Community Toolbox for Leading in a Changing Climate
Climate Education Partners (CEP) is a collaboration among professors, scientists, researchers, educators, communications professionals and community leaders working with local key influential leaders to communicate the causes of climate change, its impact in our region and options for enhancing our climate resilience.
CEP was funded by The National Science Foundation to support the community of concerned leaders and stakeholders, who are working across the political spectrum, to make informed decisions about how to address the impacts and causes of climate change in our local community.
In an effort to support leaders nationally, CEP has recently launched a new website, Your Community Toolbox for Leading in a Changing Climate , which tells the story of CEP and provides comprehensive and multimedia resources for other cities and regional communities looking to incorporate climate change education and leader engagement into their climate action planning efforts.
Lead Agency and Partnerships
CEP was formed as a collaborative team of multidisciplinary experts from the University of San Diego, UC San Diego's Scripps Institution of Oceanography, The San Diego Foundation, The Steve Alexander Group and University of California, San Francisco. This multi partner team brought together expertise in climate science, social psychology, law, policy and communications.
Over the course of the project, CEP has partnered with over 40 experts from local governments, agencies, nonprofits and private entities as well as many leaders to serve as spokespersons for the project in the development of educational resources and as speakers at various events.
Currently CEP is housed at The Nonprofit Institute at the University of San Diego. https://www.sandiego.edu/soles/nonprofit/signature-programs/
Drivers
Climate Education Partners was one of six projects to be funded by The National Science Foundation in 2010.
From 2010 to 2012, Climate Education Partners (CEP), San Diego region, empirically assessed the depth and gaps in climate science education among San Diego Key Influentials (i.e., high profile, decision-makers and leaders). Three key findings were (1) there is moderate knowledge of global, and less of local climate change impacts such as heat waves and wildfires; (2) knowledge about impacts were highly related to engagement in both mitigation and adaptation behaviors, which was particularly true when the education increased efficacy (what to do), identity (being part of a larger community of concerned citizens) and values (belief that one is doing what is right for future generations and the community); and (3) a majority of leaders were concerned about climate change while simultaneously believing others leaders were not. Further, CEP's climate resources assessment found that few resources were dedicated to the non-K-16 population, a group that is more directly engaged in decisions affecting many future generations.
These findings informed the project's strategic 5-year implementation plan from 2012-2017 to develop a multidisciplinary climate literacy model for regional Key Influential (KI) leaders.
Engagement Process
CEP has been consistently and continuously implementing a robust suite of integrated activities "TO KIs" where Key Influentials are the audience; "BY KIs" where select Key Influentials are trained as messengers of local climate science and impacts to other Key Influentials; and "THROUGH KIs" where Key Influentials are the portal to their constituents and stakeholders. We have used non-traditional venues such as small and medium sized forums, climate tours, homes, and social media. Our method has been to work with KIs in the economic sectors causing the majority of greenhouse gas emissions, such as the transportation sector, as well as with leaders of populations most likely to be affected, such as low-income groups, Latinos, and tribal peoples.
Moreover, every activity with KIs, incorporates regionally related climate science and young scientists, the development of local climate science educational resources, empirical testing to identify effective practices. The process of working with KIs and the whole suite of activities developed on the basis of the integrated model are replicable, can be exported to other regions across the country, and has been instrumental in bringing together KIs wanting to work with us and from across the political spectrum into a community of concerned citizens finding mutually beneficial solutions.
Climate Impact Area
In the project's initial planning stages, climate scientists and science educators identified key impact areas in San Diego that specified how temperature and precipitation changes would impact San Diego's water resources, coastal flooding, wildfires, nature's benefits (plants and animals) and health. More information on each of the impacts can be found here: http://www.sandiego.edu/2050/about/
We have seen how the concern for these impacts shifts as the current events shift. During times when Southern California experienced droughts, water scarcity was given a lot of concern. With current wildfires raging across the state, fires become a greater concern. But overall, the greatest concern is that the quality of life that we now enjoy will be lost to the next generations. This is a greater concern than the environmental threats that currently exist for ourselves.
