Local Climate Action Planning & Initiatives

Fall/Winter 2020 Happenings

Giving Tuesday is December 1st - we'd be honored to have your support! Bonus - all contributions from NEW donors will be matched up to $2021! Donate anytime HERE.

Thursday, December 10, 5-6pm: Join us for our Year 5 (Virtual) Celebration! We'd love nothing more than to gather with our friends & community to celebrate our 5(!) year anniversary, but we've got some fun plans for a virtual celebration nonetheless - including our famous Smarty Pants Awards. Please join us! More details HERE.

We've launched our Footprint Fund with our first project - check out missoulafootprintfund.org.

We were unable to host our usual Clean Energy Expo this year due to COVID, but this is still a great time of year to go solar! Wondering how to do it? We hosted a great Zoom Solar Happy Hour October 21 and the recording is posted HERE.

Thank you all for voting for climate champs. We did elect some! We are going to have to work hard to grow climate solutions in Montana. More on all this soon, and in the meantime, a bright light is that Mountain Line's Mill Levy passed and our bus system is going to get even better!

From Summer Smart to Winter Wise

Thanks to all involved with our Summer Smart initiative, helping our community address increasing wildfire smoke and hotter temperatures. When the smoke rolled in, we were better prepared. And, our clean air efforts reached other communities across the west. We had over 60,000(!) visitors to our companion site MontanaWildfireSmoke.org where we share critical information about how to stay healthy and help those most at risk.

These efforts and more are aligned with key strategies in Climate Ready Missoula: building resiliency in Missoula County.

Thank you for joining our Summer 2020 Health, Climate & Community Series!
We loved watching and discussing the films Unbreathable and Cooked with you all.
Thanks to our partners who helped make this possible. Visit this page for recordings of our panels!

Thank you, Alli!

Our wonderful EnergyCorps AmeriCorps member, Alli Kane, finished her 11-month service term at the end of August. It wasn't what any of us expected when she began her term last October, but we are so happy she came to Missoula and will be here for the foreseeable future!

I want to know more about...

the people and history of climate smart

Our Story will give you the history of Climate Smart and our mission and goals.
People and Partners features our staff, board, and multitude of organizations we collaborate with to drive climate action in Missoula and across the state of Montana.
Peruse In the News to read past news coverage and Sustainable Missoula columns to better understand what we've been thinking and working on over the years.

what to do during hot and smoky summers

Summer Smart was our first major project and continues to be a flagship effort. It's full of amazing resources.
Improving indoor air will tell you what you can do to make the air safer inside, including details and guidance for purchasing a HEPA Air Filtration unit.
Hotter days and nights will make our higher summer temperatures more bearable.

reducing the carbon footprint of my home or business

Reduce Our Use has tips for reducing energy consumption.
Learn how easy it can be to go solar on our Solar Ease page.
Transportation + Smart Growth is the place to go if you want to commute or run errands sustainably.

major efforts at the city and county government level

Climate Smart Missoula works closely with the City of Missoula and Missoula County. For more on the primary initiatives, we've partnered on, visit:

100% Clean Electricity Resolution, which resolved to have 100% renewable electricity by 2030.
Resiliency Planning provides more information on Climate Ready Missoula: Building Resiliency in Missoula County.
2017 Community Carbon Emissions Inventory details our community's carbon footprint.

what climate change looks like in missoula and the science that is driving the change

Local Climate: Signs of Change for what climate change looks like in Missoula.
Climate Science Basics will provide you with important foundational knowledge.
If you have 90 minutes, watch Rob Davies' presentation to understand the science and why we need to resolve to act now.

getting involved

Act, Advocate, Assist includes ways to go beyond reducing your personal energy consumption to help others and advocate for systemic change.
We need more people talking about climate change with loved ones - our Dear Tomorrow Project is a great place to start.
Come to an event that you find on our calendar or volunteer with us!
Donate page is also an important one. We are a small organization that depends on donors like you!

THE BIG CLIMATE CHANGE EVENT
It was incredible and inspiring. THANKS to the 700+ people who joined us for this powerful community conversation. Check out our blog with our big takeaways! Want to watch Dr. Rob Davies' presentation or share it with others? Wondering what your next step might be? Head HERE!

Time lapse of Missoula PACKING the Wilma (above) and photos of the event (below). Thanks to Phoebe Bean for both!

Dear Tomorrow: Missoula

We're partnering with Families for a Livable Climate to bring the Dear Tomorrow project to Missoula!

Learn more about this creative, ongoing project all about sharing personal messages to inspire climate action - then submit your letter online.

A snippet from our very own Abby's letter is below.