There is a movement happening that has been proven effective in helping individuals do their part in alleviating the effects of climate change. It’s the grassroots efforts of The Cool Cities Challenge. This movement relies on building social capital that includes concrete, inclusive, and non-political actions taken at a grassroots level to mitigate the effects of climate change. We don’t need to feel like we have to act alone, all this can be done in neighborhoods, block by block. And today we’ll be sharing The Cool Cities Challenge that includes cities becoming carbon neutral (beyond offsets) by 2030. This deep dialogue helps us to return to our roots of community that support civic engagement and social networks. Crowley recalls, “I remember as a child when we were just driving along and my dad noticed somebody had a flat tire. He immediately hopped out of the car and asked if he could be of help. Now, fear of what could happen prevents us from reaching out to our neighbors.” He goes on to point out, “I think American society has kind of taught us to be individuals and not to depend on our neighbor. However, it’s actually quite the opposite. We need to be interdependent.” Crowley and Curchack encourage us to start a cool city project in our own towns which incorporates a sense of community, a sense of belonging, and a sense of fun. Crowley points out how this movement can be aggregators of individuals at the block level. It is also aggregators of experts. Our towns and neighborhoods are full of great experts and the willingness to find out important information together is exciting. This is a movement that is happening and hopefully your town will soon be part of it.
