The implementation of climate change solutions is very costly, but the effects of not taking action and letting climate change progress, is even more costly. The United States Government has allocated a large portion of funds to be allocated towards Climate Change. Moreover, the Biden Administration has created a Budget for the Fiscal Year of 2023 that heavily focuses on and is forcefully pushing for the reduction of energy costs as well as further actions towards combating the climate crisis. President Biden, has implemented a Bipartisan Infrastructure Law “BIL” which has already influenced hundreds of projects across the country and many of those have increased resilience towards climate change amongst other factors and topics (President Biden’s Bipartisan Infrastructure Law, n.d.). By the implementation of this new law, Biden is able to emphasize the larger scope of this issue which signifies the importance of climate change topics and education at a federal level. 

President Biden, as stated during his State of the Union address, has many priorities focused on climate change, but more specifically, Biden has focused on reducing energy costs for families by not only combating climate change but also growing an economy which is focused on clean energy. This budget has invested 44.9 billion dollars,which was an increase from the 2021 budget by 60% or 16.7 billion dollars, which was allotted with the expectation of being used to tackle climate change (President Biden’s FY 2023 Budget Reduces Energy Costs, Combats the Climate Crisis, and Advances Environmental Justice | OMB, n.d.). The increase in these fiscal year budgets alone highlights the importance of the furthering need of resources towards combating climate change and education and will be further broken down and described further below.

Working in coordination with NASA, The Biden administration has provided research that will help improve our current understanding of climate change. The Biden administration has allocated 2.4 billion dollars for NASA Earth-observing satellites and (President Biden’s FY 2023 Budget Reduces Energy Costs, Combats the Climate Crisis, and Advances Environmental Justice | OMB, n.d.). These new satellites will provide a more holistic view of the Earth, which will be beneficial to solidifying our understanding of not only climate change, but natural hazards as well. Also, this section of the budget will allow for the collaboration with other agencies and partners to create prototypes with different capabilities of greenhouse gas monitoring and different informational systems that will be able to integrate data from a variety of different sources that will consequently allow for this information to become more available at the federal, state and local governments in addition to researchers and other users who will be working alongside the EPA in these creations. 

The NOAA (National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration) will also be working on new satellites in hopes of preparing those who are the most vulnerable and susceptible to further damage to their communities. Moreover, 2.3 billion dollars has been allotted to NOAA that will cover these next generation of weather satellites, which will be able to provide weather detection capabilities that will allow for the planning of extreme weather events (President Biden’s FY 2023 Budget Reduces Energy Costs, Combats the Climate Crisis, and Advances Environmental Justice | OMB, n.d.).By implementing this, it shows that the government is taking all possible steps in not only the further research and understanding of climate change, but also the development of strategic back up plans in case the journey to mitigating climate change is not fulfilled. 

The Department of the Interior, or the DOI, which focuses a large portion of their time and resources into land conservation and upkeep is also participation within these new budget allocations. 375 million dollars has gone towards the DOI to advance and further provide research that will help in the understanding of the impacts of climate change (President Biden’s FY 2023 Budget Reduces Energy Costs, Combats the Climate Crisis, and Advances Environmental Justice | OMB, n.d.). Through this work, new opportunities are expected to arise which will allow for the reduction of climate change risk through different mitigation and adaptation efforts. Part of this section of the budget will allow for conservation of different lands and will ensure coastal, fire-prone, and even other vulnerable communities to have access to information that will permit them to better respond and be better prepared towards these climate crises. By providing this, it is with great hopes that greater resilience will be created throughout these different communities. 

The United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) is responsible for the development and implementation of any federal laws in regards to agriculture and forestry. With the help of the 24 million dollars which has been allocated by the Biden Administration, the USDA has created climate hubs, which are multi-agency undertakings that are used to leverage climate science and knowledge and increase awareness and engagement in combating climate change, especially towards those people who are in locations that are the most vulnerable to feeling the impacts of climate change(President Biden’s FY 2023 Budget Reduces Energy Costs, Combats the Climate Crisis, and Advances Environmental Justice | OMB, n.d.). In addition, this budget has also increased its funding priority for climate research at USDA by 148 million dollars over the fiscal year 2021 and continues to provide an increase of 103 million dollars for different innovative methods and mechanisms which serve as incentives for climate-smart agricultural practices (President Biden’s FY 2023 Budget Reduces Energy Costs, Combats the Climate Crisis, and Advances Environmental Justice | OMB, n.d.).  This source of funding allows for a systematic change within the ways many farmers in the United States go about their agricultural practices and allows for safer practices in regards to the earth. 

