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October 2026 Newsletter
🎂 Happy Sweet 16, NNOCCI!
In much of the United States, 16 is a milestone between childhood and adulthood. It’s a time to celebrate all you’ve accomplished so far in life, while looking to a bright future ahead. Across the US, at 16, you unlock the power to drive, seek employment, and in certain cases, make legal decisions about your choice to stay in school, or become your own legal guardian. 16 is a banner year in our development, expanding our autonomy and societal standing - it’s filled with possibility. Here at NNOCCI, that’s how we feel as we celebrate our 16th birthday… We’re filled with possibilities.
While age varies depending where you live, the sentiment is the same - at a certain age in our teens, we all ‘grow up’. This month, NNOCCI celebrates our ‘Sweet 16’; as you are part of our journey, we hope you’ll join us as we reflect on how far we’ve come, and the amazing ‘adult’ we continue to become!
There are lots of ways to celebrate with us in this packed edition: a NNOCCI ‘Birthday Card’ to sign; a message from our founding Principal Investigator (PI), Dr. Billy Spitzer; recent analysis and graphics on community growth and program efficacy; and a webinar with our longtime colleagues, Polar Bears International.
Oh, and also… WE’RE CELEBRATING TWO MASSIVE WINS!!! Read on to learn about major achievements for the NNOCCI Community at the recent North American Association for Environmental Educators conference in Portland, OR.
We’re really proud of the community of practice that we continue to build, collectively, with all of you incredible people, and we hope you’re proud, too! If you’re interested in giving back to the NNOCCI community, we would really appreciate your support. Although we continue to seek grant funding opportunities (please send collaboration asks our way), we currently operate off of training fees, donations, and t-shirt sales. Even with little overhead, as we are part of The Marine Mammal Center, we can only fund one part-time staff member - everything else is done by a team of nearly 40 volunteers. If NNOCCI has touched your life in some way, please consider making a donation, in any amount. Donations not only support staffing needs, they also allow us to continue providing a sliding scale with scholarship opportunities for those who may not otherwise have access. We truly appreciate your support!
However you choose to celebrate with us, we are grateful for you, and the contributions you bring to this community!!!
In This Issue
NNOCCI wins NAAEE Award
Sign NNOCCI's birthday card
Editorial: Reflections on 16 Years by Dr. Billy Spitzer
Science Corner: NNOCCI is Changing the Conversation
NNOCCI en español
16 years of JEDI
NNOCCI Member Meetups
A Celebration of Polar Bears with PBI
Anti-HAUL-idays: Sustainable Gifting with Alyssa Barber
For over 50 years, NAAEE has advanced the global effort to increase understanding and action on environmental issues - we are truly honored to be recognized by this stellar organization and to accept this award alongside conservationists and educators from across the world.
This award is a significant milestone in NNOCCI's 16 years of work in changing the conversation on climate change. Our network includes 900+ members representing nearly 500 organizations across 47 U.S. states, 3 U.S. territories (Guam, American Samoa, and Puerto Rico), 7 Canadian Provinces, and 5 additional countries; our collective work is shifting the climate conversation to be more positive, community-minded, and solutions-focused. Whether it is through conversations talking about the role of sea otters in helping to regulate our climate, or through teens learning how to engage others in discussions on why community gardens matter and how to create them, we're empowering more and more change-makers.
We are delighted to also share another Network win from this conference, as NNOCCI member Brock Adler was honored with the most prestigious award that NAAEE offers, the Walter E. Jeske Award. A member since our first Framing the Conversation Crash Course in 2020, Brock serves as the Chair of the NAAEE Advocacy Committee, and is very active in his Massachusetts community. Congratulations, Brock!
Celebrate NNOCCI’s Sweet 16 with us! We’re marking 16 years of NNOCCI by bringing together memories, birthday wishes, and photos in one collaborative space. We’ve created a Padlet to collect your favorite moments and celebrate all that NNOCCI has accomplished. Join the celebration by sharing a note, photo, or wish for NNOCCI’s future. Add your message to our Birthday Card!The site is free, no sign-up needed.
