About Us
Welcome to Climate Steps™! We’re a nonprofit organization that provides information about the types and priorities for Climate Steps™, and then offers ways to support and encourage action, including the potential for direct links to opportunities in the near future.
We have a public Facebook (FB) group where folks gather and share ideas/concrete solutions for individuals to help fight climate change. They help feed into this resource hub, and vice versa. We also are on Instagram (@climate_steps), Twitter (@climatestepsUS), and LinkedIn (@climate-steps).
What is a Climate Step™?
One of our members, Diane Vogt-O’Connor, who has been part of the Climate Steps™ Facebook group from the beginning (see below), spelled out the components quite nicely. A Climate Step™: * helps ensure life will continue on this planet, including our endangered species. * primarily works to reduce or reverse the substantial damage from atmospheric pollution we have ready done and are about to do towards our climate, but it also includes efforts to reduce or reverse habitat destruction, watershed contamination, the plastics in our oceans, the pesticides in our fields, etc. – as these also can cause substantial carbon equivalent emissions and strongly affect the ability of ecosystems to function. * is a rational, practical action an average human can take to mitigate the harm we have done and to provide hope for those who come next. * is one way we show our respect for the sufferings of others in the Arctic, Bangladesh, the Marshall Islands, the Maldives, and other places that risk destruction due to our past and present actions
History
How this site got started, via Founder and Exec Director Dr. Annette Olson, 2017:
“Shortly after the 2016 US Presidential election, due to my posting my climate worries on Facebook and my having worked as a scientist in the environmental field for decades, friends took me to lunch to drill me for answers to help save the planet. With many in the current administration planning to reverse “every” climate- and environment-saving action that has been made – there would be no way to prevent the global temperature from rising more than 3.6 Fahrenheit (!) degrees in the next couple of decades. Translation – sea level rises of 6 feet (also !) by 2100. Never mind that Earth’s fever is not going to stop rising after that without strong action – it will continue and ice will melt and droughts will strike for generations to come.
So I went over some possible things we can do with my friends – especially ones that could spread the word, i.e., have a multiplier effect. We talked about leasing roofs to solar panels, supporting bike shares, working on local and state politics, etc. And they suggested I should start a blog, i.e., Climate Steps™. Thank you Amy and Kim for changing my life, but especially for caring about the planet!”
As it takes time to research and write an article, and because often all us volunteering now on CSteps have little quick articles to share, etc – a Facebook group was soon paired to the CSteps website as a place to exchange and discuss ideas.
Now, with 6000 folks on FB (and growing rapidly), plus another 3000 on Twitter, Instagram and Linked In, we have a great group for sharing ideas and discussing priorities for climate action. We summarize some of these discussions and articles into articles and resource pages here in the website, adding in additional research with the help of several volunteers. Invited authors also contribute. We then share articles published here with the broader community for feedback. We are also beginning to add in planning tools with the help of interested partners.
Our Principles
Please see the attached document to understand some of our standards and our goals towards diversity and inclusion. We define how individual action is so much more than personal action at home, but can include social, political, and industry-related. We subscribe to supporting a range of individual actions as impactful and critical in the climate fight. We understand that actions need to be personalized to people’s particular situations. Climate Steps™ seeks out diversity in our volunteers and staff and in actions for our users. We follow the science, and are transparent in our own actions. And so much more. Please enjoy the read.
We also provide copies of our document retention policy and our whistleblower policy:
The Nebraska Sandhills is roughly 20,000 mi2 of agricultural land and nature preserves – upon sand dunes that have moved in the past, and are predicted to become active again in the future. (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sandhills_(Nebraska)) In other words, with a few degrees more a large chunk of Nebraska will become desert (pers. comm. by ….).
Climate Steps™ Workaholics
The Board:
Dr. Annette Olson,
Founder and Executive Director. Annette is a displaced Texan who has lived and worked in Washington, DC, for almost 30 years. Besides renovating her 100+ year-old house during this period, she has worked as a researcher, strategist, scientific liaison, and outreach specialist for federal agencies and nonprofits. In 2016, she decided to focus her spare time into fighting climate change and related environmental issues via a blog called Climate Steps (but see Amy’s story below). In 2017, she also formed the CSteps Facebook community, followed by Instagram, Twitter, etc. With rapid growth in followers, readers, guest authors, and collaborators, she realized it was time to make a choice. She quit her job at the American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS) in 2020 to formally turn Climate Steps™ into a nonprofit organization.
Annette received her doctorate in biology from the University of Miami in 2001, studying the behavioral ecology of the long-nosed mongoose in West Africa and at the National Zoological Park, in DC/ She became a researcher and scientific liaison for the Smithsonian Institution’s National Museum of Natural History, including serving on the team creating the Behring Family Hall of Mammals. She went on to advise the World Wildlife Fund, the U.S. Geological Survey, NOAA, the National Technical Information Service, the Encyclopedia of Life, and the EPA on various scientific data and outreach projects over the years, mentoring almost 50 volunteers and interns in the process. She followed this by spending seven years at AAAS leading expert panels to assess and promote scientific research programs nationally and internationally, as well as creating symposia to outline new trends in research. Besides growing Climate Steps, she is a Co-Founder and Board Member of EarthHero.org (a global action app), co-founded the DC Tool Library, and is the Outgoing Lead for Green Neighbors DC, a locally oriented climate action group in Washington, DC.
