A: I think crosscutting is a good way to describe it. Practitioner experience and research both tell us that local-level climate action and community and economic development are deeply intertwined but that practitioners are often siloed from one another. I would offer a couple of pieces of advice. The first is to focus on shared values like equity and to begin conversations on those terms. Once we recognize that we are working towards similar goals – like ensuring people’s health, safety and prosperity – the importance of collaboration and integration becomes clear. A second piece of advice is to recognize and make time to explore the tremendous resources that are available to quickly ‘get up to speed’ on either topic. For practitioners new to climate change work, for instance, there are tremendous web-based resources and tools on everything from climate science and risk analysis to community-based adaptation planning. The learning curve is much less steep than it used to be.

A: This is a great question because we are often fixated on the challenges posed by climate change (and there are many challenges). But climate action —what we do about climate change — can be an accelerant for community and economic development. For example, many of the resources that we are investing in climate action (like programs to upgrade homes or create community resilience hubs) also advance basic CED goals. And there are increasing calls to invest in equitable climate action, which would prioritize people, businesses and organizations in disadvantaged neighborhoods and communities.

A: I see community and economic development as foundational to climate action. With the recent passage of the Inflation Reduction Act and the Bi-Partisan Infrastructure Law, there are gobs of new resources available to households and businesses. Still, the implementation of those laws will require local action on a monumental scale — especially if we want those resources to flow to the people who need them most. CED organizations and practitioners will be absolutely essential in designing and delivering policy implementation and connecting disadvantaged people to those resources. CED practitioners have the deep local knowledge and relationships necessary for climate action to be successful locally. They can also hold federal and state agencies accountable for integrating equity, transparency, and community engagement into the laws’ rollouts. I can’t over-emphasize how important CED is to achieving climate equity at scale.

A: Greening’ communities through things like parks, trees, and natural vegetation plays an important role in climate change mitigation (reducing greenhouse gas emissions) and adaptation. A bioswale, for example, is a natural infrastructure that absorbs and ‘captures’ some carbon dioxide but, more importantly, absorbs precipitation and reduces stormwater runoff. There are great resources on green infrastructure planning at the local level from organizations like the EPA and the Georgetown Climate Center, along with many others.