The Climate Action Toolkit can be found on this page. Feel free to download the toolkit for printing and sharing. If you want to learn more about the toolkit, join us for NNOCCI Presents: Cutting Through the Tension, a webinar on Tuesday, September 15 from  3-4PM ET/ 12-1PM PT. 

Q: Thanks for exploring the Climate Action Toolkit a little further with us, Bailey! Let’s start off with some history. Give us a little background as to how you found NNOCCI and what led to you creating the toolkit.

A: I was very lucky to come across The Marine Mammal Center when searching for my capstone project collaborator during my master’s program at Unity Environmental University, where I received an MPS in Climate Change Adaptation and Resilience. 

With a background in Marine Biology, I hoped to find a collaborator that focused on ocean systems in relation to climate change, but was open to any organization pursuing climate resilience. It felt like a dream that I found NNOCCI because after graduating with my Bachelor’s degree in Marine Biology I wasn’t sure of my next steps. However, even then, I knew I wanted to help with encouraging more climate change communication between scientists and the public, which eventually led me to Unity and NNOCCI years later. 

Once I reached out to The Center, I had a great meeting with Kait and Adam where they were excited about the possibility of working on some sort of toolkit! I knew I was passionate about working on a project that was accessible and focused on community-level climate action, which seemed to be exactly what they were looking for! 

Q: What was the inspiration behind working on the toolkit?

A: During my master’s program, I had a course on behavioral economics, which mainly focused on communicating sustainability in the corporate world; however, I was intrigued by the general psychology of incentivizing actions. I loved that idea of utilizing language and motivations when discussing climate change and adaptive actions to build resilience in communities. After discussing this with Kait and Adam, it aligned well with NNOCCI’s existing tools and goals and inspired ensuring both positive-reinforcing language and the insightful approaches section of the toolkit were included. 

Q: Tell us more about the process of creating the toolkit. What happened? Who did you work with?

A: I worked with Kait and Adam, who were both incredibly supportive and amazing people to bounce ideas off with while still encouraging my independent work. We had weekly meetings where we either brainstormed, workshopped and/or shared updates. It flew by so fast as it was only around 10 weeks! Kait encouraged me to learn more about NNOCCI by simultaneously taking the Framing the Conversation course and I was eager to learn! It was a whirlwind process between the toolkit, the Framer course, and my master’s program work but so rewarding! I was able to create the “About” section of the toolkit during the course as my climate story, which was an amazing experience. 

Q: The toolkit will be really helpful to our members and network. How do you hope people use or respond to the toolkit? Is there a part of the toolkit that’s your favorite?

A: First, I hope people are excited for this being an accessible resource for everyone! I know that for me, it can be difficult to hear about the current climate change news and I hope a toolkit like this can provide hope and more optimism to underserved communities on climate actions. One of my favorite parts are the clickable resources and insightful questions to motivate people on each climate action, hopefully encouraging implementation in their own communities. Placing them side by side allowed me to illustrate that there isn’t one way to get involved and communicating about these issues and actions is a great first practical step. 

Q: Since working on the project, you’ve joined the NNOCCI Board of Directors as the Secretary. As you continue to work alongside NNOCCI, how has the organization supported your journey, whether it be personal, professional, or all of the above?

A: NNOCCI has been incredibly supportive of my journey, both personally and professionally. Since working on the toolkit and finishing my master’s program, I am now the Secretary to NNOCCI’s Board of Directors. I get to immerse myself more into the amazing work NNOCCI is doing and get to know and work with Kait, as well as the many other lovely people at NNOCCI, even more now! I am still working towards finding the best fit for me professionally, but NNOCCI has provided me with much insight, experience, and confidence in my climate communication journey and I’m excited to continue to grow.