Climate change is global, but local responses can help. What would you do with $5K? Pitch us
Climate change is global but the actions we take here in Sacramento play a role in shaping our environmental future.
The Sacramento Bee has spent the past six months writing stories that examine and celebrate bold climate actions that are taking place in our community or have been tried by communities facing similar challenges.
We wrote about communities in our region that have contracted goat herds to graze down overgrowth in parks, schools and other open spaces. And about how Sacramento’s R Street corridor offers a model for what a mass-transit-oriented neighborhood looks like.
We explored how the world’s whitest paint, developed by researchers at Purdue University, could help the homeless and homeowners in the Sacramento region. We looked at efforts to make Sacramento’s neighborhoods safer and more inviting to cyclists and pedestrians. And we reported on what efforts are underway, and what more must be done, to support lawn care workers as they adapt to the state’s upcoming ban on gas blowers.
And our reporting continues.
The goal with this project is to engage you and your neighbors in a hopeful discussion about how we can face climate change with urgency and equity. Now, we are taking it one step further: The Sacramento Bee, with support from the Solutions Journalism Network’s Climate Beacon Initiative, will offer three $5,000 grants to fund your idea for a project in the Sacramento region that would address climate change.
Anyone living in Sacramento or its surrounding communities is welcome to apply. You may apply as an individual, a classroom, an organization or a business. Your idea could be as simple as adding solar panels to your home and sharing the process with curious neighbors or as complex as organizing a new initiative that involves other individuals or organizations.
The application process is simple. All you have to do is come up with an idea and create a 10-slide slideshow that can be presented in no more than 3 minutes 20 seconds.
Here’s the how-to:
You will create a 10-slide presentation that follows this template. (You can copy this slideshow template and fill it out in your own way.)
These slideshow presentations are intended to be visual. Remember that each slide will only be up for about 20 seconds. Using pictures rather than words on the slides can be helpful. (See this example to get an idea of what we’d like to see.)
Rehearse. Practice your presentation a few times and make sure that you can get through all the slides within 3 minutes 20 seconds.
Record. You will need to record a video that captures your slides and your presentation. You can use any presentation recording software you like. If you decide to use Google Meet, keep in mind that you will need to have at least one other person in the meeting with you in order to record your voice. The video cannot exceed 3 minutes 20 seconds.
5. Fill out this form and upload the video. If you have a Google account, you will be able to upload the video while filling out the form. If you do not have a Google account or have trouble uploading, you can email the video to climatesolutions@sacbee.com or use that address to ask for help.
We are accepting submissions now through Nov. 20.
The Sacramento Bee’s 2022 Change Makers will review the submissions and will select the three $5,000 recipients. Awards will be announced on Dec. 6.
The Sacramento Bee will follow up with the three recipients in April and report a story on how each project worked.
You can stay up to date on our local climate solutions reporting and on this project by signing up here for our monthly newsletter.
