WHAT IS CLIMATE PREPAREDNESS WEEK?
During September 24–30* each year, we mark Climate Preparedness Week, dedicated to learning, service, and actions that better prepare our communities for extreme weather events. By coming together to host events, we provide the resources and space to think about the ways that climate change disadvantages some communities more than others.
Theme: The Weather is Changing: Are You Prepared?
By coming together to host educational and service-oriented events, we can equip ourselves and our communities with the resources, tools, and mindsets to build resilience in the face of changing weather and our changing climate. We’ll explore how severe weather and climate change affects us all--locally, globally, publicly, and personally. Additionally, we’ll learn about how the impacts of climate change and extreme weather intersect with racial, social, and economic justice and how we can respond to these changes from the ground up and the top down.
CREW Central Events
Friday, September 24th at 2pm
A virtual keynote presented by David Pogue, the author of How to Prepare for Climate Change: A Practical Guide to Surviving the Chaos.
This event is hosted by the Massachusetts Library System in collaboration with Communities Responding to Extreme Weather.
Here is the video recording of the event:
How to Prepare for Climate Change presented by David Pogue on Vimeo
September 27th, 2021 at 6pm-7:30pm
Intersection of Public Health, Climate Change, and Community
CREW will be hosting a virtual panel discussion dialogue with several organizations regarding how extreme weather impacts humans' physical and mental health, New England's dependence on fossil fuels, its connection to climate change, what a clean energy future could look like, and political action that several groups are taking on behalf of their communities to mitigate climate change. The organizations involved are Climate Code Blue, Conservation Law Foundation, Green Roots Chelsea, Codman Square Neighborhood Development Corporation and Mattapan Food and Fitness.
Here is the video recording of the event:
Dr. Caren Solomon is a Deputy Editor at the New England Journal of Medicine, an Associate Professor of Medicine at Harvard Medical School, and a physician at Brigham and Women’s Hospital. Dr. Solomon leads efforts at the Journal to expand attention to the health effects of climate change. She co-chairs the Harvard Medical School Faculty Council’s subcommittee on climate change, is a member of the Brigham Climate Action Council, and is actively involved in the Harvard divestment campaign. She is a founding member of Climate Code Blue, an organization of Boston area physicians committed to climate action and to amplifying the voices of frontline communities most affected by climate change.
Shavel'le Olivier is a Boston, MA resident and is deeply committed to serving the communities she lives, works, and travels in. Her passions include community, youth development, and transportation.
Since the age of 18, she founded and still organizes a major biking event called Mattapan on Wheels created to address issues of safer infrastructure for cyclists and pedestrians, provide an opportunity for young people to develop their leadership skills, and bring attention to cycling in the Mattapan community. She co-founded a talk in 2020 called Transportation Talks to bring residents that live in Mattapan, Dorchester, Roxbury, and those that identity as BIPOC together to explore how transportation affects their quality of life.
She is a 2014 graduate from Boston College where she earned her Bachelor’s of Science, double majoring in Marketing and Management and Leadership. In 2019 she received her masters in Nonprofit Management with a concentration in Organizational Communications at Northeastern University and is now the Executive Director of Mattapan Food and Fitness Coalition (MFFC). She is currently going for a graduate certificate at the Boston University School of Public Health.
Dr. Jim Recht is a community psychiatrist and an Assistant Professor of Psychiatry at Harvard Medical School. His work as a climate justice activist began in 2012 at the start of the international campaign for fossil fuel divestment. He co-founded Harvard Faculty for Divestment and has served as a campus divestment consultant and advisor. As his understanding of white supremacy and white privilege has grown, so has his desire to learn from frontline communities, and to advocate for climate justice as a form of reparation.
Sara Arman is a proud Chelsea resident and community organizer who is passionate about gender and racial justice, affordable housing, and local politics. Sara is the Health Equity Corps Coordinator at GreenRoots, a community-based organization dedicated to improving and enhancing the urban environment and public health in Chelsea, MA and surrounding communities, where she works to address disparities in health, health access, and identify connections between the environment and health outcomes. Sara is currently pursuing her Master's in Urban Planning at the Harvard Graduate School of Design.
Priya Gandbhir joined CLF in 2020 as a Staff Attorney in its Clean Energy and Climate Change program. In this role, Priya works in pursuit of a clean and just energy future by, in part, working collaboratively with local community groups, advocating and litigating before public utility commissions, and engaging with New England’s regional independent electrical system operator, ISO-NE.
Priya has experience with a wide range of environmental matters, including utilities regulation, wetlands protection, hazardous waste clean-up and litigation, and environmental due diligence in real estate. In addition, Priya has significant experience in matters pertaining to municipal law, having served as Assistant City Solicitor for a central Massachusetts community and as a Conservation Commissioner for her hometown of Framingham, MA. Priya is a graduate of Wellesley College and received her J.D. and an LL.M. in Environmental Law from Vermont Law School. In her free time, Priya enjoys spending time with her friends and family, hiking with her dog Rey, and exploring New England’s diverse and scenic parks and beaches.
