Creative Climate Guide: care for street trees, make a mini-zine, collect food scraps, and more
A monthly roundup of climate art events and volunteer opportunities
I'm kicking off a new monthly edition of this newsletter called the Creative Climate Guide. This will be a curated roundup of climate art events and volunteer opportunities. My goal is to make it easier for you to find a creative community and take meaningful climate action.
Free Climate Art Workshop
To celebrate Earth Month, I’m hosting a free, online climate workshop to make mini-zines about your favorite place in nature. You’ll learn how to turn your ideas into art and leave with your own little book. If you don’t know what a mini-zine is, it’s a way of folding a single page of paper into 6 tiny pages. They one of my favorite (and cutest) forms of art. April 24th at 1pm EST. Info here.
Upcoming Climate Art Events
NYC 🍎
Climate Writing Club. They meet Saturday mornings to write about climate together. From fiction to newsletters to academic papers to journaling and everything in between. March 29 at 10:30am. Info here.
ClimART Cafe: Our Fragile Moment Exhibition. You’ll have the opportunity to share your emotions about climate change with a caring, concerned community, while being surrounded by artwork that responds to our current climate crisis. March 29 at 12:30pm. Info here.
MakeTime: Work on your creative projects. A creative meetup for people who are looking to paint, illustrate, draw, or sketch more. Bring that uncolored watercolor, that half-written poem, that sketchbook that’s currently under a stack of receipts. April 1 at 6:30pm. Info here.
Creative Climate Awards Earth Day Celebration. Join Human Impacts Institute for an evening of live performances, climate projections, guest speakers, and delicious sustainable fare—all in support of climate storytelling and action. April 22 at 6:30pm. Info here.
LA 🌊
Climate Film ‘Bash’: I wish I could go support my amazing friend Lauren (@relauren) for her short film premiere, Gimme My Medicine! The event will spotlight three different projects about ordinary people doing the extraordinary. April 4 at 6pm. Info here.
Arts & Climate Collective Festival. A showcase of student artwork and projects that connect the arts and storytelling with environmental justice. April 8 at 1pm. Info here.
Storytelling for Impact: Crafting Narratives That Drive Change. Learn how to connect deeply with your purpose as a founder, break through storytelling roadblocks, and engage your audience in meaningful ways. April 8 at 10am. Info here.
LA Climate Week is April 6-13. View the full calendar of events here.
SF 🌉
Storytelling With Data - Climate Communication 101. This panel discussion is all about unveiling expert methods for communicating with a non-technical audience. April 24 at 5:30pm. Info here.
The Art of Recycling: Selections from the Recology Artist in Residence Program. Recology is hosting an exhibition of selected works from the Recology San Francisco Artist in Residence (AIR) Program. April 21 at 7pm. Info here.
SF Climate Week is April 19-27. View the full calendar of events here.
Virtual 🖥️
Navigating Climate Anxiety and Grief Through Comics w/ Madeleine Jubilee Saito and Denali Sai Nalamalapu. Comics can share emotions where words fall short. These cartoonists will guide participants through a reflective and creative comics-making activity. May 20 at 5pm EST. Info here.
Save the Ice! Climate Action Party. Learn from science fiction author Kim Stanley Robinson (author of The Ministry for the Future), and one of the world's leading ice-saving engineers, Dr. Leslie Fields of the Bright Ice Initiative. May 20 at 7pm EST. Info here.
Arts for EveryBody: How Creativity Fuels Community Health. An engaging workshop on a national campaign by One Nation/One Project, which demonstrates how the arts can contribute to healthier people and communities. April 17 at 4pm EST. Info here.
Volunteer Opportunities
NYC 🍎
Brooklyn Hour of Action with Climate Changemakers. They’ll do all the legwork for you to take action, advocate for bold, science-based, equitable climate solutions. All you have to do is show up. April 2nd at 8pm. Info here.
Street Tree Care with Big Reuse and Friends of Clinton Hill Library. Join them for an afternoon to clean, care for, and add mulch to neighborhood street trees. April 5 at 2pm. Info here.
Volunteer with Billion Oyster Project on Governor’s Island. You will help with either cleaning shell substrate or prepping for the busy season by doing shell pile maintenance. April 11 at 9:30am. Info here.
LA 🌊
Dune Restoration and Beach Cleanup with Surfrider Foundation. They’ll be collecting trash alongside our local community partners, The Bay Foundation, as they work on their ongoing living shoreline dune restoration project. April 19 at 12pm. Info here.
Community Volunteer Day at Alma Backyard Farms. ALMA's mission is to reclaim lives of persons formerly incarcerated, repurpose land into productive urban farms and reimagine community as a place for people and plants to thrive. April 12 at 9am. Info Here.
Food Scraps Collection: LA River Farmers' Market. You’ll be right in the action, collecting food scraps from market-goers—the first step in a crucial process that turns waste into nutrient-rich compost. April 3 at 6pm. Info here.
SF 🌉
SF Hour of Action with Climate Changemakers. If you want to do something about climate change post-2024 election, this is for you! We'll be having a beer, rolling up our sleeves, and working on constituent advocacy for the hour. April 23 at 6:30pm. Info here.
Presidio Habitat Stewards with Golden Gate National Park Conservancy. Help restore natural areas and create important wildlife corridors in the Presidio of San Francisco. April 12 at 9am. Info here.
Invasive Plant Pull at Ravenswood with Save the Bay. Help pull up invasive plants and maintain their beautiful new native plants just planted over the winter. April 5 at 9am. Info here.
Virtual 🖥️
Hour of Action with Climate Changemakers. They’ll get you up to speed on a timely climate policy issue, learn how we can move-the-needle it this week, and then actually take action – all within the hour. March 31 at 8pm EDT. Info here.
Phone bank into Lincoln, NE with Environmental Voter Project. Join the Environmental Voter Project to turn out low propensity environmental voters in Lincoln, NE ahead of their May 6th municipal general election! April 2 at 7pm EST. Info here.
2025 Independent Earth Day Clean Up with Nature Conservancy. Organize a solo clean up or join friends and family at your leisure to pick up debris and trash in your neighborhood. April 22. Info here.
If you know a non-profit with volunteer opportunities or a climate art related event, send me the info so I can highlight them in my newsletter next month!
Feedback
Ok this was a new format and I’d love your feedback! Did we like this? Is this useful? How could I make it better? I’m planning to put out this guide monthly and want to make sure this is something people want. Shoot me a note or comment below!
Know a friend who might love this or you want to go to an event together? Feel free to forward it their way!
Nicole