Summer Updates from the Executive Director

Earlier this month, the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change released its 6th report, which UN Secretary–General António Guterres described as “a code red for humanity”. The news is stark, and some of the climate change impacts that scientists have been warning about for decades have indeed become irreversible. But it’s important to remember that hope is not lost—if we treat this moment with the urgency it deserves. ​​The U.N. report states that we can still avoid the worst consequences with “immediate, rapid and large-scale reductions in greenhouse gas emissions.”

As a go-to organization for climate change education in the region, Communitopia takes its role in this work seriously. Our nation's education system graduates 3 million students a year and sends them out into the workforce either prepared to advance an equitable, green economy, or to advance the status quo. We believe it is crucial that our region's youth graduate with the attitudes, skills, and knowledge to meet the challenges ahead. We are intent on providing local students, educators, and school districts with a menu of options for fulfilling their role in solving this existential crisis. Those options include fully-facilitated, award-winning workshops on climate change brought directly to classrooms, localized, interdisciplinary training and professional development for educators, and facilitation of climate action planning for emission reduction with district administrators and school boards. 

When we aren't running our programs, we're strategizing around how to sustain them! On that note, we're extremely excited to host our second annual Pedal-Topia bike ride event on October 2nd! This is our organization's biggest fundraising event of the season. All are welcome to join the team and pedal for a purpose! 

Finally, we are excited to share that our strategic planning process with the Bayer Center for Nonprofit Management is coming to a close. We want to thank all of you who took the time to help inform our plan through interviews, focus groups, or surveys. Your ideas and opinions matter and we are very excited to share the results with you later this fall!  

Onward,

Katie Modic
Executive Director