It’s finally Earth Month, and in 2023, the opportunity for change is bigger than ever. With growing public awareness and concern about climate change (which peak around Earth Day!), local governments have a unique opportunity to catalyze action and drive change in their communities. However, in order to effectively communicate about the urgency and importance of taking action, it’s crucial to craft climate messages and stories that inspire your audience.  

Building quality climate communications means answering critical questions: Where does the public stand on climate action? What kind of content encourages interest, concern, and action? And when it comes to talking about climate, how do we pick the right words? 

With research surrounding climate awareness and action quickly evolving in recent years, it can be difficult to sort through the noise and find the most current and relevant answers. So this Earth Month, we’re boiling down five basic concepts you should understand to harness heightened public interest and inspire action in your community. 

When it comes to local climate action planning work, we want “equitable” to be more than just a buzzword. As one of KLA’s core values, we make it central to our approach from start to finish both for how our company operates and the products and services we deliver to our local government clients. 

Why? Because a truly resilient, sustainable future means all members of the community are able to share in the prosperity and benefits it brings. To us, equity is non-negotiable.

In this post, we’re breaking down the value of equity in our line of work and how KLA centers it in our climate action planning.  

Four of our Climate Ambassadors on the Clark County engagement team. 

To kick off the new year, we’ve reignited the KLA Sustainability Action Series podcast with rock star guest Dallase Scott to discuss why facilitation is such an undervalued skill and how to run more effective and inclusive meetings.   

Have you planned your communications content for today? For next week? Q1? How about 2023?

If you don’t have your plan quite ready, we’ve got you covered. Planning communications content can seem daunting, but consistent content is key to keeping communities engaged in action throughout the year.

The revamped KLA 2023 Editorial Calendarprovides a detailed community, sustainability, and climate-related dates and holidays; monthly themes for community climate engagement; as well as tips and tricks for communications best practice.

KLA clients lead the way with innovative, scalable, replicable climate solutions at the local level.
Each month in 2022 we will shine a spotlight on their bright ideas.

Did you know that 95% of people are likely to remember a call to action after watching a video compared to just 10% who read information in text format?

It’s safe to say that these days you can’t effectively communicate with or engage people in your community without video. That includes climate action planning and implementation.

You can have ambitious emissions slashing opportunities, blockbuster partnership models, and interactive engagement plans, but those bells and whistles aren't enough. If you aren’t reaching people – if they are glossing over your text-heavy emails, scrolling past your standard social media posts, and never setting a virtual foot on your website – you won’t get very far.

That’s where video can be the bright idea that allows the rest of your bright ideas to see the light of day.

Use this template to be more targeted, timely and effective with your climate and sustainability communications

Think about what makes the news headlines or gains social media traction. Some of it -- a sports upset, political spat or Hollywood faux pas (no one predicted that Will Smith slap) -- you can't plan for. But a lot of it you can. 

The Super Bowl and its buzz worthy commercials hit every winter. Bill Murray memes will pop up on Groundhog Day,  just as you'll see Yoda and Darth Vader everywhere on May the Fourth/May the Force day. Earth Day stretches across April. Every May is Bike Month. Summer heat waves happen. The holidays will consume us all in November and December. 

The only question is: are you ready to leverage those opportunities for your climate and sustainability goals? 

For local governments, engaging the community is key to achieving climate goals, and Earth Day is one of the best opportunities to get people to take action. That’s especially true right now when the recent headlines – like USA Today’s "'It's now or never': UN climate report shows globe is on 'track toward an unlivable world'"-- are driving awareness and, ideally, action.

The next few weeks are when people will be searching online for ways to "go green." It's when you have the chance to convert someone looking for a one-time litter or river clean up into a regular participant in your climate programs.

Earth Day can be a springboard for climate action in your community.

But you can't do this if people need a PhD to understand the challenges your community faces and where you're headed. Or if they have to navigate a typical local government website to find the most effective actions. Don’t lose the Earth Day momentum!

KLA clients lead the way with innovative, scalable, replicable climate solutions at the local level.
Each month in 2022 we will shine a spotlight on their bright ideas.

Heat pump coaches in Concord, MA, help meet a climate goal:
getting homeowners to transition to efficient heating and cooling

“Why You (and the Planet) Really Need a Heat Pump.” We saw this headline the other day and our minds went to KLA client Concord, MA.

Like many communities sifting through data to identify the biggest-bang-for-your-buck ways to slash greenhouse gas emissions, getting more residents to switch to heat pumps emerged for Concord as a top strategy. But the process of transitioning a heating or cooling system to a new fuel source – plus choosing the right equipment and installer -- can be daunting for people. To begin with, don’t assume that heat pump technology and the benefits are common knowledge. In fact, a recent survey done by the Massachusetts Clean Energy Center (MassCEC) found that 50% of Massachusetts residents do not know what heat pumps are.

So it wasn’t surprising that in Concord the uptake of heat pumps to meet climate action goals was happening too slow and needed a nudge.

That nudge comes in the form of a coach.

KLA clients lead the way with innovative, scalable, replicable climate solutions at the local level.
Each month in 2022 we will shine a spotlight on their bright ideas.

A key but often overlooked strategy for local climate action plans is a training program for city/town/county employees to raise awareness of climate challenges and solutions among an important audience.

That wasn’t lost on KLA client San Antonio, which included “educate and empower all residents with knowledge to address climate change in the community and at the workplace” as a strategy in their Climate Action and Adaptation Plan. And they’ve already made good on that promise through a robust and ongoing employee training program.

For a city that employs 13,000 people, leading by example can make a big dent.

In the local government world, we are constantly trying to push information OUT to members of our community. A new initiative. Results from a previous initiative. A planning process. A public forum. A revamped website. Even when we’re seeking people’s feedback, we’re asking them *our* questions in a survey.  

Which is why I found my recent conversation with Rowena Alegria for KLA’s SAS Talk with Kim podcast so fascinating. Alegria has the supremely cool title of Chief Storyteller for the City and County of Denver, Colorado, and the even cooler goal to “change the history of Denver,” one story at a time. 

Her team’s approach -- the core of which is a “storytelling lab” -- has had the amazing result of turning interactions with residents into two-way conversations, the holy grail of community engagement. And these aren’t just the usual suspects. Denver’s storytelling labs have drawn a diverse array of Denverites and catalogued stories that you won’t hear at a typical public meeting.