The Cornell Climate Stewards Program

The Cornell Climate Stewards Program is a 12-week training program for adults who want to work with their communities on a local climate action project. Once completing the twelve weeks of training, volunteers agree to contribute 40 hours over 1-year to complete a local climate community project to help their municipality become a “Climate Smart Community” in New York State. The Cornell Climate Stewards Program provides New York residents with the tools and network to help increase adaptation at a local level and increase mitigation of greenhouse gases (GHGs).

Goals of the new Climate Stewards Training program include:

·         Increasing access to the most up-to-date land-grant university research on the science of climate change, impacts, adaptation, and mitigation, through a Cornell Cooperative Extension course for the adults in New York;

·         Establishing a network of volunteers committed to local climate action, who are empowered to develop and implement climate change stewardship and education projects in their community;

·         Expanding the reach of Cornell University and Cornell Cooperative Extension to facilitate climate action at the local level; and

·         Providing support to municipalities in New York and the State to achieve their GHG emissions reduction and adaptation goals set out under the Climate Leadership and Community Protection Act (CLCPA).

Training
The 12-week curriculum includes interactive lectures, discussion, resources and readings, case studies, and group activities to master important concepts related to best practices for land and water stewardship as well as mitigating extreme weather events, flooding, temperature extremes, and more. The curriculum modules cover these important topics:

Module 1: Orientation to the Program
Module 2: Background Science
Module 3: Impacts Part 1
Module 4: Impacts Part 2
Module 5: Working with Local Governments & Communities
Module 6: Intro to Mitigation
Module 7: Local Community Mitigation Strategies
Module 8: Intro to Adaptation
Module 9: Local Community Adaptation Strategies
Module 10: Science Communication
Module 11: Planning Volunteer Projects
Module 12: Presentation, Recognition, Evaluation is a 12-week training program for adults who want to work with their communities on a local climate action project. Once completing the twelve weeks of training, volunteers agree to contribute 40 hours over 1-year to complete a local climate community project to help their municipality become a “Climate Smart Community” in New York State. The Cornell Climate Stewards Program provides New York residents with the tools and network to help increase adaptation at a local level and increase mitigation of greenhouse gases (GHGs).

Goals of the new Climate Stewards Training program include:

·         Increasing access to the most up-to-date land-grant university research on the science of climate change, impacts, adaptation, and mitigation, through a Cornell Cooperative Extension course for the adults in New York;

·         Establishing a network of volunteers committed to local climate action, who are empowered to develop and implement climate change stewardship and education projects in their community;

·         Expanding the reach of Cornell University and Cornell Cooperative Extension to facilitate climate action at the local level; and

·         Providing support to municipalities in New York and the State to achieve their GHG emissions reduction and adaptation goals set out under the Climate Leadership and Community Protection Act (CLCPA).

Training
The 12-week curriculum includes interactive lectures, discussion, resources and readings, case studies, and group activities to master important concepts related to best practices for land and water stewardship as well as mitigating extreme weather events, flooding, temperature extremes, and more. The curriculum modules cover these important topics:

Module 1: Orientation to the Program
Module 2: Background Science
Module 3: Impacts Part 1
Module 4: Impacts Part 2
Module 5: Working with Local Governments & Communities
Module 6: Intro to Mitigation
Module 7: Local Community Mitigation Strategies
Module 8: Intro to Adaptation
Module 9: Local Community Adaptation Strategies
Module 10: Science Communication
Module 11: Planning Volunteer Projects
Module 12: Presentation, Recognition, Evaluation