The National Science Foundation (NSF), whose goal within its mission is to advance the progress and development of science.  Within this budget, NSF has received 913 million dollars 

for research and better understanding of climate change and the ways in which its adverse impacts will be felt worldwide (President Biden’s FY 2023 Budget Reduces Energy Costs, Combats the Climate Crisis, and Advances Environmental Justice | OMB, n.d.). This budget is continually increasing and prioritizing its efforts not only towards climate change, but also towards research which will help us better understand, have greater knowledge and be more educated with our current as well as future standings in regards to climate change.

As of this January, Deloitte Economic Institute has done research on the cost of our inaction towards climate change and was fixated over the next 50 years. If we venture down the path of inaction towards climate change, we will be costing the United States Economy 14.5 trillion dollars. To put this into more of a generalized perspective, this is the equivalent of the continuous loss of 900,000 jobs per year for the next 50 years, well into the year 2070 (Deloitte Report, n.d.). Scott Corwin, most commonly known for his role as the managing director in Deloittes United States ESG Strategic Growth Offering, gives insight of how every region of the country would actually be able to benefit economically if they had participated in practices that would mitigate climate change, especially by placing a large focus on decarbonization. He was fairly confident that the net economic gains of this progress would be seen by 2048. Specifically, the United States Economy could gain 3 trillion dollars, and this is seen as a once in a generation opportunity, as it will be directly tied to adding nearly 1 million jobs into the economy by 2070 (Deloitte Report, n.d.). Moreover, from a strictly economic standpoint, holding all moral and conscious efforts aside, these numbers should be reason enough to incentivize people to make efforts in climate change mitigation, or simply even raising awareness towards this issue. 

In the past, the Nurture Nature Center has hosted their symposium, each time being held differently, and a unique structure has been applied to each circumstance. In the beginning stages of their journey with the symposium, simply due to the nature of Covid during that time, these symposiums were held virtually, however they have begun to change to more of a hybrid structure, which they would hope to continue in the future as it allows for a wider range of audience members, especially those from outside of the Easton and Lehigh Valley communities (K. Semmens, Personal Communication, 24 October 2022). Because of this, there is no clear economic pattern or consistencies that can be tracked or correlated with the symposium. 

However, the Nurture Nature Center has access to multiple grants that have been offered, awarded, and used in the past not only towards the symposium, but also towards other climate change programs they successfully share with the community. In a second meeting with Kate Semmens and Madeline Squarcia, we were able to gain more insight regarding the inner workings of the symposium from their end. From this meeting, they shared that the only thing that the Nurture Nature Center pays for in regards to the symposium, is the workers that help out during the event, while the speakers were not paid for the participation in this event, the Nurture Nature Center is looking to change this as this symposium becomes more popular and widely held and participated in. 

The Nurture Nature Center, with help of well known and influential grants, was able to proceed with their plans for their annual symposium. Mainly, three grants helped with this symposium and supplied aid and funds to see through the success of this event. One of the grants that was used, especially as a source of relief for the first symposium held, in addition to other events that the Nurture Nature Center hosts, was a grant from NOAA. This federal grant, coming from their Environmental Literacy Program, is granted with the purpose of supporting projects of which create inspiration and are able to further educate people on Earth science and the systematic boundaries and abilities that can be used to create resilience to climate change and other environmental harms (NOAA’s Community Resilience Education Theory of Change, n.d.). This grant typically lasts as long as four years and has a limit of 500,000 dollars. The main audience of this grant are those who support resilience efforts, practices and even other philanthropic organizations who share these ideals as well. Moreover, these grants are allocated towards those who see education as being a critical key player in the successful integration of this component (NOAA’s Community Resilience Education Theory of Change, n.d.). Further, those in the education industry or profession as well as non-governmental environmental organizations, such as the Nurture Nature Center, find grants from this program to be applicable to the contribution of their own efforts regarding climate change and community outreach and further development of climate change education and awareness. By using the grant supplied by NOAA, these recipients will be able to further advance their local efforts into a more broader, and hopefully even national effort in creating further awareness and creating more knowledge regarding climate change. The Nurture Nature Center, as proof of receiving this grant multiple times already in the past, is a perfect candidate for this source of funding, as they share similar goals and mindsets as those mentioned in the ideal recipient explanation. 

