Are you or anyone you know interested in climate change and curious to dig in to this important issue to learn what they can do about it? Then join us for “The Week” - a three-part educational series about climate change - sign up here to participate. During each of the three sessions (taking place 3/18, 3/20, and 3/22), we will watch a video about climate change and then discuss it. This is the program that was shared by Frederic Laloux at our 2023 Climate Solutions Summit! More info can be found at theweek.ooo; email Brady Fergusson if you have any questions.

Come hang out with the Climate Solutions Accelerator team at our Climate Champions Happy Hour on Thursday, March 21st from 4:30-6:00 p.m. at La Bola (located in the Mercantile on Main)! Bring a friend and get to know fellow climate advocates over drinks (cash bar) and hors d'oeuvres (vegan/gf and our treat!) Members of our team will be on hand to chat and answer questions about local climate action, solutions, and the Accelerator’s current work to advance these. RSVP below.

Are you or anyone you know interested in climate change and curious to dig in to this important issue to learn what they can do about it? Then join us for “The Week” - a three-part educational series about climate change - sign up here to participate. During each of the three sessions (taking place 3/18, 3/20, and 3/22), we will watch a video about climate change and then discuss it. This is the program that was shared by Frederic Laloux at our 2023 Climate Solutions Summit! More info can be found at theweek.ooo; email Brady Fergusson if you have any questions.

Are you or anyone you know interested in climate change and curious to dig in to this important issue to learn what they can do about it? Then join us for “The Week” - a three-part educational series about climate change - sign up here to participate. During each of the three sessions (taking place 3/18, 3/20, and 3/22), we will watch a video about climate change and then discuss it. This is the program that was shared by Frederic Laloux at our 2023 Climate Solutions Summit! More info can be found at theweek.ooo; email Brady Fergusson if you have any questions.

Looking for an opportunity to connect with local professionals who care about their organizations’ impact on the planet? Register for our first Green Drinks event of the year at Marilla’s Mindful Supplies on Feburary 1st at from 6-7 p.m. Your $10 registration fee includes a beverage and light appetizers. Please use the form below to register and confirm your attendance, and spread the word by inviting a colleague or friend. If you have any questions, contact André Primus at andre@climategfl.org.

Join Doug Weishaar and Wyatt Lebeau for a free, educational webinar on how agricultural and rural businesses can utilize significant incentives to switch to local, renewable solar power. With solar energy, farms and rural businesses can protect themselves against unpredictable rate hikes, all while saving money and taking an essential step toward energy independence and resiliency.

The Rural Energy for America Program (REAP), included in the Climate Bill (Inflation Reduction Act), offers rural businesses (of all industries, including agricultural businesses) significant incentives to make the switch to solar power. In fact, these incentives can cut the cost of solar by 70%.

Learn more by clicking below to reserve your spot. We look forward to seeing you there! We’ll send along the webinar link once you save your spot with an RSVP.

Climate Action at the Local Level Presentation on how to take action on climate change at the local level, including the work of Color Pittsford Green and the Color Your Community Green and Color Your School Green networks. Presented by Ellen Henry, Jill Bellenger, and Brady Fergusson. Part of Sociology and Anthropology Department Fall Speaker Series. The presentation will be from 7 p.m. to 8 p.m., with a Q&A session from 8 p.m. to 8:30 p.m. at Shults Forum. Open to the public.

Presented by Michael Richardson, Rivers & Mountains GreenFaith

Michael Richardson will present this lecture in a workshop format followed by Q&A. He will address how to move finances from funding fossil fuel extraction, production, and distribution and instead direct bank deposits, insurance premiums, and investment portfolios to fund local businesses and farms, affordable housing, and the development of renewable clean energy. Osher brings you this how-to presentation in collaboration with “Roc Third Act”.

HYBRID: Room 3/4 & Zoom

Green Drinks is an opportunity to connect with local professionals who care about their organizations’ impact on the planet. Does that describe you? Then register to attend now!

Our first Green Drinks event will be held at Iron Smoke Distillery in Fairport. Your $10 registration fee includes a beverage and light appetizers. 

Please spread the word by inviting a colleague or friend and sharing the event on social media. If you have any questions, contact André Primus at andre@climategfl.org. We hope to see you there! 

