Climate Smart Missoula turns 10 in fall 2025!
We wouldn't be here without you, our community. Help us celebrate the big wins of the past decade, and contribute towards our ambitious 10 Year Campaign goal of $50,000 to launch us into the next decade & beyond!
We wouldn't be here without you, our community. Help us celebrate the big wins of the past decade, and contribute towards our ambitious 10 Year Campaign goal of $50,000 to launch us into the next decade & beyond!
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Join us for our 10 Year Celebration! Friday, Dec. 12th, 5-8pm at Goodworks Place (brief program @ 6)
Details & RSVP Here. 
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Some of our biggest milestones over the past decade:
1. Growing Trees for MissoulaWe love our trees here in Missoula - and we're here to help spread that love because our urban forest desperately needs it!
When our friend Karen Sippy approached us in 2023 with the opportunity to take on the beloved Trees for Missoula program she founded, we were honored and thrilled to be given the reins. |
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Over the past two years we've built on Trees for Missoula's history of community engagement and partnerships, growing a dedicated cadre of volunteers through our new Neighborhood Tree Ambassadors program and working with new partners to target tree planting and maintenance in underserved neighborhoods.
And we're advocating for strong policies within our building and development codes, making sure trees are considered critical infrastructure as our community grows and as summers become hotter.
And we're advocating for strong policies within our building and development codes, making sure trees are considered critical infrastructure as our community grows and as summers become hotter.
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2. Developing the Climate Ready Missoula resiliency planIn our initial years, our work focused on keeping those most vulnerable healthy during wildfire smoke season; we knew we needed to apply the same lens of climate preparedness and equity to other climate impacts - and ensure our whole community could be part of building resiliency.
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Working closely with City and County partners, we embarked on a two-year process, including two full-day community summits with hundreds of participants, to craft a science-based plan: Climate Ready Missoula.
Formally adopted as an amendment to our City and County growth plans, Climate Ready Missoula wasn't created by external consultants but by local experts and decision-makers. The plan and its dozens of strategies have spurred new efforts, like our Stay Cool Missoula extreme heat campaign, and influenced other critical planning efforts that will shape our community for decades to come.
Five years later, we're helping lead an update so this plan remains a living, dynamic document and can galvanize even more community involvement.
Formally adopted as an amendment to our City and County growth plans, Climate Ready Missoula wasn't created by external consultants but by local experts and decision-makers. The plan and its dozens of strategies have spurred new efforts, like our Stay Cool Missoula extreme heat campaign, and influenced other critical planning efforts that will shape our community for decades to come.
Five years later, we're helping lead an update so this plan remains a living, dynamic document and can galvanize even more community involvement.
3. The "Big Climate Event" - and so many more eventsWe're all about bringing our community together through creative events that get us talking, thinking, and acting.
In early 2020, after seeing a climate presentation at a conference unlike anything we'd seen before, we invited University of Utah professor Rob Davies to come give his talk "Disruption" here in Missoula. |
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We packed the Wilma Theater with over 700 people for this Big Climate Event and personally brought local leaders and elected officials. Over the past 10 years, we've led or co-sponsored over 200 events, from monthly meetups to trainings to film showings and much more. In our next decade, we're aiming to bring climate conversations to even more corners of our community through creative communications and mediums, weaving support for climate action into the fabric of our local culture.
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4. Electrify Missoula takes offBack in 2021, we saw the writing on the wall - the movement to Electrify Everything was coalescing, but there was nobody focused on taking that slogan and making it practical right here in Missoula.
We convened a Building(s) for the Future task force of local industry professionals, dug into the latest health and climate research and electrification best practices, and developed local resources. |
Our Electrify Missoula campaign, launched in collaboration with local government partners, is the first of its kind in our state and is a key effort moving forward our goals for cutting climate pollution and building a healthier community.
5. 100% Clean Electricity for Missoula by 2030In 2019, community members brought forward an ambitious idea, following a growing movement of cities around the country: to commit Missoula to sourcing all of its electricity from clean, renewable sources.
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Bringing together local climate advocates and local groups like 350 Montana and the Sunrise Movement, we led the effort to craft a strong resolution and gathered local resident and business support, leading to the City and County adopting a joint resolution for 100% Clean Electricity by 2030 for the Missoula urban area.
A big part of how we can reach that goal is by maximizing rooftop solar. Since our inception, we've held numerous workshops, developed local resources, and had hundreds of conversations to support Missoulians to go solar.
A big part of how we can reach that goal is by maximizing rooftop solar. Since our inception, we've held numerous workshops, developed local resources, and had hundreds of conversations to support Missoulians to go solar.
6. Mentoring the next generationSince our inception, we've prioritized mentoring -- and being insprired by --young people in our community.
From UM and college student interns (11!), AmeriCorp / EnergyCorp (6!), high school students and groups (5!) and other creative, energized, cool cats, mentoring and empowering the next generation of climate leaders is integral to our local efforts. |
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7. Addressing wildfire smoke and heatHow it all started! A decade ago, Missoula was totally unprepared for longer, more intense wildfire smoke seasons. Our very first grant, matched 1:1 with community donations, launched Summer Smart, which expanded over the years to encompass our Wildfire Smoke Ready efforts including our regional go-to MontanaWildfireSmoke.org website.
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And in 2024, with local government partners and countless community stakeholders, we developed Stay Cool Missoula, our first extreme heat action plan and educational campaign. These efforts to keep our community healthy will be ever more critical in the decade + ahead.
8. Partners and Smarty PantsClimate Smart Missoula was born out of a spirit of community collaboration. It's part of our DNA to catalyze partnerships and lift up the groups and individuals working with and alongside us - because we can't do this work alone.
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We've collaborated with dozens of partners from social service agencies, to community groups, to conservation nonprofits, to local government departments.
And we love to recognize community members who go above and beyond with our annual Smarty Pants Awards! We presented our first awards in 2016 and 10 years in, we've honored 45(!) inspiring individuals who've stepped up and used their skills and passions. From phone bankers to beer brewers to mountain event organizers to solar installers to waste reducers to innovators to health professionals, we are in awe and we know there are more Smarty Pants awardees in our midst.
And we love to recognize community members who go above and beyond with our annual Smarty Pants Awards! We presented our first awards in 2016 and 10 years in, we've honored 45(!) inspiring individuals who've stepped up and used their skills and passions. From phone bankers to beer brewers to mountain event organizers to solar installers to waste reducers to innovators to health professionals, we are in awe and we know there are more Smarty Pants awardees in our midst.
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9. Annual ClimateFEST + Climate Solutions WeekWe saw the need for an annual festive event to galvanize the community and make a public splash around climate solutions. What started as a one-day, local clean-energy fair has grown into a ClimateFEST and weeklong staple of the Missoula fall scene, bringing together dozens of partners and over 1,000 community members each year.
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From a sustainable fashion show to a mental health workshop to a local Climate Ride, this week highlights how climate intersects with everything, and the diverse ways that everyone can be part of climate solutions.
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10. Footprint FundRecognizing the need to address the concurrent crises of housing, affordability and climate, we created our Footprint Fund to bring solar and energy efficiency to low-income neighbors and nonprofits.
Individuals and institutions contribute to the fund, which provides critical gap funding for cleaner, healthier homes and buildings. |
We're poised to scale up this fund, especially given the loss of federal incentives and the growing need for affordable energy in our community.
