CHARLOTTE, N.C. - Cities such as Asheville, Charlotte and Durham have adopted clean-energy strategies to fight climate change. Across North Carolina, however, some groups see a gap in community advocacy that they want to change.

A series of online workshops this month aims to equip residents with the knowledge they need to act on climate solutions and advocate for their region.

Eboné Lockett, founder and executive director of Harvesting Humanity, said the people affected most by climate change often aren't heard in the policy debates about problems such as more intense and frequent rainstorms, extreme heat and changes in weather patterns that impact crops.

"And if they don't understand it, and if they don't understand their role and responsibility in helping to shape and cultivate our physical and built environment," she said, "then they miss the whole idea of community, and community-centered and people-centered work."

She said the workshops will include details on North Carolina's climate and clean-energy initiatives. The next Climate Ambassadors Training will be held online next Tuesday and Wednesday, Jan. 12-13. Register at cleanaircarolina.org.

Former Charlotte Mayor Jennifer Roberts, director of EcoAmerica's Path to Positive Communities, said more North Carolinians are feeling the effects of climate change but might not know how to approach their local and state officials. She said she believes that when citizens have the tools to jumpstart grassroots efforts, their actions add up.

"Because everybody can play a role in climate solutions, and when that happens, we all win - because utility costs go down, costs for cities to operate go down," she said. "Our air gets healthier; our health improves."

June Blotnick, executive director of Clean Air Carolina, said the strategies for improving air quality are closely tied to climate-change solutions. She said the workshops can help people find local ways to protect the health of their families and future generations.

"We're excited to take the program statewide," she said, "and to invite people - whether they be civic leaders, whether they be stay-at-home moms or dads, business owners, anyone - to learn how climate change is impacting North Carolina."

In Charlotte, she said, a group that dubs itself the "Charlotte Mecklenburg Climate Leaders" urged the city to expand its renewable energy and cleaner public transportation efforts to meet a city goal of going "carbon-free" by 2030. As a result of the group's work, the Charlotte Area Transit System announced plans last fall to transition to electric buses.

A successful program that helps low-income households weatherize homes and lower energy bills is setting its sights on improving the health outcomes of children and older Coloradans at risk of indoor and outdoor air pollution.

Ashley Feiertag, director of residential programs for Energy Outreach Colorado, spearheaded its Healthy Homes program, which recently won a $1-million dollar grant. She said the goal is to remove barriers for vulnerable households to reduce greenhouse-gas emissions, improve indoor air quality, and reduce unsafe exposure to pollutants.

"In doing this we will help alleviate future health-care costs," she said. "We're also getting people signed up for community solar gardens. Those community solar credits help offset their utility bill."

Healthy Homes was one of three recipients of the ICLEI USA Action Fund, made possible through funding from Google, which aims to support innovative urban-based efforts to accelerate climate action through projects that are data-driven, highly replicable and impactful.

Feiertag said participating households will receive a thorough inspection of their home's energy efficiency, and experts will identify any sources of air pollution that can contribute to respiratory and other illness. In addition to adding harmful particulates to indoor air, appliances fueled by natural gas - including water heaters, furnaces, stoves and dryers - also contribute to climate pollution.

"So we're looking at replacing those with heat pump water heaters, air-sourced heat pumps, mini-split systems, induction stoves and electric dryers," Feiertag said.

Healthy homes has partnered with the City of Denver and area hospitals to identify those most in need of help. Feiertag hopes health-care providers will be able to write a prescription for these services for patients who are suffering from respiratory conditions, especially for families living in the shadow of highways, refineries and other persistent sources of air pollution.

"So if a person is experiencing asthma due to environmental factors, we will absolutely look at supplying them with a portable air cleaner," she said.

This story is based on original reporting by Elizabeth McGowan for Energy News Network, and is part of the Solutions Journalism Network-Public News Service Collaboration

An environmental advocacy group in Virginia has been working to bridge generational gaps. Third Act Virginia began as a group of elder climate activists who found the third act of their lives as part of the fight against climate change. Originally called Elderpower, the group merged with the national climate change advocacy group Third Act.

Bill Muth, co-coordinator of Third Act Virginia, has been fighting for a better environment for years. Recently, he has been working with kids from Open High School and finds empowerment from watching these kids turn their anger into activism.

"It's a very complicated emotional thing to move to activism," Muth said. "You have to first get in touch with your grief and your anger, and then you have to transform it somehow. And, we're not good at that. We're not good at emotions at all. And I'm not talking about kids, I'm talking about us, adults."

One of the core challenges has been making change happen. With the campaigns for banks to put funding toward climate programs, the group was not getting as many signatures as they thought they would. Another issue has been getting people to understand what climate change is, as some people feel it's such a broad topic. In spite of this, Third Act Virginia has been successful since they were one group that got the city of Richmond to declare a climate emergency.

Given his long experience with climate advocacy, Muth has found young people are not necessarily interested in advice from older generations. Instead, young climate activists just want to be heard.

"They want space and resources to be heard," Muth said. They want to be able to go into City Hall and be heard. They want to know when there's new construction happening in their neighborhoods well in advance so they can review the potential impacts."

He is proud of the work young activists are doing and regrets how the Covid-19 pandemic has slowed their work. But, as the world adjusts to life with COVID, he finds activists are working to make up for lost time. Muth added he does not feel he has to inspire younger activists, but he can find people willing to join their cause and help them find resources.

The North Carolina Utilities Commission is expected to release its final Carbon Plan by the end of the year. Critics say the current plan, which includes major fossil-fuel investments, is a public-health threat to communities across the state.

Health Manager with CleanAIRE NC Kirsten Minor explained that in North Carolina, air pollution has been linked to nine out of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention's ten leading causes of death - from heart disease and cancer, to COVID and chronic lower respiratory diseases.

She pointed out that without drastically cutting air pollution, more residents will likely end up in the hospital.

"The strain that the COVID-19 pandemic placed on our healthcare systems," said Minor, "that strain will only be continued to be worsened by climate change if we don't, again, make a swift transition to renewable energy sources."

Minor added that the energy sector's burning of fossil fuels is one of the main sources of pollution, along with dangerous emissions like fine particle pollution known as PM 2.5, nitrogen oxide and sulfur dioxide.

An energy bill North Carolina lawmakers passed last year requires the state to develop a plan that reduces carbon emissions to 70% below 2005 levels by 2030, and reaches zero emissions by 2050.

Co-director of the Robeson County Cooperative for Sustainable Development, Rev. Mac Legerton, said especially coastal residents are experiencing firsthand the effects of a changing climate - including massive hurricanes, droughts, floods and heat stress.

He said he wants more people to educate themselves about the Carbon Plan and its implications for communities.

"Our elected officials and economic developers need to go back to school," said Legerton, "and begin to understand that the future is not where our utility companies want to take us."

Nearly 60% of adults in the U.S. say climate change is affecting their community, according to a 2021 Pew Research Center survey.