Come hang out with the Climate Solutions Accelerator team at our Climate Champions Happy Hour on Thursday, September 21 from 4:30-6:00 p.m. at Swiftwater Brewing! There will be beer (cash bar), light refreshments (vegan and our treat!), and members of our team on hand to chat and answer questions about local climate action, solutions, and the Accelerator’s current work to advance these. RSVP below.

Join us to march for climate action in downtown Rochester on Friday, September 15, 2023, starting at 3:00 PM at Rochester City Hall and ending in celebration at Washington Square Park. We are marching that day in solidarity with mobilizations from across the world organized by Fridays for Future, and demanding an end to the era of fossil fuels. Our goal is to build local engagement on this global issue: to mobilize local residents to engage in climate action that local organizations are taking. This event is a collaboration between the Sunrise Movement, Rochester Youth Climate Leaders, the Climate Solutions Accelerator of the Genesee-Finger Lakes Region, and other climate-concerned organizations and individuals.

Hybrid training event either in person at the Harley School or on Zoom. The training will include Kit Miller facilitating a workshop on leadership; discussing recruitment strategy, regional greenhouse gas emissions and aligned actions, and the regenerative economy; as well as building community and networking with other Color Your Community Green team members. All are welcome (even if they are not yet a member of a CYCG team). Contact brady@climategfl.org with any questions.

Register by May 18 if you would like to attend.

https://secure.lglforms.com/form_engine/s/xQzkbKtMlkBbK55NZepnJg

Join us on March 8, 15, and 22 from 11:00-12:00 for a virtual discussion of Kate Raworth's groundbreaking book Doughnut Economics: 7 Ways to Think Like a 21st Century Economist. Together, we'll deepen our understanding of the problems associated with our current economy and how to create an economy that meets human needs without damaging the natural systems on which our lives depend. On March 8th, we'll dig into chapters one and two, and by the time we finish the book on March 22, we'll be ready to meaningfully engage (at this year's Climate Solutions Summit and elsewhere) in advancing a just transition to a regenerative economy.

Join us on March 8, 15, and 22 from 11:00-12:00 for a virtual discussion of Kate Raworth's groundbreaking book Doughnut Economics: 7 Ways to Think Like a 21st Century Economist. Together, we'll deepen our understanding of the problems associated with our current economy and how to create an economy that meets human needs without damaging the natural systems on which our lives depend. On March 8th, we'll dig into chapters one and two, and by the time we finish the book on March 22, we'll be ready to meaningfully engage (at this year's Climate Solutions Summit and elsewhere) in advancing a just transition to a regenerative economy.

Join us on March 8, 15, and 22 from 11:00-12:00 for a virtual discussion of Kate Raworth's groundbreaking book Doughnut Economics: 7 Ways to Think Like a 21st Century Economist. Together, we'll deepen our understanding of the problems associated with our current economy and how to create an economy that meets human needs without damaging the natural systems on which our lives depend. On March 8th, we'll dig into chapters one and two, and by the time we finish the book on March 22, we'll be ready to meaningfully engage (at this year's Climate Solutions Summit and elsewhere) in advancing a just transition to a regenerative economy.

Join Color Rochester Green - the latest team to join the Color Your Community Green network! The goal of this event is to activate community members in the City of Rochester to work together on meaningful climate action in our city. Volunteers are essential to propel climate action in the Genesee-Finger Lakes Region, and the Climate Solutions Accelerator is supporting community-based teams across our region to do so. This will be the launch of the 11th CYCG team!

The event will take place in the Kate Gleason Auditorium at the Central Library of Rochester. All are welcome! Refreshments will be provided. For those interested in attending but unable to attend in person, we plan to make it a hybrid meeting with a Zoom option.

Join Climate Solutions Accelerator for a virtual info and discussion session about the Color Rochester Green team that is in development in the City of Rochester. This team will be the newest member of the Color Your Community Green network.

Learn how you can help develop strategic climate solutions for our under-served populations. We want to ensure that all voices are at table to influence implementation of solutions at the municipal level.

Join Reconnect Rochester for a film screening and panel discussion about the rewards for us personally and as a society when more people ride bikes.

