Climate change collage

Climate Action Teams

Connecting state-wide to make a difference
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Climate Action Teams (CATs)

Our Charter:
CATs volunteers work together to develop, deliver and gain Master Gardener adoption for projects which address issues caused by our rapidly changing climate. Our climate change initiatives are bounded by our horticulture & environmental stewardship Mission and our emphasis is to provide research backed educational outreach and solutions to some of today’s pressing problems driven by climate change.

Join CATs
Climate Action Team banner.

Initial Project: Climate Presentations

The first CATs project was to develop a suite of Climate Change presentations for state wide use. Using these presentations, Speakers Bureaus in every county can quickly expand their presentation catalogs target climate change.
All presentations below have been certified by WSU for delivery across the state, come equipped with speakers notes and have an accompanying recording so that interested Master Gardeners can quickly gain expertise in delivering any of the presentations.

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The Resilient Yard

Synopsis: One hour presentation for homeowners who want to know what simple steps they can take in designing and maintaining their yard to battle climate change. The presentation is broken down into sections on climate change, lawn maintenance, garden bed design & growing veggies.
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Protect our Pollinators

Synopsis: One hour presentation for homeowners to help them understand the importance of adding pollinator plants to their garden beds and the positive effect this has for native pollinator species.

Presentation title slide with picture of vegetable garden

Vegetable Gardening with EASE

Synopsis: One-hour presentation covers why it helps the climate if you have a home kitchen garden and then walks through climate-friendly ways to undertake vegetable gardening
First page of the More Trees, Please presentation

More Trees, Please!

Synopsis: One-hour presentation covers the need to re-forest urban and suburban areas in order to increase tree canopy and cool cities. Review of several successful projects creating mini forests in urban areas.
First page of Climate Ready Plants presentation

Climate Ready Plants

Synopsis: One hour presentation that covers native plants vs. cultivars and ‘nativars’ and how they handle our changing climate. Includes a list of ‘Climate Ready Plants’ from a University of Washington study.
Cover page for the Reimagining Your Lawn presentation

Reimagining Your Lawn

Synopsis: Presentation for homeowners who are considering removing their lawn. Covers the historical basis for lawns, why they can be damaging to the climate and expensive to maintain, then surveys potential lawn alternatives.

View & Download Presentations from our Climate Change Library

WECAN (Washington Education & Climate Action Network)

Master Gardeners with an interest in addressing climate change can also participate in an every-other-month zoom call to learn more about what WSU and other educators across Washington are doing. To learn more, jump to our WECAN site.

WECAN site

Additional potential projects

CATs spring into action when we get an idea for a state wide project where a group, working together can make the project more impactful. We want to lace climate related content throughout several programs to meet the challenges posed by climate change.
If you have an idea you think would benefit from the CATs treatment, please submit your idea and we will reach out to you.

Volunteers raising their hands

Plant Sale Merchandising

The Idea. Curate a list of climate related products for sale at our various plant sales. Native Plants; Keystone Natives; Lawn Alternatives; Organic Fertilizers; Peat-free potting soil…. these items and more can be ‘packaged’ into an area inside our plant sales to better inform the public, and to help people realize that the Master Gardener Program is a place to go to learn – and do – more about our changing climate.

Ask-a-MG Content

The Idea. Our Ask-a-Master Gardener ‘Clinics’ are the place where the public comes to ask us questions. Increasingly, we are getting climate related questions. It would be nice to have a package of materials developed that address the most commonly asked climate related questions. We can use the ‘Badging’ process to vet the climate science and produce information that can be downloaded by interested counties.

Newsletter Content

The Idea. Many counties create their own content to reach out to members of their community. We could supply each county’s newsletter publisher with articles on climate themed topics. We can use the ‘Badging’ process to vet the climate science so we’re delivering a quality message to the public. One key is to find the right set of topics that people would be interested in reading.

Youth Gardening

The Idea. The next generation of gardeners are the ones who will have the biggest environmental stewardship tasks due to climate change. Let’s get them started early by developing classes that introduce them to the concept of climate change and its impact on our gardens.
Suggest a Project

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Throughout this site there are links to documents of various file types. Please contact our Statewide Program Leader if you require this information in a different format.