Rooted in the Land: Empowering Indigenous Women in Ranching
Background Indigenous Women in Ranching (WIR) represents women who have unique roles as land stewards, agriculturalists and community leaders to promote Indigenous knowledge and help their people to adapt to the effects of climate change. According to the UN, “climate change exacerbates the difficulties already faced by indigenous communities including political and economic marginalization, loss […]
Poeh Povi, The Flower Path: Indigenous Matriarch Farmer Collective
Background In the aftermath and ongoing climate crisis through wildfires and long-term drought in our region, it is vital that our communities integrate interdisciplinary approaches for creating safe spaces to store and access traditional heirloom and wildflower seeds. Seed sanctuaries help protect our seed sovereignty as Native Peoples that our ancestors have been stewarding for […]
Native Food as Resilience: Establishing the Indigenous Research Pipeline for Acorns
Background This project is being initiated in response to the cultural-continuity and public-health crises faced by the California Native American community due to decreased access to acorns, a significant component of traditional diets. Colonization and lack of land and treaty rights have significantly hindered the Native community’s ability to acquire this crucial superfood, exacerbating physical […]
#CEC31: 31st Annual Council Session and JPAC Public Forum
Mark your calendar for the Commission for Environmental Cooperation’s (CEC) 31st annual Council Session and Joint Public Advisory Committee (JPAC) Public Forum, to be held 24–26 June 2024 in Wilmington, North Carolina under the theme “Strengthening Environmental Justice through Community Empowerment.” #CEC31 will bring together North America’s top environmental officials and the public-at-large to learn […]
Urban Rainwater Harvesters in the Upper Santa Cruz River Basin, Ambos Nogales, Sonora, and Arizona
Background With growing water scarcity and drought, uncertainty of the long-term effects of climate change in this region (e.g., changes in precipitation amounts, patterns, and intensity), lack of vegetation, and heat island effects in urban settings, innovative approaches to manage and utilize local water resources are of high interest and demand with communities in Ambos […]
Empowering Vulnerable Communities to Prevent Toxic Chemical Exposure from Climate Change Events
Background Communities in the Houston/Galveston Region are threatened by climate change-related weather and hydrogeological events that can release toxic waste from old, often forgotten, industrial sites. Harris County, including Houston, has the majority of Superfund sites in Texas and the EPA has identified several as being threatened by climate change, but the problem is more […]
Cool Franklin County Schools
Background Columbus, Ohio, is home to the fastest-growing urban heat island in the United States. With just 22% tree canopy citywide, our downtown hotspots and low-canopy communities are burning. As a result of redlining, our low-income communities do not have equitable access to a robust tree canopy. In an effort to support the Columbus Urban […]
Community-led Food Forest Development for Climate Resilience in Boston
Background Boston Food Forest Coalition (BFFC) was founded in 2015 to address Boston’s painful and intentional history of systemic racism in its neighborhood development policies. These policies have created drastic inequality in access to green space and magnified the impact of climate change on majority of BIPOC neighborhoods. In 2021, the City of Boston reported […]
Fostering Lifelong Climate Champions – Building a Climate Stewardship Pipeline through Education and Workforce Development
Background Inequities in tree canopy health in the Denver metro area of Colorado are exacerbating climate injustice, as tree canopy coverage increases local air quality and mitigates the impact of rising temperatures. Denver has been named as having the second highest surface temperature discrepancy in the nation between neighborhoods with less tree coverage and those […]
PRTR Officials Meeting
Meeting of the North American PRTR Officials to discuss data quality issues and other activities under the North American PRTR Initiative.
Last Stop: The Ocean – Local Action Workshops
Join the Quad Cities communities in discussing reduction of plastic litter. This event is organized by the Mississippi River Cities and Town Initiative (MRCTI) as part of the CEC’s project Reduction of Marine Litter. The Last Stop: The Ocean campaign and associated local action plan workshops aims to raise local awareness of the journey of […]
Collaborative Community Research and Action to Build Climate Change Resiliency on California’s Largest Lake
Background Since 2015, catastrophic wildfires have burned >60% of Lake County. Epic drought has lowered lake, slough, and marshland water levels and amplified toxic chemical concentrations in aquatic biota. Rising water temperatures have resulted in alarming recurrences of harmful algal/cyanobacteria blooms (HABs), endangering native wildlife and the health of tribal members and lake-based cultural sites. […]