The evening will feature curated short film clips followed by a live discussion with Justin Booth of GObike Buffalo and leaders in Rochester's bike community.

Register here.

Become a great climate conversant with motivational interviewing training!

May 18th, May 25th, June 1st, & June 8th, four Wednesday evenings, 6-8 pm (online via Zoom)

This series of training sessions is designed to help you learn and apply best-practice communication skills to climate conversations, where you may feel everything is at stake. Using a range of experiential learning activities, including self-reflection, role plays, and observation experiences, you'll develop your ability to be the best climate conversant you can be. The training is based on Motivational Interviewing, an evidence-based process that evokes another person's motivations for change and resolves their feelings and thoughts of resistance. Medical professionals use it to help their patients move towards healthy behaviors -- and it works for tricky conversations about climate change, too.

What is Motivational Interviewing?
Motivational Interviewing is a process of emotional self-regulation, active listening, and conversational curation that evokes another person's motivations for change and resolves their feelings and thoughts of resistance. Motivational Interviewing is an evidence-based process that has existed and steadily grown in applications since 1980. It is the gold standard for bedside manner, used by nurses and doctors seeking to help their patients move towards healthy behaviors, and it works for tricky conversations about climate change too. Imagine yourself in conversation with an important community leader who has the power to advance climate solutions that you believe are urgently needed. You start to share some scientific concepts and the response you hear back feels non-committal and avoidant. That response raises your anxiety, along with your desire to communicate the incredible importance of taking robust climate action now. Psychological science knows about this very human and emotional process, just like environmental science knows about climate change. Feelings of anxiety, stress, and the need for a specific outcome change our body’s hormonal balance, shifting what we think, how we think, and what ultimately gets communicated in a conversation. Expressions like “its not what you say, it's how you say it” and “silence speaks louder than words” allude to communications challenges that we are all familiar with. People are incredibly intuitive. We know when someone is trying to convince us of something, and when we hear people trying to convince us, the typical human response is to resist being convinced. This four-session series of Motivational Interviewing training sessions will provide a range of experiential learning activities, including self-reflection, visualization exercises, breakout room activities, role plays, and observation experiences, all designed to help you integrate best practice communications and find your ability to be the best climate conversant you can be. Register now to participate!

Vince Schutt is a member of the Motivational Interviewing Network of Trainers (MINT), a global network of trainers in motivational interviewing, and founder of Enviromentum. He is passionate about sharing concepts from the behavioral sciences with those who seek to facilitate change for societal good. Vince has applied knowledge of behavioral science evidence in a number of programs in collaboration with TDSB, Ryerson University, Toronto Environmental Alliance (TEA), Citizens' Climate Lobby (CCL), Peel Region and more. Vince is committed to advancing motivational interviewing as a way to rethink how we communicate environmental concepts at a societal level.

This training series is sponsored by Alliance for a Green Economy (AGREE), New Yorkers for Clean Power, Citizens’ Climate Lobby NY, Climate Reality Project - WNY, Climate Reality Project - Finger Lakes Chapter, Pachamama Alliance of the Rochester Area (PARA) & Climate Solutions Accelerator.

MAKE YOUR VOICES HEARD! You have the opportunity to provide input on the NY Draft Scoping Plan. We will meet every Thursday from 3/1 to 4/28. Each week, we will have a 5-7 minute presentation on one section of the NY Draft Scoping Plan, Q&A, and a 20 minute work session to write a response to that section from a template.

MAKE YOUR VOICES HEARD! You have the opportunity to provide input on the NY Draft Scoping Plan. We will meet every Thursday from 3/1 to 4/28. Each week, we will have a 5-7 minute presentation on one section of the NY Draft Scoping Plan, Q&A, and a 20 minute work session to write a response to that section from a template.

Check out the Drive Electric EV Car Show at the Penfield Community Center. Register to attend if you're thinking about purchasing an EV. You can kick some tires, ask questions of the owners, and check out the interesting features of various plug-in hybrid electric vehicles (PHEVs) and battery electric vehicles (BEVs). Already own an EV? Register and bring your vehicle to the community center to join the party and share your experience! This event is a collaboration of the Greater Rochester Clean Cities, the Town of Penfield, and Color Penfield Green.