The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) collaborated with Knology to co-facilitate a series of workshops in winter 2022 to develop A Proposed Climate Empowerment Theory of Change for the United States of America, its territories, protectorates, and the sovereign nations within its borders. The facilitators were joined by colleagues from across the nation’s climate empowerment community and the federal agencies and civil society organizations who rely on public guidance for their work. The final document acknowledges that this collaborative work was the result of the participants, the scholarship that they have brought to this process from their many collaborators, and the knowledge traditions on which they drew. The document that can be downloaded above is a summary of these dialogues.

We thank the following individuals for their participation in this process:

Aileen Lee, J.D., Chief Program Officer for Environmental Conservation at the Gordon and Betty Moore Foundation;
Allison Crimmins, Director of the National Climate Assessment at the U.S. Global Change Research Program, Office of Science and Technology Policy;
Brandon Jones, Ph.D., Program Director at the National Science Foundation - Directorate for Geosciences;
Carrie McDougall, Ph.D., Senior Program Manager for NOAA’s Office of Education; Cyane Dandridge, Executive Director at SEI: Building Leaders for a Resilient World and the School of Environmental Leadership;
Chikara Onda, Ph.D., Senior Fellow at the Department of Energy’s Office of Energy Policy;
Deb L. Morrison, Ph.D., Learning Scientist, Climate Justice Activist, and Community Partnership Collaborator at CLEAR Environmental;
Edith Makra, Director of Environmental Initiatives at the Metropolitan Mayors Caucus;
Edward Maibach, Ph.D., University Professor and Director of George Mason’s Center for Climate Change Communication (4C);
Felicia M. Davis, Founder of the HBCU Green Fund;
Haley Crim, Research Contractor at NOAA’s Climate Program Office;
Nancy D. Searby, Ph.D., Capacity Building Program Manager for NASA’s Earth Science Applied Sciences Program;
Ned Gardiner, Ph.D., Engagement Manager for the U.S. Climate Resilience Toolkit at NOAA;
Paul Wagner, Deputy Associate Director of the Ecosystem Mission Area at the U.S. Geological Survey;
Shaun Field, Researcher and Programs Manager at Knology;
Sherri Mitchell, J.D., Founding Director of the Land Peace Foundation;
Talia Milgrom-Elcott, Founder and Executive Director at 100kin10;
Yue Qiu, Director of Business Advisory and Net Zero Transformation at EcoAct, an Atos Company


Facilitation:

Frank Niepold, Climate Education Senior Program Manager and Coordinator at NOAA’s Climate Program Office
John Fraser, Ph.D. AIA, President & CEO of Knology

Opening and Welcome Leaders

Kalani Quiocho, Cultural Resources Coordinator - Pacific Islands Region, NOAA’s Office of National Marine Sanctuaries;
Mary Evelyn Tucker, Ph.D., Senior Lecturer and Research Scholar at Yale University.