As we navigate through a global pandemic, massive wildfires and hazardous air quality, a racial reckoning, and an upcoming election, self care and finding ways to stay resilient are of utmost importance. At ClimatePlan, we’re constantly thinking about how to stay resilient as a network, as a team, and as individual staff members. It has been a challenging year to say the least, but we’re finding ways to stay afloat during these tough times and use these difficult times to innovate and create if we have the mental and emotional bandwidth to do so. It’s become increasingly clear that we’re undergoing major transformations from the personal to the collective level and we’re navigating through it - as bravely as we can - together. 

It’s not at all lost on us within the ClimatePlan network that we’re truly doing some of the most challenging work right now in ultimately trying to address and reverse climate change and it’s multitude of impacts. To do this work while the climate crisis is right at our front doors is sobering. Below are some of the ways that we’re navigating through this as a network and as a team. 

Individual Self Care

For our individual self care, on our own time, we’re following the lead of theorist Audre Lorde when she said “Caring for myself is not self-indulgence. It is self-preservation, and that is an act of political warfare.” We know that taking care of ourselves allows us to show up with more presence, spaciousness, and bandwidth when we need to. 

We’re taking care of ourselves in the following ways: 

1. Taking long walks and hot epsom salt baths (pro tip: try Dr. Singha’s Mustard Bath), 
2. Journaling and diffusing essential oils throughout the day, 
3. Eating nutritious foods as best we can and breaking up long days with 10-minute dance parties and good music, 
4. Stretching and doing yoga at the beginning and end of each day.

Spring Opara at CompassPoint NonProfit Services also shares an incredible list of 5 weeks of self care that we’ve been following. 

But we’re also taking self care a step further - in a place that self care really matters. We’re putting our shared agreements into practice in very tangible ways. 

For those that don’t know, ClimatePlan went through a major transition this summer. We transitioned from our long-time fiscal sponsor, TransForm, to our new fiscal sponsor, Community Partners. While we transitioned to Community Partners, most of ClimatePlan’s staff were offline. 

While the transition took longer than expected, I am happy to announce that we are back (and yes, both childhood Chanell and my son are pleased that I could fit a Ghostbusters 2 reference into this blog post, especially since Halloween is around the corner).  

What is the first thing we did when we returned? Setting our strategic intentions for greater transparency, connection, and advocacy within our network. As a team, we wanted to be intentional about the structures we set up as we returned back to work. We wanted to make sure that our structures and decision-making were transparent for our network and nimble enough to address the massive transitions we’re experiencing externally (the wildfires, pandemic, and racial reckoning) as well as internally (new fiscal sponsor, new Advisory Board and staff roles and responsibilities). 

Keep reading to learn more about the changes at ClimatePlan. 

Contact: Chanell Fletcher, ClimatePlan Executive Director, 510-695-1009 (cell)

OAKLAND, CALIFORNIA – ClimatePlan applauds Gov. Gavin Newsom’s Executive Order N-82-20 announced today to conserve 30 percent of natural and working lands by 2030. This Administration’s leadership is essential to integrating natural and working lands into addressing climate change and protecting the health of Californians. ClimatePlan believes this announcement, coupled with previous Executive Orders, will put California on the right track to reduce emissions and provide a model for the nation to meaningfully and comprehensively address climate change. 

Swift implementation of the multiple goals detailed in the Executive Order is critical if we want to maximize the sequestration benefits of our natural and working lands, which must include a comprehensive funding strategy and additional policy guidance.

Contact: Chanell Fletcher, ClimatePlan Executive Director, 510-695-1009 (cell)

OAKLAND, CALIFORNIA – ClimatePlan supports Gov. Gavin Newsom’s ambitious announcement today. ClimatePlan believes this announcement, coupled with strong implementation of previous Executive Orders, will put California on the right track to reduce emissions from the transportation sector -- which is needed because transportation is the single largest emitter of greenhouse gas emissions in California. 

More will be needed both to address the climate crisis and racial injustice. 

August 14, 2020

Press Contact: Chanell Fletcher, Executive Director of ClimatePlan
Email: [email protected]
Phone: 510-695-1009

Oakland, CA -- Today, ClimatePlan announces a new report  - Overarching Principles for Land Use and Water Integration in the San Francisco Bay Area - that provides an overview of water and land-use integration in the Bay Area. The report details how land-use and water decision-making are separated, current challenges to integrating land-use and water within transportation planning, and what needs to be done to integrate these two elements.