Dear Climate Action KC Community, We hope 2023 is shaping up to be a prosperous year for all of you. It’s definitely off to a fast start. Like many of you, Climate Action KC has been busy continuing its work to make our region a healthier, more economically prosperous, and climate-resilient community. In that fashion, we...
Author: Joe Gauer (Joe Gauer)
Resilient Success Stories: Leaders meet to honor examples of climate resiliency
On December 9, a group of energized individuals gathered at the Ewing Marion Kauffman Foundation to take part in the Resilient Success Stories Event. With a packed house, participants heard 12 stories from around the region: The Merriam Residential Sustainability Grant, Kompas Kapital’s refurbished headquarters building, Kansas City Public Library Climate Action Dashboard, Lee’s Summit Green Infrastructure improvement program, The HCA Nature Action Crew, Big Shoal Farm, Mission Conservation Improvement program, Johnson County Watershed Master Plan, Johnson County Park & Recreation Districts Forest Restoration, The Tomahawk Creek Water Treatment Facility, The KCMO Neighborhood Clean Up Program and KCMO's Climate Resiliency Protection Plan.
More than one hundred volunteers show up around the metro for KC Plogtober
KC Plogtober celebrated its second-ever event last weekend with over one hundred "ploggers" turning out at 13 sites across eight municipalities to pick up litter at their favorite parks and trails.
Congratulations to Team Clay County (pictured), who brought home the "Top Plogger" award, providing almost half of the total cleanup volunteers! Another noteworthy accomplishment was the team from Raytown, MO, who had the largest single-site turnout on the Rock Island Trail.
Celebrate Energy Awareness Month with Building Energy Exchange Kansas City
October is Energy Awareness Month, and BE-Ex KC has events happening all over the metro! Connect with private and public sector leadership and learn how they are utilizing energy efficiency and other building decarbonization practices to bolster the climate resiliency of our region. Learn more and register for each event at https://www.be-exkc.org/news
Get outside for the 2022 KC Plogtober clean-up
MARC Water Quality, and a host of partner organizations will hold this year’s KC Plogtober on Sunday, October 16. The program’s goal is to get local volunteers to appreciate their local watersheds more by realizing that the litter on the heavily-trafficked public-use ground eventually winds up in our streams and rivers. "Plogging" is a Swedish concept that translates to picking up litter while jogging.
Registration for volunteers is open now. Be sure to visit KCPlogtober.com for more information and to sign up. Each county will have multiple streamside trails and public greenspaces to choose from, or volunteers can go solo and pick a location close by for a "virtual plog".
Resilient Success Stories: True Life Stories from the Kansas City Region
Momentum is building throughout the Kansas City region
to transform our community in ways that create greater levels of sustainability and climate resilience. To embrace and accelerate positive change, the Mid-America Regional Council (MARC) and Climate Action KC will highlight selected local or regional Resilient Success Stories at the Kauffman Foundation on the morning of Dec. 2, 2022.
Midwest Climate Collaborative developing regional research agenda
The Midwest Climate Collaborative, which launched in January 2022, is a cross-sector member organization that aims to advance climate action in the region. One of its projects seeks to develop a Midwest-wide Research Agenda
Net Zero housing report from Building Energy Exchange of Kansas City
Have you checked out the Building Energy Exchange of Kansas City’s (BE-Ex KC) recent report on net-zero housing? In collaboration with ULI Kansas City, BE-Ex KC explores how to invest in Kansas City’s multi-family housing stock through energy efficiency financing. “Similar to energy efficiency financing tools being deployed across the country, this fund has the potential...
Unified Government adopts Climate Action Plan
On June 30, the Unified Government of Wyandotte County and Kansas City, KS (UG) Commission adopted a resolution in support of the KC Regional Climate Action Plan and pursuing its implementation in Wyandotte County.
JOCO attains LEED Gold certification for sustainability and resilience achievements
Johnson County, Kansas announced today that it has achieved LEED Gold certification. Johnson County is part of a growing group to be certified using the LEED for Cities rating system, and is just the 25th local government in the world to achieve this latest version of community certification. LEED (Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design)...