ABOUT
Tackling the climate crisis requires creating climate champions of all ages—people who are educated on climate science, passionate about addressing the climate crisis, and engaged in concrete efforts to “bend the curve” of global warming. Thus, Climate Champions aims to get more teaching, learning, and action on the climate crisis in regional schools.
Launched in late spring 2020, this pilot project, based at UC San Diego, aspires to be a model for connecting K12, university, and community, ultimately in service of climate action and climate justice. The UC-CSU ECCLPS initiative (Environment and Climate Change Literacy Project and Summit) has inspired and informed the direction of Climate Champions. Reciprocally, this project seeks to inform the statewide scaleup of climate education, showing how the ECCLPS recommendations can be put into action, leveraging state university systems to support curriculum development, pre-service and in-service teachers.
The Climate Champions action plan and work in progress targets these objectives:
Our Team
UC San Diego Leaders
Nan Renner, Ph.D.
Project Leader, Senior Director of Learning Design and Innovation, Birch Aquarium at Scripps, Learning Scientist at CREATE
Darren De Leon
CREATE, Administrative Assistant
Sherice Clarke, Ph.D.
UC San Diego, Education Studies Assistant Professor
Kim Douillard, Ed.D.
CREATE, Director of San Diego Area Writing Project
Crystal Howe
San Diego County Office of Education, Environmental Literacy Coordinator
Minh Mai
CREATE, Program Manager for Code.org and CSTA San Diego
Chenoa Musillo
Education Studies Ph.D. Student Researcher
Cheryl Peach
Director of Scripps Educational Alliances
Sarah Peterson
CREATE, Regional Director, California Reading & Literature Project
Mica Pollock, Ph.D.
CREATE, Director and Education Studies Professor
Heather Ponchetti Daly, Ph.D.
UC San Diego, Lecturer, Iipay Nation of Santa Ysabel
Laura Santos
CREATE, Program Coordinator
Kathryn Schulz
CREATE, Regional Director of San Diego Science Project
Ovie Soto, Ph.D.
CREATE, Co-director of UC San Diego Math Project and Executive Director of Math for America San Diego
Climate Champions Teacher Leaders
Rosina Garcia
Wilson Middle School
Cindy Jenson-Elliot
Nativity Prep Academy
Janis Jones
Surfside Educational Academy
Adrienne Marriott
Bonita Vista High School
Shirley Miranda
Morse Middle School
Sara Odioso
Nativity Prep Academy
Tina Tom
Chula Vista Middle School
Aletia Trepte
Lincoln High School
Mike Tritchler
Madison High School
Gina Woodard, MPH, Ed.D.
Hilltop High School
Project Advisors
Ashley Batchelor | UC San Diego, Education Studies Ph.D. Student Researcher
Ben Bergen, Ph.D. | UC San Diego, Cognitive Science Professor, Climate Action Lab Director
Karen Cowe | Ten Strands, Executive Director
Fonna Forman, Ph.D. | UC San Diego, Political Science Associate Professor, Center on Global Justice, Director, Bending the Curve, Co-author
Alexander (Sasha) Gershunov, Ph.D. | UC San Diego, Scripps Institution of Oceanography, Research Meteorologist
Bonnie Ludka, Ph.D. | UC San Diego, Scripps Institution of Oceanography, Postdoctoral Scholar
Ed Parnell, Ph.D. | UC San Diego, Scripps Institution of Oceanography, Associate Researcher
Youth Leaders
Seven brilliant young leaders are curating Climate Justice resources for Humanities, History, and Social Sciences. These middle and high school students represent diverse life experiences from across San Diego County.