In order to respond to these threats, CEP has worked to highlight what leaders in the community are successfully doing to address these challenges and focus on the solutions.
Funding Source
CEP has been funded by the National Science Foundation with an initial planning grant of $1 million and subsequently given a 5 year $5 million dollar implementation grant.
Research and Data
For the majority of educational materials, reports and resources produced, CEP has utilized climate science data produced and compiled by the Scripps Institution of Oceanography in addition to collecting behavioral science data. The later involved conducting key informant interviews with local leaders and funding public opinion polls of San Diego County residents.
In the development of the San Diego 2050 report, a signature resource for leaders regarding local climate change impacts and featuring local leaders and organizations doing effective work in the area. In developing the San Diego 2015 Report, the team consulted numerous scientific publications, reports and other sources (see list here: http://www.sandiego.edu/2050/about/references.php) and were advised by a technical advisory group of climate change experts. In addition, social science theory and communication expertise informed the framing and presentation of the content.
CEP's project impact and success has been tracked through a variety of data including the following methods:
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We conducted key informant interviews to learn about leader's knowledge, concerns, values and sense of community. Data from these interviews helped us understand the leader community in San Diego.
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We conducted regional public opinion polls. CEP brought on two external pollsters from Fairbank, Maslin, Metz & Associates (FM3) and Public Opinion Strategies to conduct polling in both English and Spanish in order to assess climate change opinions and behaviors of San Diego county residents.
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We conducted focus groups with current and emerging leaders. Data from these groups helped guide the project's initial planning efforts.
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We assessed the effectiveness of events by collecting pre- and post- surveys from participants. We also conducted regular internal debriefs to learn how we can refine outreach activities.
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We tracked project reach to determine engagement across all channels including website visitors and social media analytics (Twitter and Facebook followers and posts).
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We measured leader participation in educational and resource development activities as spokespersons and/or collaborators.
Data collected from these diverse sources have helped the project improve its interventions and activities and helped us create baseline datasets to measure change against specified indicators. By convening academia, government, business, philanthropy and the community, CEP has helped to raise the profile of regional leadership on climate change, which in turn has facilitated ongoing efforts by local decision makers to reduce greenhouse gas emissions and strengthen regional resilience to climate change. Indeed, two thirds of the region's cities and local public agencies now have Climate Action Plans (CAP), and the City of San Diego now boasts one of the most ambitious CAP in the nation. Furthermore, we have seen changes in the public opinion's view on climate change and noted an increase with up to 87% of residents now united in their concern about climate change.
Challenges
With changes at the federal level in the new administration's view on environmental policy and climate change, CEP can no longer rely on federal research grants from the National Science Foundation to support climate change education efforts. We are currently looking to diversify our funding streams and are seeking private and philanthropic support in order to continue to support communities seeking to support their leaders making informed decisions regarding climate change.
Outcome
This month, CEP launched a new website, Your Community Toolbox for Leading in a Changing Climate. The site tells the story of CEP and provides a comprehensive and multimedia resource for other cities and regions looking to incorporate climate change education and leader engagement into their climate action planning efforts. We are excited to support other cities who want to launch effective leader education programs by providing consulting expertise and scholarship as requested.
At USD, we are working closely to integrate our resources within The Nonprofit Institute to provide climate capacity building for nonprofit leaders and organizations.
The project is currently seeking additional funding sources to leverage its resources and network, which would allow it to continue its work in San Diego and beyond.
Additional Information
To learn about the project's planning and implementation phases and access the wide breath of resources created over the last several years, please check out Your Community Toolbox for Leading in a Changing Climate
All of our resources can also be accessed on our website: www.sandiego.edu/climate
Click here to view CEP Impact movies highlighting specific climate impacts such as wildfires, coastal flooding, public health. http://www.sandiego.edu/climate/discover-more/resources.php
This project is funded by the National Science Foundation (NSF) under award number DUE-1239797. Any opinions, findings, and conclusions or recommendations expressed in this material are those of the author(s) and do not necessarily reflect the views of the National Science Foundation.