Reflections on 16 Years by Dr. Billy Spitzer
This month’s editorial takes us from vision to reality, as we hear about the earliest days of NNOCCI, and how this organization came to be, with our original Principal Investigator,Dr. Billy Spitzer of the Hitchcock Center for the Environment. Explore our Network’s journey over 16 years, and get an inside look at how our community of practice has progressed in our latest post. Check it out here!
Science Corner: NNOCCI is Changing the Conversation
As we celebrate NNOCCI’s Sweet 16, we are celebrating thousands of stories, connections, and moments of growth that have helped change the conversation about climate change. And 16 years in, our impact continues to grow. Data from our 2025 Framing the Conversation course show that participants aren’t just gaining knowledge, they are transforming how they communicate about climate. From increased confidence to greater use of evidence-based framing strategies, NNOCCI’s trainings continue to equip communicators with the tools they need to engage audiences, connect through shared values, and inspire community action.
Before training, many participants reported limited familiarity with key communication tools such as tested metaphors, shared values, and collective solutions messaging. After training, that picture changed dramatically. More than 90% of participants reported being familiar with these evidence-based approaches, and many moved from awareness or occasional use to active, frequent use in their communication.
One of the most striking outcomes was the increase in confidence. Prior to training, only a small percentage of participants felt strongly confident in their ability to write climate communications. By the end of the program, over 85% reported confidence in their climate communication skills. Participants also reported feeling better prepared to engage different audiences, discuss climate impacts through an environmental justice lens, and have production conversations about solutions.
Perhaps most importantly, participants left with a stronger sense of possibility. While hope that they can make a difference about climate change was already high among those entering the program, training reinforced those strengths and deepened feelings of community support.
As we look ahead, these results affirm what we’ve seen throughout NNOCCI’s first sixteen years: when people have access to tested communication tools and a supportive community of practice, they become more prepared to engage others in productive climate conversations.
NNOCCI en español
To cap off this year’s Hispanic Heritage Month, we are thrilled to share the first installment of our core training materials translated into Spanish! For those of you who engage with audiences whose first language is Spanish, these materials were made for you to ensure message continuity and that nothing is lost in translation. This has been a big lift by a large community of people, spanning multiple years, and we’re so grateful for the efforts of multiple community members. You can learn more about the development of these materials, as well as their use, on the first page of the toolkit.
To kick us off, we just posted a vocabulary glossary, the Cultural Mindset Map, Values Reframe Cards, and Heat-Trapping Blanket Metaphor Reframe Card. We’ll share the remaining 4 Reframe Cards for metaphors and solutions frames soon!
NNOCCI Members can access these free resources on our website, under Member Resources, when logged into their account.
16 years of learning and embracing Justice, Equity, Diversity and Inclusion!
We know that a huge part of our work is ensuring that all people can see themselves as heroes in the climate movement - and we know that providing equitable access is a central piece of this goal. Over the last 16 years, we have come to understand that not only does climate change affect the most minoritized populations first and worst, but also that not all resources are engaging for all people. With this in mind, in 2020, we created a Justice, Equity, Diversity, and Inclusion (JEDI) Committee as part of our Governing Council. Our job is not done until everyone can see themselves as an agent of change, as part of the climate movement. In the last 6 years alone, we have worked within the growing community to: provide transcripts on recordings, we added new communication techniques like the Spanish translations listed above, have had sessions supported by American Sign Language interpretation, and made changes to training materials like adding icons to the Cultural Mindsets Map to support folks who have a hard time with color differentiation (about 4% of the population is colorblind), and adding captioning into videos. We have worked to broaden access to more people, and with that we created the sliding scale for tuition assistance which has helped about 50 new members join our community with free or reduced tuition for our trainings! To help strengthen our communal efficacy, we’ve created materials like the recent Climate Action Toolkit with accessibility, equity, and climate justice at their center!
