The Climate Solutions Advocacy Institute (CSAI) was formed in response to the urgent call by the United Nations in February 2022 to “implement changes now in terms of how we organize our societies,” in order to avert global climate catastrophe.

CSAI’s mission is to facilitate that reorganization so that our governments can implement transformative large scale climate solutions now. Our unique two phase approach is:

1. To help students and faculty in environmental science departments and law schools dream innovative, scientifically-vetted public interest climate solutions into legislative being.
2. To create narratives and use evolutionary media, in the form of short web videos and petitions, to build and focus the massive public awareness politically required to assist state governments to implement large scale climate solutions.

While in its formative stage, the Climate Solutions Advocacy Institute is being incubated as a project of Informing to Empower, a California-based educational 501(c)3 non-profit organization.

CSAI’s university program was launched with a graduate practicum course called, “Climate Solutions Advocacy: Be the Media,” during the Spring, 2022 semester at the University of California’s top ranked College of Agricultural and Environmental Sciences.  World renowned climate scientists Anthony Wexler and Thomas Tomich joined CSAI founder and evolutionary media innovator Jonathan Greenberg to develop the Solar Farm Green Bond solution, and to build an easy to understand narrative around it, described on our website here.

In August, 2022, with the cooperation of UC Davis Law School Dean Kevin Johnson (who explains why he sees climate justice as a core civil rights issue in this video), CSAI’s Jonathan Greenberg began teaching an experimental new practicum to law students called, “Drafting a Solar Farm Bill.”

The class objective was to create a white paper to advise CSAI in its development of a solar farm bill to allow California to meet its urgent goal of creating 100% zero emission electricity for the state’s enormous needs by 2045.

Faculty experts at UC Davis are helped to advise students as they investigated, evaluated and recommended strategies related to green bond financing, regulatory oversight, power purchase agreements and land leasing.

The class consulted with key experts from the California Treasurer and iBank offices, as well as experts and representatives in the state legislature, solar farm operators, agricultural, environmental and climate justice organizations, to facilitate the drafting of a conscientious public interest solar bill.

In September, 2022, a concurrent practicum course, open to all UC Davis grad students, called “Revolutionary Organizing for Climate Solution Implementation” (ECO 290/CRN: 29643), was taught by CSAI’s co-founders Jonathan Greenberg and Anthony Wexler, as well as Colin Murphy, Deputy Director of UC Davis’ Policy Institute for Energy, Environment, and the Economy.

The class researched and conducted direct outreach to build support for the California Solar Farm bill, while gathering feedback from numerous stakeholders and grassroots organizations about the solution and bill.

CSAI’s collaborative law and environmental graduate practicum program will be followed by an evolutionary media advocacy campaign to build the massive public awareness around a proposed transformative climate solution bill that is necessary to have it supported by state legislators and implemented.