About

A community of over 3,700 climate advocates, organizers, field and academic researchers, and data specialists.

This is the caption.

The vast majority of Americans care about the effects of climate change, but something is keeping them from taking action.

The Climate Advocacy Lab was created to help solve this problem …and it’s working.

Every day, thousands of advocates and organizers across the country work to reduce climate pollution and expand clean energy opportunities for healthier, thriving communities and a vibrant, climate-stable world. But, we are living in the most hostile political environment ever to climate action. We don’t have the time or money to waste on tactics that fail, or worse, that backfire. Policy- and decisionmakers won’t take meaningful action until they feel significant pressure from their constituents.

Enter the Climate Advocacy Lab. We use evidence, including social science research, data and analytics, field experiments, case studies, and campaign lessons learned to help climate advocates in every part of the U.S. run smarter public engagement campaigns. We raise the sophistication of the field and the appetite for evidence-informed decisions.

 
How we do it

The Lab helps climate and clean energy advocates, organizers, funders, social scientists, data experts, and others save time, money, and energy by centralizing and transferring knowledge created by the climate community. The Lab provides:


  • The ongoing, free state of the art tools and training our movement needs

  • Access to the rigor of testing and evaluation expertise to ensure our work is achieving intended impacts

  • A central platform that provides free access to the latest movement insights and learnings on what’s working – and what’s not

  • Movement connectivity across a network of 3,000+ climate “practitioners” in all 50 states working to build durable political power for lasting climate action.

For more information, download this summary.

 
History

Originally incubated at the Skoll Global Threats Fund, the Climate Advocacy Lab is now an independent project supported by the Skoll Foundation, the McKnight Foundation, the William & Flora Hewlett Foundation, the George Gund Foundation, Barr Foundation and others.
Reach us at info@climateadvocacylab.org.