Ms. Amy Copeland, Instigator and Founding Member of the Board. Amy was the one who originally pushed encouraged Annette to start the Climate Steps™ blog back in 2016 and she has helped strategize and pull together resources as it began to resolve into an organization. In 2020, Amy totally agreed with Annette that it was time to take it to the next level, but we’re not sure she realized that, due to her honest and valuable advice, she would be asked to serve on the Board when it was formed in December 2020. Amy has 20 years of professional experience in program management and technical support for domestic and international health programs, most recently in cancer care and patient advocacy nonprofit organizations. Her current work focuses on qualitative research and resource development for healthcare providers, and she has worked in the field of behavior change. In previous positions, she has worn most of the nonprofit hats, including but not limited to proposal-writing, staff and volunteer supervision, and strategic planning. Amy has a Bachelor of Arts in Sociology from The College of William and Mary and a Master of Public Health from The George Washington University. She also has an Executive Certificate in Nonprofit Management from Georgetown University. She lives in Washington, DC, and when she is not serving as a consultant, she is eagerly awaiting the next time she can safely (post-Covid) go scuba diving again. She also has an addiction to seed-saving, a project which has taken up most of the lower drawer in the refrigerator but hasn’t yet resulted in a bountiful garden. She remains hopeful.
Dr. Ann Paterson, Member of the Board, Incoming Treasurer. Ann Paterson, PhD, met Annette in graduate school at the University of Miami, where she completed her doctorate on lizard behavioral ecology. She has worked as a professor since 1999 and has been very active in professional societies. She has been a board member, treasurer, and participant on other committees for the Society for the Study of Amphibians and Reptiles. She is a governing board member, officer, and general herpetology section editor for the peer reviewed journal Herpetological Conservation and Biology. Being constantly aware of the biodiversity crisis and interrelated effects of climate change on species led her to feel an increasing obligation to do anything she could to make a difference at multiple scales. She has a particular interest in efforts to include rural residents in discussions as it can lead to disengagement when so many examples of what people can do focus on things like taking public transport that simply aren’t realistically possible for many people in rural areas at this time. She attended COP26 in Glasgow in 2021 and had a chance to hear a variety of perspectives from well known climate leaders and to gain insights and motivation from concerned and alarmed individuals from all over the world, some of whom made great sacrifices to attend and be heard.Shaaretha was a close colleague of Annette’s at the American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS). She recalls the day Annette started the Climate Steps™ blog, and they both saw the dire need for it then as they see now.
Program Leads
Our Current Volunteers!
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- Editors – Dr. Ann Paterson, Dr. Shaaretha Pelly, Shoshana Risman
- Interns – Fall 2024 position is open
- Graphic Designers – Linda Cotton, Kim Bumgarner
- Logo Designer – Clare Talbot
- Photographer – Chris Bernacchi
- Researcher(s) – Dr. Cat Russell, Mark Stewart, and Shoshana Risman.
- Marketers, Fundraisers – Kim Bumgarner, Kate Stewart-Gerry
- Moderators – Hugh O’Connor, Diane O’Connor, Tamara Alfson, Alex Chapman, and Mark Stewart.
- Columnists
- Dr. Krista Kurth
- Tone Lanzillo
- Julia Curran
- Invited Authors:
- Carrie McLaughlin
- Amy Copeland
- Edmund Weisenberg
- Tracy Samphier
- Amelia Chuchowski
- Our wonderful past volunteers and interns.
- Alicia Renehan, Peter Martin, Heidi Doggett, Breton Crellin, Becky Hirn, Carrie McLaughlin, Tonia Maria Ricciu, Amelia Chuchowski,
- Former Interns – Azka Naz, Mihir Gupta, and Anshika (Anna) Srivastava, all from Carleton University – Thank You!
Awards!
- March 2021. Facebook recently recognized Dr. Olson as a “Leading Lady” in the “Hall of Her,” as part of Women’s History Month and International Women’s Day and for creating and growing a strong, very collaborative community focused on taking actual climate action. The credit goes to Climate Steps™, actually, because Facebook started searching for a climate group, found Climate Steps™, and then realized it had a woman founder. But Dr. Olson wound up in the photographs campaigns, and actually got to keep the new clothes provided – but should have asked about the gold shovel.
- March 2021. Dr. Olson was awarded the Global Environmental and Climate Conservation Initiative (ECCI) Ambassador Award, which is given to an individual who demonstrates an extraordinary commitment in one or more of the following areas: Societal Impact, Service to the Earth and Space Community, Scientific Leadership, and Promotion of Talent/Career pool. Dr. Olson was selected because of her commitment towards Youth and Peace, and for achieving sustainable development and social responsibility.
- April 2021. The Facebook Community Group recognized Dr. Olson as an Earth Champion.
P.S. Did you know that the number of 95+ degrees F will increase from eight days a year to 90 days a year in Washington, DC, under the worst climate scenario – which is the current climate scenario? 90 days a year. [Via the U.S. Climate Resilience Toolkit’s Climate Explorer] And that’s up north. We must do something. I like the tropics, but not that much.