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Regional Conferences

Regional Conferences

In the United States, Citizens’ Climate Education (CCE) supporters are organized into 11 regions, each bound by unique geographic, economic, social, and environmental concerns. CCE’s regional conferences thus commonly include special guest lectures, laser talk and communications training, providing unique opportunities for training and planning in keeping with local priorities.

The recent Great North Winds Conference, for example, doubled as a one-year anniversary celebration for the newly-founded Red Wing, Minnesota chapter. Organizers Mindy Ahler and Paul Thompson, who helped facilitate the chapter’s founding, gathered with nearly 100 supporters for two days of training sessions, which were provided via a live stream to those who couldn’t make the trip. Videos of sessions about the implications of climate change for the local Minnesota housing insurance market, agricultural carbon sequestration, and many more were also posted for later use by concerned citizens from Iowa to North Dakota. Activities ranged from the cerebral, such as learning from a professor of thermal sciences and expert reviewer for the IPCC Fifth Assessment Report John Abraham, to the physical, as when some participants made use of the Red Wing bluffs to amplify their call for climate action.

Much as the Great North Winds conference addressed local effects of climate change, the Nor’ Easter conference in Nashua, New Hampshire prepared citizens through a public teach-in format that included educational sessions with Dr. James Hansen and NPR’s Steve Curwood, letter-writing training, and suggested frameworks for independent action.

Citizens’ Climate Education training makes each regional conference a much-anticipated annual event, empowering individuals to continue their educational and outreach efforts throughout the year.