From discussion to action

We’re so glad you joined us for the Coloradan Conversation on climate change. Now, it’s time to move discussion into action. Take a look at the array of opportunities and resources available — from giving to volunteering to learning. Your participation matters.

CU Boulder climate change giving opportunities

The University of Colorado Boulder is committed to the research and reversal of climate change. If you would like to make a gift in support of our efforts in this area, please reach out to Donor Relations Senior Program Manager John Barrall and he will guide you to a point of contact on campus that aligns with your area of interest.

Volunteer opportunities for climate change work in Colorado

City of Boulder: Open Space and Mountain Parks Volunteer Services

Participate in programs, projects and events to give back to the land in meaningful ways. 

Colorado Fourteeners Initiative

Volunteers protect and preserve the natural integrity of Colorado’s 54 14,000-foot peaks through trail stewardship and public education.

Eco-Cycle

With a mission to innovate, implement and advocate for local and global Zero Waste solutions, volunteers help foster a more regenerative, equitable and climate-resilient future.

Deep Blue Sea Foundation

As a volunteer with this nonprofit organization associated with the Downtown Denver Aquarium, you can share information with aquarium guests as an interpretive guide; help out the biology staff by working as an aquarist, animal care or horticulture assistant; or work inside the exhibit as a diver. 

Environmental Voter Project

Help mobilize non-voting environmentalists to the polls in every election, especially local ones! EVP believes that by activating these environmentally conscious citizens we can preserve the natural resources that make Boulder a fantastic place to live.

ForMotherNature.Com

The mission of ForMotherNature.com is to inspire people to help save our natural world by supporting organizations that protect and preserve wildlife and wild places. It’s all about waking people up to the possibilities of what they can do, and what art can do.

Frack Free Colorado

Participate in a collaborative, grass-roots movement that works to raise awareness about the dangers of fracking and enlighten Coloradans on ways that we can accelerate our move to renewable energy and sustainable living today.

Indian Peaks Wilderness Alliance

Help protect the Indian Peaks Wilderness, among the most heavily used wilderness areas in the U.S. and facing increasing risk of degradation. Most volunteers actively patrol trails during the summer, but some also help with trail restoration projects or provide staffing for the Forest Service office as Wilderness Information Specialists. 

The Nature Conservancy Center

The mission of The Nature Conservancy is to conserve the lands and waters on which all life depends.

Respect Your Mother (RYM) Recycling

A local Colorado nonprofit, RYM Recycling is composed of a diverse group of community members who share the collective goal of encouraging and promoting a sustainable consumer culture.

Sierra Club Rocky Mountain Chapter

The purpose of the Conservation Committee is to facilitate the function and efficiency of all Sierra Club Rocky Mountain Chapter conservation issue teams. 

Volunteers for Outdoor Colorado (VOC)

The state's oldest outdoor stewardship nonprofit organization, VOC has been motivating and enabling people to become active stewards of Colorado's natural resources since 1984.

Western Resource Advocates

A leader in protecting Colorado’s air, land and water, this organization’s work to promote healthy rivers protects numerous rivers and champions a sustainable water future for communities, wildlife and agriculture. They also help advance clean energy through a robust, cutting-edge program promoting renewable energy and reducing carbon emissions by closing coal-fired power plants in the state.

Women’s Wilderness Institute

Support girls, women and LGBTQ+ people in accessing their power and improving their health through outdoor and community connections by volunteering to help with everything from office tasks to photography, social media to event facilitation, or tabling and even fundraising. 

Citizens’ Climate Lobby

Citizens’ Climate Lobby is a nonprofit, non-partisan, grass-roots advocacy climate change organization focused on national policies to address climate change.

Conversation Leaders

Leaf Van Boven

A professor of psychology and neuroscience at CU Boulder, Leaf Van Boven is also the principal investigator of CU’s Emotion, Judgment, Decision, and Identity lab. His research examines the social, emotional, and cognitive processes that shape judgments and decisions in environmental and political contexts. In addition to writing for academic audiences, Professor Van Boven has written about psychology, politics and the environment for The New York Times, The Los Angeles Times, Politico and The Washington Post.

Cassandra Brooks

Cassandra Brooks is an assistant professor in environmental studies at CU Boulder. She draws on a diversity of disciplines including marine science, environmental policy, and science communication to study and seek solutions to pressing environmental problems. Her research helped drive the adoption of the world’s largest marine protected area in the Ross Sea, Antarctica – one of healthiest and most productive marine ecosystems left on Earth.

Joel Hartter

Associate professor and director of The Masters of the Environment (MENV) Graduate Program, Joel Hartter is a geographer who specializes in human dimensions of global change. His research program focuses on human behavior, land use/land cover change, population change and migration, conservation and protected area management, and human health. He has active projects in East and Southern Africa, Madagascar, South America and the western U.S. 

Moderator: Albus Brooks

Albus Brooks (RelSt’01) is the vice president of business development and strategy for Milender White, a development and construction firm operating in Southern California and Colorado. In 2011, Albus became the youngest African American ever elected to Denver City Council, where he served two terms. He was the co-creator of Colorado’s largest affordable housing fund and has made great strides for marginalized populations across the state.