Danilo Morales is the Environmental Justice Specialist for the Codman Square Neighborhood Development Corporation. Danilo works on energy efficiency, solar energy, climate justice advocacy, and green infrastructure initiatives to bring equity and sustainability to Dorchester residents. He is a member of the MetroCommon 2050 - MAPC External Advisory Committee, guiding the development of a regional plan for the 101 cities and towns of Greater Boston. Previously, Danilo advised the planning process for PLAN: JP/ROX, a community development plan for parts of Jamaica Plain and Roxbury neighborhoods. Danilo holds an MA in Urban and Environmental Policy and Planning from Tufts University. He has worked with indigenous communities, small farmers, and fishers from his native Ecuador. He is also passionate about cooperatives and food.
September 28th, 2021 at 6:30pm-7:30pm
Why Trees Matter in a Changing Climate
featuring a collaboration with Speak for the Trees and CREW to discuss the importance of urban forests to combat climate change impacts such as extreme heat.
Here is the link to the video recording of the event:
Climate Prep Week 2021- Why Trees Matter in a Changing Climate (Sep. 28th Panel) - YouTube
David (pronounced Dah-veed) Meshoulam, PhD co-founded Speak for the Trees in 2018. Formally trained as a science educator, his work has focused on ways to increase youth and adults' understanding of the connections between science, culture, and history and to empower them to be change agents He holds a PhD in Curriculum & Instruction from the University of Wisconsin-Madison, is a Senior Fellow at the Environmental Leadership Program, and is co-chair of the Urban Ecology Collaborative. When he's not tending to trees, his 2 children, or his 1 miniature Australian Shepherd, you can reach him at [email protected].
Molly Henry is the Senior Manager of Climate and Health at American Forests. In her current role, she manages stakeholder engagement to help develop and deploy American Forests' climate and health tools and resources for cities and regions, with a particular geographic focus on the northeast. Molly has over 10 years of experience working for various nonprofits focused on a range of topics including green infrastructure, active transportation, housing, food security and community development. She graduated in 2010, from Rutgers University with a B.S. in Environmental Planning & Design and a certificate in Urban Planning. Molly lives in Pawtucket, Rhode Island.
Maggie Owens is a planner and analyst for the Boston Parks and Recreation Department (BPRD). With community members and various government entities, Maggie looks to understand how well the park system is meeting the needs of residents and where the park system might go next. Maggie works on projects like the Urban Forest Plan and Parcel Priority Plan while also making parks-related data more accessible to the public, including where to find the nearest accessible park feature near you!
September 29th, 2021 at 5:30pm-7:00pm
The Effects of Climate Change on the Ocean and Human Well-Being: How Do We Respond?
Join us as Dr. Aaron Hartmann will lead the discussion on why/how we can respond to the changing of the weather and how climate change affects the Ocean, and CREW will lead the discussion on how climate change affects human beings.
Here is the video recording of the event:
Dr. Aaron Hartmann a marine biologist and conservation ecologist working to reverse the decline of coastal ecosystems, particularly coral reefs. I focus on solutions that dually benefit humans and the environment. I received a Ph.D. in Marine Biology from Scripps Institution of Oceanography and was a Postdoctoral Researcher at the Smithsonian National Museum of Natural History before joining Harvard University as a Research Associate in Organismic and Evolutionary Biology.
Join us as a Host or Partner
Join us as a Partner by advertising the centrally-organized events.
- This would include advertising the events to your membership over email and social media.
- Partners will be recognized on our website and at the start of our events.
- To sign up as a partner, please fill out this form.
Join us as Host and hold your own event with and for your community!
- We will advertise your events on our website, and are happy to support you with suggestions for content or speakers if that is helpful.
- To sign up to host an event, please fill out this form.
- View last year’s webpage for event ideas. (This year, we expect to see a mixture of in-person and virtual events as states continue reopening to varying degrees.)
You Have the Option of Having In-Person events or Virtual events
Last year, due to the Covid-19 public health crisis, Climate Prep Week 2020 was all virtual to ensure the safety of our community members. This year, we have decided to let each event host decide if they want to have their Climate Prep Week event in-person or virtual as more and more people are becoming vaccinated.
CREW will have several Central Events This Year
As we confirm speakers and events, we will add them to this website, stay tuned!
Check out some pictures from Climate Prep Week 2019 below, last year's webpage for event ideas, and a calendar of our full list of events this year!
View the 2020 Climate Prep Week webpage here.
From left to right: Community Visit from the New England Aquarium at the Lynn Public Library where kids could start to get hands-on experience; "Climate Change: What Is It and What Can You Do About It?" a bilingual talk in Holyoke, MA that explored individual and communal solutions; Emergency Prep Kit Preparedness Workshop in Duxbury, MA that showed people how to best prepare for all types of disasters.