Trust, Acadia Center, Conservation Law Foundation, Vote Solar, and Vermont Law School for a four-part webinar series, as we share outcomes from our joint two-year project seeking to reduce conflicts over the siting of solar facilities…

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Lowell Parks And Conservation Trust
Lowell Land Trust

Climate change forum, October 1st

Land trusts are recognizing that their pledge to conserve land and water necessitates helping the public understand the serious impacts and threats of climate change to their local landscapes. The key, as with all climate communication designed to initiate action, is to face reality and provide hope and solutions.

This small and innovative land trust raising awareness about a climate change forum, hosted by Lowell City of Learning and UMass Lowell Climate Change Initiative. The presentation will be led by UMass Lowell faculty. The timing is on pointe as climate change is increasingly on people’s minds. This short, one-hour, virtual event will cover a number of topics including:

  • How are the western US wildfires related to climate change?
  • How will acting on climate change affect the economy?
  • What if we do nothing?
  • What are some of the solutions to climate change that are already here?
  • Are there any solutions that we haven’t heard about yet?
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Owl
Pixabay

Climate Change Initiative

Natural climate solutions can currently play an important role in slowing down climate change. Helping your community know they are part of the solution could help people view land conservation in their backyards with new urgency.

The Northwest Arkansas Land Trust has been working on meeting people where they are and finding common ground around natural climate solutions and climate conversations.

Their website explains these three areas of focus as well as the projected impacts of climate change.

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Solar And Ag
Hyperion Systems, LLC

Farmland and Compatible Solar Webinar Series

You and your land trust don't have to host all the programs nor be an expert in climate change to make a difference. Instead, you can share information to help inspire those around you. American Farmland Trust has a number of very interesting webinar discussions for you to share.

Farmland is a critical resource in our country, particularly in areas that are heavily forested or developed. American Farmland Trust recently released the Farms Under Threat report, documenting those challenges.

Yet climate change is the most significant threat to conservation we have ever faced. Rather than remove forests, many are locating solar fields on agricultural lands. Can it be done well? Yes.

Find out how in this webinar series focusing on smart solar siting, balancing solar siting with conservation, growing the solar market, and turning state and local priorities into sound policy. While this is focused on New England, there will be many transferable concepts for wherever you are located.

Webinars are free and running on September 23, September 30, October 7, and October 15. 

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Drone Above Road And Evergreens
Geran de Klerk on Unsplash

It’s time for businesses to aim higher. Here’s one way to do it—natural climate solutions

This is the sort of article you can share with community members, businesses, and your local land trust. Granted, with Covid-19, businesses are often facing lower cash-flow. But that's not to say you can't start planting the seeds of what could be possible once we get through the worst of this pandemic.

Corporations are (rightly) first focused on reducing their emissions. That’s absolutely where they need to start, and it should be their highest climate-related priority. Thanks to pressure by activists, customers, shareholders and employees, companies are now taking action. They’re not waiting for government regulations mandating them to do so. They’re doing what they can to reduce their carbon emissions by using less energy and switching to renewables.

And when they can’t reduce further, they are now also committing to purchase large volumes of offsets to reach carbon neutrality. Some companies go even further and aim to reach net negative.

This is where NCS enters the picture…

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