E134: Inside Denver's Local Climate Action Playbook

Washington and the COP conferences get all the headlines, but some of the most creative and effective climate action in the world is emerging from city halls — and Denver's Office of Climate Action is one of the best examples of what's possible.

This week, Molly zooms in on the Mile High City as she talks with Chelsea Warren, Marketing and Communications Manager for Denver’s Office of Climate Action, Sustainability and Resiliency.

Chelsea has spent years building one of the country's most effective city-level climate communications programs, making the case that local government is where climate action gets real.

We talk about:

• Why local government is the frontline of climate action, and why local action matters more than ever
• How Denver used the rollback of federal climate policies to motivate voters to fund local climate initiatives like solar, e-bike rebates, heat pump programs, and more
• Using the science of behavioral change to effectively promote climate action
• Goodwill pop-ups, ice cream collaborations, and other non-traditional ways Denver activated around a climate campaign, and delivered 128 million impressions in the process
• Why financial incentives and positive social comparison beat education every time when it comes to motivating climate action
• The perception gap: most people wildly underestimate how many of their neighbors care about climate action
• How effective, human-centered storytelling can combat pessimism and inaction
• The co-benefits frame: reaching people through health, savings, and quality of life, not just the environment

Links:

• Denver's Office of Climate Action, Sustainability, and Resiliency: https://www.denvergov.org/Government/Agencies-Departments-Offices/Agencies-Departments-Offices-Directory/Climate-Action-Sustainability-and-Resiliency
• The Denver Climate Project: https://www.denvergov.org/Community/Denver-Climate-Project
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