Forging Resilience offers tools for public libraries and museums to educate their communities on climate science and the effects that carbon pollution will have on their communities. This week, we spoke with the director Chandra Middleton about the project. For a transcript, please visit climatebreak.org/forging-resilience-with-chandra-middleton/
The Forging Resilience project from UC Berkeley School of Law’s Center for Law, Energy, & the Environment seeks to “bridge the gap between climate solutions posed by experts and the on-the-ground obstacles that prevent individuals and communities from adopting those solutions.” Predicated on the idea that libraries and museums maintain a high level of trust from their communities, the project builds free toolkits for museums and libraries to encourage local, collaborative problem-solving for local environmental challenges, identifying local impacts and local solutions and resources.
How it Works
Forging Resilience provides the toolkit to a host institution—either a library or museum—and community members can come out to participate in the program. The toolkits consist of several different materials including posters and banners, exhibits, conversation guides, skills-building guides, and promotional templates. The materials focus on local climate impacts, including “downscaling” work from Climate Central. Current host partners of Forging Resilience include the Sutter County Library and Sutter County Museum, and the Chautauqua and Cattaraugus County Library System. Forging Resilience also contains a Solutions Hub, providing opportunities for individuals to reduce their contributions to carbon emissions and to understand how those emissions reductions can reduce impacts. Currently, the Solutions Hub offers guides for reducing food waste and improving insulation, with an incoming guide on installing rooftop solar.
What it Means
By providing accessible and feasible pathways for citizens to make small changes to improve their climate footprint, Forging Resilience promotes the idea that climate change can be solved through collective action and community. There are over 17,000 libraries in the US. Providing materials, including local impacts and solutions, is an on-going challenge for Forging Resilience, which has a small staff and budget. Moving forward, Forging Resilience hopes to expand their reach and grow their number of participants in order to maximize their impact.
Chandra L. Middleton is a Senior Research Fellow in Project Climate at the Center for Law, Energy, and Environment. Chandra’s work focuses on social and cultural dimensions of climate change and environmental policy. Her current projects include Forging Resilience and renewable energy installation permitting processes. She was previously executive producer of the Climate Break podcast.
For a transcript, please visit climatebreak.org/forging-resilience-with-chandra-middleton/
ETHAN: I’m Ethan Elkind, and you’re listening to Climate Break — climate solutions in a hurry. Today’s proposal: preparing communities for worsening local climate impacts through toolkits in libraries and museums. We spoke to Chandra Middleton, a fellow at UC Berkeley Law’s Center for Law Energy, the Environment about this “Forging Resilience” initiative.
CHANDRA MIDDLETON: Um, forging resilience offers tools for public libraries and museums to educate their communities on climate science, and the effects that carbon pollution will have on their communities. So, libraries and museums are trusted by and deeply rooted in their communities, and they're known as spaces that are open to all, and these attributes offer as close to a neutral starting place as possible to talk about difficult things, such as climate change. We offer tools such as posters that share climate science and climate trends, or a stand-up banner that offers usually two solutions with steps that anybody can take. And we also create tailored guides for a small group discussion, and offer workshops that can be led by anyone working on building civic skills like public speaking.
ETHAN: Using these toolkits, Middleton says that libraries and museums have the resources to empower their community to tackle region-specific climate impacts.
CHANDRA MIDDLETON: We need resilient communities that can collaborate and adopt solutions that make sense for them. So, you know, more participation by more people more often will kind of position communities to better respond to challenges including climate change.
ETHAN: To learn more about the Forging Resilience project, visit climatebreak.org