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Clean Air-Cool Planet is the Northeast's leading nonprofit organization dedicated to finding and promoting solutions to global warming.
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...Coming Soon to a Science Center Near You   To ensure the long-term sustainability of its organization, the New England Science Center Collaborative (NESCC) formally agreed in September to become a project of Clean Air - Cool Planet. The NESCC joins the Connecticut Science Center Collaborative as part of CA-CP's newest program focus, the Northeast Science Center Collaboratives.
NESCC includes members (CA-CP among them) from more than three-dozen science centers, environmental groups and research organizations. Its programs focus on connecting the latest scientific research with practical, hands-on environmental education that give people the knowledge they need to reduce the greenhouse gas emissions to cause global warming.
In the spring of this year, the Collaborative steering committee began to discuss ways of maintaining the activities of the group, without the necessity for providing an administrative infrastructure. The decision was made to seek an organization, preferably from among the members, that would take on oversight, coordination, and fundraising. From the beginning, Clean Air - Cool Planet was a top choice because its sole focus is global warming in the Northeast. Another factor that made CA-CP a natural pick was that we were already working with science centers. In the past year, NESCC and CA-CP collaborated on a project in Connecticut to replicate NESCC’s model of linking research institutions to science centers to educate the public about climate change. This initiative led to the formation of a 40-member collaborative in Connecticut that is already the same size as NESCC and has been able to raise significant funding for staffing and programming in the coming year.
The Connecticut Science Center Collaborative (CSCC) combines the latest scientific findings of research and academic institutions with the interpretive expertise of science centers to develop exhibits and educational programs for more than 3.5 million visitors to the state’s science centers and museums. More than 40 of Connecticut’s 60 science centers participate, including the Maritime Aquarium in Norwalk, the Discovery Museum in Bridgeport, Yale Peabody Museum, Talcott Mountain Science Center and the New Canaan Nature Center. Also involved are the Connecticut Science Teachers Association, the Connecticut Clean Energy Fund, and the Institute for Sustainable Energy at Eastern Connecticut State University. To find out more about both collaboratives, visit their new website: www.sciencecentercollaborative.org. |
The regional collaborative has developed a number of creative programs and exhibits, as well as the Climate Change Backpack, a tool for classroom or outdoor use that packs several lesson plans and exercises into—a backpack! 