Support Climate Literacy

Our mission is to promote climate literacy by curating an extensive lexicon of key words submitted by experts on the frontlines. 

Our goal is giving people the tools they need to talk about climate. We invite authors, scientists, Indigenous leaders, policy-makers, explorers and designers to select a word that is central to their climate work and define it in their own voice. We support each definition with factual information, photographic evidence, literature and resources for further learning.

About Climate Words, Inc.

Why We Exist

Climate literacy is worryingly low. A 2021 survey found, only 15% of respondents in Germany, France, Italy, UK and USA prove to be climate literate, and less than 5% of American respondents are considered highly climate literate

We are living in the most definitive decade in human history. It is the first time we have been able to foresee a mass extinction, and it is the last chance we have to do anything about it.

We believe knowledge is power and taking informed action is contagious. We also believe we have the resources and ideas we need to meet global climate targets.

Increased climate literacy correlates directly with increased climate action. Those with high climate literacy are more than three times as likely to make an active effort to tackle climate change.

What We Do

New language is emerging –and reemerging– with the growing challenges of the climate crisis. While new words, terms and ideas crystalise the solutions ahead, they can remain stuck in their respective niches. Our job is to document their evolving meaning in an informative, accessible and digestible format.

We invite frontline authors, scientists, Indigenous leaders, policy-makers and environmental justice advocates to choose a word that is most important to their work and define it in their own voice.

While textbook definitions describe an idea, they are missing an element of storytelling. Why is this word important? And why do you care about it? Our collection of definitions invites you to a more human level of communication.

Each word definition is accompanied by a supporting essay, outlining the leading research behind it, and a bibliography of resources for deeper learning.

What We Will Offer

We will offer a free, searchable and user-friendly website, which works like an online dictionary for climate words. The website is a database that documents climate solutions, portraying a cross-section of inspiring leaders in an interdisciplinary range of fields, creating an online community of informed climate optimists.

We are bridging the gap between climate knowledge and action through storytelling, design and visual communication. Our updated lexicon will be designed with Kasper Florio, an award-winning graphic design studio and independent publisher specializing in contemporary visual arts.

Our Vision

Our vision is a world in which public sectors, private sectors, organizations, schools, families and individuals align their actions with an equitable, just, circular and regenerative future for all, guided by their knowledge about coexisting in harmony with each other and the natural environment.

Climate Words, Inc.
[email protected]
www.climatewords.org | @climatewords

(USA) Your donation is tax-deductible. After donating, you will automatically receive a receipt with our tax-ID number by email for your records.