Clean Energy

Event Assets: The Climate Economy in Southern Illinois - Creating Resilient Businesses, Jobs and Communities - June 12, 2019

 

Economic Diversification

Event Assets: The Climate Economy in Southern Illinois - Creating Resilient Businesses, Jobs and Communities - June 12, 2019

Innovation

Event Assets: The Climate Economy in Southern Illinois - Creating Resilient Businesses, Jobs and Communities - June 12, 2019

 

You can have a kickoff event in your town!

A kickoff event can happen in any town! You can take the basic template of this full-day event and do it locally. You just need a "catalyst," either an individual or organization (school or nonprofit, e.g.) to take the lead, and a main sponsor helps too. You might ask: why would I want to do that?

A kickoff brings everyone together, inspires and gets the imagination going, and provides great networking opportunities. Plus, it gets you prepared for what is to come, which we have no way of knowing for sure. Since the June 2019 event, Carbondale has spruced up its climate action plan and hired a city sustainability manager, the state of Illinois passed the Climate and Equitable Jobs Act, and much more! There is funding available now finally for everything we got rolling back in 2019, and things are still moving in all kinds of new directions. Coincidence? Maybe, but it helps to be prepared!

We continued our local efforts with online events throughout 2000-2021 and started doing resilience fairs and weekly meetings in fall 2021. Also in 2020-2021, we set up the CLimate Economy Action Network for online education, community groups and project management, and resource exchange, which is free and open for everyone anywhere to use. It's a process! Groups have moved ahead with new businesses, projects and grant proposals. 

If you'd rather start a little smaller, you could go with a resilience fair, which is just an hour or two, and pretty much zero budget with the help of local partners. Read more.

 

Please contact us if you have any questions, or want any help: Amy McMorrow Hunter, 618.713.2896, amy @ the climate economy . com (no spaces).