All of this is only possible as we learn and grow even more! We have expanded across the United States, into Canada and beyond! While the GIF only encompasses the United States, we are grateful to each and every one of you for making us the community that we are! Happy Sweet 16! (And if anyone has leads in the Dakotas and Arkansas, let us know, we’d love to reach all 50 states by the end of 2027!)
We always have more to do, so we encourage Member feedback on how we can continue to expand this work. Have ideas or questions related to JEDI work? Email us at ContactNNOCCI@gmail.com!
NNOCCI Member Meetups
Every year, many of our members attend conferences, host meetups, and do presentations we may not be aware of. These times to come together are key opportunities to build and strengthen ties within our Network, creating new connections and inspiring deepening and collaboration amongst older ones. We want to highlight what you’ve been up to, especially when you have other NNOCCI colleagues in attendance.
Have any pictures where you’re with other Network members? Please send them to us!
Have any pictures when you’re doing a climate talk using your NNOCCI knowledge? Please send them to us!
This past month, over a dozen members attended a conference for the Association of Zoos and Aquariums (AZA), and/or North American Association of Environmental Educators (NAAEE). Here is a roundup of photos from these meetups, and a list of presentations by our Members in attendance:
Thank you to Netter Pletcher for getting a group together at AZA during a coffee break - what a happy crew of climate heroes!
At AZA, we heard from lots of awesome members on a variety of topics:
The Dragonfly Effect: Igniting Ecological and Social Change through Zoo Partnerships (Amanda Berlinski)
Interpretive Makeovers to Increase Impact (Erica Carnes)
Email us at ContactNNOCCI@gmail.com if you’re planning to be there and would like to meet up, but have not yet been receiving emails from meet-up planner Laura Drath.
NNOCCI Presents: A Celebration of Polar Bears with PBI
There is plenty to celebrate this month during NNOCCI's Sweet Sixteen, and our friends at Polar Bears International (PBI) will be joining the party LIVE from Churchill, the "Polar Bear Capital of the World" (and yes, there may be bears)!
For over a decade, NNOCCI has partnered with PBI to bring effective, hopeful, and actionable climate communication into the world of polar bear conservation. During this panel, PBI's Director of Conservation Programs, Marissa Krouse, and Conservation Outreach Manager, Kayla McCurry, will be joined by NNOCCI President, Kait Birghenthal; together, they will dive into the two organizations' incredible shared history in the global climate movement. Before a Q&A, we'll hear from polar bear researcher and NNOCCI Trainer, Kiersten King, including lessons on how she shares her polar bear appreciation with others while also effectively communicating toward climate action!
Perhaps a wild bear may even come by the party, which seems entirely fair, as a group of polar bears IS called a celebration.
We look forward to seeing you bear!
NNOCCI Presents Anti-HAUL-idays: Sustainable Gifting with Alyssa Barber DATE: November 19 TIME: 4pm EST/1 PST
Looking for a way to sustainably navigate your holiday season? It’s always tough to keep the Earth and climate in mind when you feel compelled to get everyone a gift, and your gift list is a mile long.
If you’re ready for a new approach to the holidays, welcome to the “Anti-Haul Movement” that says: You don't need more. You need better!
Our November session brings you Anti-HAUL-idays: Sustainable Gifting with Alyssa Barber. Alyssa (@newlifestyleabb) has been a rockstar in the online renewable world for several years with helpful guides and tips to consume consciously in the world we live in today. During this session, Alyssa will lead you past a sea of cheap plastics, and into the best practices for making your holiday gifting a sustainable success.
This session is open to NNOCCI Members and the public. We encourage participants to join with a webcam and mic to participate in the Q&A, but this is not required.
You are receiving this email because you are an integral part of our NNOCCI network. Thank you for framing your climate communications as hopeful and solutions-oriented!
Our mailing address is: National Network for Ocean and Climate Change Interpretation 2000 Bunker Road The Marine Mammal Center Sausalito, CA 94965-2619
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