Overview: California has launched the California Climate Action Counts campaign, a statewide initiative aimed at engaging one million Californians to take climate action at home and in their neighborhoods. The campaign features ten priority actions for participants to take part in, including reducing waste, composting food scraps, supporting local farmers, and more. The campaign is unique in directly involving Californians in the fight against climate change. The goal is to empower Californians to take climate action and show that when it comes to climate change, we’re not powerless.
Aryana Noroozi
Last month, Gov. Gavin Newsom announced a new initiative to mobilize one million Californians to take climate action at home and in their neighborhoods.
California Climate Action Counts is a campaign that works directly with Californians by highlighting 10 priority actions for participants to take part in. These actions include reducing waste, composting food scraps, supporting local farmers, greening your ride, get planting, saving energy, water and money, being disaster ready, discovering nature, telling a friend, and getting connected. The campaign features partners from state-wide cities, colleges and universities, agencies, community-based organizations, business and climate leaders.
Black Voice News sat down with Josh Fryday, the California Chief Service Officer, who helped spearhead the California Climate Action Counts for a one-on-one interview. This interview has been edited for length and clarity
Q: At its core, what are the goals of California Climate Action Counts?
A: The Climate Action Counts Campaign is an effort to engage and empower one million Californians to take climate action and show that when it comes to climate change, we’re not powerless, and that when we come together, we can make a big impact.
Q: Can you speak to how this initiative is unique as it directly involves Californians?
A: I’ll start by saying Governor Newsom has a bold vision to engage Californians in service and volunteerism and being involved in their community. We feel very strongly that if we’re going to solve some of our biggest challenges, like climate change, we have to mobilize Californians to take action directly and to be part of the solution. So we launched Climate Corps – which is the first statewide core of its kind – four years ago, and it’s proven to be incredibly successful. We’ve seen California step up all over the state to take climate action; and the climate action counts, campaign is now an effort to supercharge this work so that we can engage even more Californians to take climate action.
Q: Some of the campaign partners are listed as cities, colleges, universities, state agencies, community based organizations, climate leaders, and citizens on the ground. What is required of these entities specifically to become a partner?
A: Partners are critical for us to reach the million person goal. We think it’s really important that we are working with people where they are, whether they’re on campus at a university, living in their neighborhoods, in their communities. So we want to work with organizations and partners like nonprofits like the Sierra Club and Greenleaf [and] city mayors and universities who have the ability to really connect with people and really bring people together. Our hope is that when people take climate action through the Climate Action Counts campaign, that we [not only] provide the education and the resources for them to know how to take action in a meaningful way, but that they do it by coming together where they live and where they are to make a difference together.
Q: What qualifies someone to be part of the one million person count?
A: We’re asking Californians to take a pledge to take climate action, so if you take the pledge, you’ll count. Then once you take the pledge, we’re providing ten actions that are meaningful climate actions that every Californian can take that are tied to our statewide climate goals. We are going to be running a campaign in the coming months and years that will engage the individuals who take this climate pledge around those specific actions and their needs.
Q: What area or aspect of the campaign do you foresee facing the greatest challenge?
A: The biggest challenge is getting the word out that there are things that individuals can do to take climate action. I think climate change has created a crisis, not just of the planet and in our environment, but with anxiety and a sense with people who, especially in California – where we’re living [with] the effects of climate change every day, with fires, droughts, floods and extreme heat – there’s a sense that this problem might be too big, that we can’t solve it, that we’ve become paralyzed by fear of what tomorrow might be. So our challenge with the campaign is to get the word out and educate people and give them very tangible actions that they can take to both demonstrate, but also to say we are not powerless, that there are things we can do to protect our communities, protect ourselves from climate change. And, if we all come together to take these simple everyday actions, then it adds up to a really big impact.
Q: How did the program come about?
A: I think this specific program came about because one of the biggest questions that Governor Newsom gets from people around the state when it comes to climate change is “What can I actually do as an individual to make a difference?” We believe if we’re going to solve our biggest challenges, like climate change, that we actually need to mobilize and engage people to be part of the solution. This effort is building on top of the Climate Core that we launched four years ago. This is an effort to really supercharge our ability to engage Californians, [in] the next phase of our Climate Corps program that we started several years ago.
Q: Anything else you’d like to add?
A: Governor Newsom and California need people’s help to step up and take climate action. So we’re asking people to join us at climateactioncounts.com and if anyone’s interested in also being a partner of ours, please contact us as well. We’re building this out, and we want to build this with Californians.