Additionally, another grant that the Nurture Nature Center received came from the Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Protection. More specifically, this environmental educational grant is smaller than the federal grant received from NOAA. While this grant only lasts for one year, and the Nurture Nature Center will not be able to apply this grant towards the symposium for this year, as the grant application begins to open in July and the Nurture Nature Center would ideally like to hold this event in April to be representative of Earth Day. Furthermore, this grant also has a smaller amount of funding that it allocates to recipients of this grant, but interestingly enough, they have increased this amount from 20,000 dollars to now being 30,000 dollars (2023 EE Grants Program Manual, n.d.). In order for this grant to be applicable to not only the Nurture Nature Center, but to the events and programs that they hold and run, the symposium – in addition to other similar events- would have to be regional and can be applied to two different scaling factors. A larger scaling factor would consider more large scale environmental projects, of those which would include multiple communities, counties and even school districts. A larger scale project would then receive a larger portion of funding, and the symposium would fall under this category since it not only is available to those students in the Easton School Districts, but in the past, they have opened this event up to the Lehigh Valley Communities and their surrounding school districts. On the other hand, those programs that are smaller scale, have more of a local focus and impact and therefore have a smaller funding cap which is 5,000 dollars. For the 2023 Pennsylvania DEP application, their main priority and the topic that will be held to the highest focus is climate change (2023 EE Grants Program Manual, n.d.). This is not only indicative of Pennsylvania’s efforts in mitigating climate change, but it is also indicative in their ongoing willingness to combat climate change.  

A mini grant, offered by the Lehigh Valley Greenways Conservation Landscape, is the third grant application and funding the Nurture Nature Center uses to help provide funding for their ongoing and future projects. For the Nurture Nature Center, and their experience with this grant, there was no real limit that is allocated towards programs, however, they have received anywhere from 1,000 to 10,000 in the past (“About Lehigh Valley Greenways,” n.d.). Further, this grant lasts for usually a year and a half similarly to the other grants previously discussed, it also has a focus on education and conservation, but a larger part of the conservation in this grant is related to the Lehigh Valley. 

The Greenways, created in 2004, places a large portion of their funds and focus on proactive partnerships in both the Lehigh and Northampton counties. Further, by collaborating with these two counties, The Greenways is able to diversify their surrounding work groups as well as be able to gain the ability to enrich the quality of knowledge and ways of living for those in these communities, especially by emphasizing the importance of trails and greenway corridors. The Greenways has a unique vision that will allow them to enhance the relationship of the communities within the advocacy of this program and further outdoor experiences in addition to placing a heavy emphasis and iteration on the rebuilding of these spaces with natural resources, green infrastructure and improved public health kept in mind (“About Lehigh Valley Greenways,” n.d.). This mission that is centered within the philosophy of The Greenways allows for community participation in the conservation of their own home, which is something that is very parallel to that of the Nurture Nature Center.  

Further, Greenways has implemented an action plan for the year of 2022, that gives a broad overview of specific items and topics they want to place a heavier focus on and find a greater importance about. Through this action plan, they have created four goals: Land Conservation & Restoration, Outdoor Recreation & Trail Connection, Trail Revitalization and Local Education & Outreach. With their fourth goal focusing on Education and Engagement, the Greenways is trying to create and involve a more inclusive audience and promote environmental education. Some ways they have outlined that they are planning or have planned going about this includes but are not limited to the following which incorporates reaching out to new potential partners, that will allow for them to create a more diverse, equal and inclusive group, work with more organizations that share similar ideals and ideologies that they are not already involved in a partnership with as well as the execution of programs in public school district, especially in the Eastern Pennsylvania sector that focuses on Cultural Ecology of this region (“About Lehigh Valley Greenways,” n.d.). Moreover, the engagement and pivot towards education in these grants, serves as an indicator and sign that education is beginning to take precedence in climate change mitigation and actions. 

            The Nurture Nature Center is hopeful for the continuation of their partnerships and relationships with these grant agencies and is looking to further expand their networkings and hopefully begin to hone in on more local sponsorship opportunities. They would be looking to work with different organizations, corporations, and local businesses to see if they would be willing to donate a certain or any amount as it would be the most beneficial for them to gain additional outside sources of funding ((K. Semmens, Personal Communication, 24 October 2022). While this is something that the Nurture Nature Center has not integrated into any of their programming yet, they have had people reach out to them in the past and offer various amounts of funding and other opportunities as a form of their sponsorship, this could mean the inclusion of their logo, a mentioning or a promotional incentive. 

In the past, Nurture Nature Center has worked closely on a project: Buy Fresh, Buy Local (BFBL). Within this project, the Nurture Nature Center had different sponsorships, as explained by Madeline Squarcia, in which people have reached out to them about going to get their brand out there while also additionally supporting the mission of Buying Fresh and Buying Local (Madeline Squarcia, NNC). Another technique the Nurture Nature Center was looking to put into their financial counterparts of their programs includes kickstarting. The Nurture Nature Center has used this approach with the creation of their urban recycle garden. For the sponsors who had helped the Nurture Nature Center with this, they were promised a garden party in which food and giveaways would be provided. Using kickstarting, Nurture Nature Center was able to crowd sourced funding as well as have the event be publicly advertised. Further both the Rotary Club and Kiwanis Club had provided donations which were able to be used to help redo the urban garden. Further, for the symposium, if we were to use or mix in the kickstart method, it would be the most impactful to provide food that is locally sourced as it would further push the importance of the relationship between climate change and the Easton Community.

Read our Conclusion Next!