Our Team
Andrea Fortanel
Title:
Community Lead
Affiliation:
Climate Advocacy Lab
My role as Community Lead enables me to apply my extensive background to support the programmatic vision for the lab. Before joining the Lab, my experience working in international settings with NGOs and policy think tanks allowed me to envision programming that builds supportive environments for marginalized communities. With this motivation of working with local communities, I worked with Heartland Alliance, a human rights organization in Chicago, to provide direct services to shelter members. This role allowed me to work in a multi-faceted role to improve our internal standard operating procedures and increase our partnerships for our members' needs. I look forward to contributing to the Lab’s focus on creating ripples of change in eradicating climate change. I received my B.S. in Industrial and Labor Relations from Cornell University. I currently reside in Long Beach, CA.
Apollo Gonzales
Title:
Co-Director
Affiliation:
Climate Advocacy Lab
I am climate campaign activist and organizer, with nearly two decades of leadership experience building digital campaigns and convening communities of practice in the climate advocacy space for the purpose of coordinating and sharing knowledge. I live in the Texas Gulf Coast, where I have a front row seat to the impacts of our rapidly changing climate on our environment, and on the imbalance of economic and racial justice in our most vulnerable and under resourced communities. I believe the work of the Lab is critical to building the capacity we need to be successful in our fight for the climate, and am proud to serve as Co-Director of the Lab. I also serve on the board of directors of Climate Access, and In Our Back Yards (ioby). I’m a graduate of American University in Washington DC, and am an elected representative serving as City Councilman and Mayor Pro Tem of my small community on the outskirts of Houston.
Assata Harris
Title:
Training Manager
Affiliation:
Climate Advocacy Lab
I am a movement builder, community organizer, trainer, facilitator, and Licensed Clinical Social Worker Candidate living in San Francisco, Bay Area. A proud alum of the University of California, Davis, and Sciences Po, Paris. I am currently attaining my Master's Degree in Clinical Social Work from the University of Southern, California. Since 2009, I've been an organizer, facilitator, and trainer for over 8 years. Led and directed climate justice programs that advocate and mobilize frontline communities around equitable solutions to the climate crisis. Trained over 3,000 activists on justice and equity issues, organizational change, and strategic design. I specialize in the training curriculum, facilitation, organizing, justice, and equity training. In my spare time, you can catch me traveling the world, and cooking amazing meals.
Carina Barnett-Loro
Title:
Co-Director
Affiliation:
Climate Advocacy Lab
As Co-Director I oversee all of the Lab's programmatic offerings as well as lead our organizational learning and evaluation work. Prior to joining the Lab team in 2015, I spent 6 years organizing on local and state-level climate and energy campaigns with the North Carolina Sierra Club and Union of Concerned Scientists. I'm currently based on Durham, NC where I am Board member for the Durham People's Alliance. Outside of climate advocacy, I spend a lot of time walking in the woods with my dog, tending to my houseplants/garden, reading novels with a strong cup of coffee, and dreaming about my next scuba diving trip.
Diamond Spratling
Title:
Climate & Health Lead
Affiliation:
Climate Advocacy Lab
I'm an impact-driven public health professional and environmental justice leader motivated to mitigate health, racial, and environmental inequities in Black and Brown communities. I'm the founder of Girl Plus Environment, a national non-profit organization designed to educate, engage, and empower Black and Brown girls, women, and non-binary individuals to stand up for environmental justice in their own neighborhoods. As a Detroit native, I've spent more than six years at the forefront of environmental justice. My strong dedication to the sector has earned my the William H. Sterner Memorial Award (2017), the Elmore Manufacturing Award (2018), as well as the New Horizons in Conservation Award (2021). I've led many environmental and health initiatives for cities and organizations such as the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, Bloomberg Associates, WaterAid International, and Greenlink Analytics. I hold a MPH in Global Health in Community Health and Development from the Rollins School of Public Health at Emory University and undergraduate degree in Environmental Policy and Analysis from Bowling Green State University.
Gabrielle Heidrich
Title:
Training Lead
Affiliation:
Climate Advocacy Lab
I am a climate justice organizer and movement builder dedicated to training, resourcing, and coaching youth climate organizers to scale up local movement networks. I attended Iowa State University to receive my double Bachelor's of Science in Animal Ecology and Environmental Studies and kept busy in my free time running a campaign pushing the university to close its on-campus coal plant and transition to 100% renewable electricity by 2030. Through my work as a youth climate organizer and the many important relationships of support I built through our work, I was inspired to continue working with young people to build up the youth climate movement and broader justice movement. I am dedicated to building organizer trainings, writing campaign-specific resources, and cultivating 1:1 coaching relationships with grassroots organizers and their local groups on the ground leading the fight against fossil fuels. In my free time, I love spending time at the park, hiking, and tending to my many houseplants. I currently live in so-called Denver, Colorado on occupied Ute, Arapahoe, and Cheyanne land.
Jack Zhou
Title:
Social Scientist
Affiliation:
Climate Advocacy Lab
I help to produce and manage the Climate Advocacy Lab's social science resources for its webinars, workshops, and website. I also oversee half of the Lab’s research programs, which involves designing, tracking, and analyzing a range of experimental and non-experimental projects with advocate collaborators. I work at the Lab to help the climate community build deeper, more inclusive, and more effective relationships centered around mutual learning. My research interests revolve around how people think about climate change, how they process information on the issue, and what gets in the way. Prior to joining the Lab, I worked as a postdoctoral associate in energy policy and survey methods at Duke University. I received a B.S. in Society & Environment from UC Berkeley and a Ph.D. in Environmental Politics from Duke University. I live in Durham, NC.
Justin Rolfe-Redding
Title:
Social Scientist
Affiliation:
Climate Advocacy Lab
My research interests include persuasion, behavior change, statistical methods, and message design. My doctoral work investigates the role of hope in encouraging engagement with global warming, analyzing survey and experiment data. My research has also addressed the influence of political identity and values in global warming beliefs, and the effects of news coverage, social identity framing, and past behavior on attitudes and further behavior. In addition to a background in the environmental advocacy community, I have worked as a research consultant with the National Wildlife Federation, National Park Service, and the Environmental Protection Agency. I received a master’s degree in Communication from the University of Washington and a bachelor’s degree in Political Science from the University of Chicago.
Lyrica Maldonado
Title:
Operations and Training Associate
Affiliation:
Climate Advocacy Lab
I am entering the Climate Advocacy Lab to learn, connect, and develop relationships in the face of climate disaster and environmental injustice. I also engage with Uplift, a regional environmental justice organization in the Southwest where I work with finance and fundraising coordination. I am excited about decentralized and autonomous organizing, transnational Indigenous solidarity, and caring for ourselves throughout the climate crisis and a global pandemic. I am of mixed white settler descent and of the Maya Mam peoples of western Guatemala currently reside in the Southwest Region.
Nicole Ektnitphong
Title:
Community & Partnerships Manager
Affiliation:
Climate Advocacy Lab
As an organizer and trainer, the approach I bring to my work blends participant-centered education, body-based wisdom, and lessons from working with a diversity of political campaigns, leaders, and community-based organizations. Having dedicated the last 8+ years to the climate justice movement, I am committed to building effective, healthy teams and sharp strategies that allow us to win bold solutions at the scale of the crisis. As the Community & Partnerships Manager, I cultivate relationships across the movement and look for opportunities to build shared learning, alignment, and power. Prior to the Lab, I served as the Statewide Organizing and Training Director at MN350 and co-led a national network of students that took on the fossil fuel industry by pushing colleges and universities to stop investing in coal, oil, and gas. I currently live in Minneapolis, MN. Two big joys in my life revolve around the kitchen: cooking nourishing foods and learning all about my family foods from Thailand, China, Laos and Vietnam.
Rebecca Tamiru
Title:
Program Manager
Affiliation:
Climate Advocacy Lab
I'm a people-centered environmentalist with a strong justice lens working towards a vision of resilient and regenerative communities in a climate-stable world. As the Lab's Program Manager, I oversee key areas of the Lab’s strategic program work including co-leading the Climate and Health Peer Learning Cohort, formalizing and bottom-lining the Insights program, driving the Lab’s weekly newsletter, and managing the Climate Justice Microgrants Program, granting to environmental and climate justice organizations to capture case studies documenting campaign wins and lessons learned. I hold a bachelor's degree in Biology of Global Health from Georgetown University and a Climate Change and Health Certificate from the Yale School of Public Health and I like to bring mindfulness, compassion, principled practice and integrity to my work and to my relationships.
Our Advisory Board

The Lab is advised by a Governing Board made up of leaders from across the climate and clean energy communities, including:

  • Bruce Lowry (Chair), Vice President of Investments, Skoll Foundation
  • Rev. Dallas Conyers, Justice, Equity, Diversity & Inclusion Manager, Southeast Climate & Energy Network
  • Lisa Hoyos, Senior Director for Climate Strategy, League of Conservation Voters
  • Refugio Mata, Senior Program Director, Resource Media
  • Jamila Raqib, Executive Director, Albert Einstein Institution
  • Samy Sekar, Senior Research Manager, Analyst Institute
  • Michael Silberman, Founder and former Global Director, Mobilisation Lab
  • Dan Thiede, Senior Communications Officer, McKnight Foundation

We welcome feedback on how to make the Lab more useful to climate engagement efforts, so please do not hesitate to get in touch with ideas on how the Lab can better serve this community by sending us a note at info@climateadvocacylab.org.

Contact Us