When you ask residents the story of Atlanta, Georgia, the balance between reckoning with the city’s past—including its part in the U.S. Civil War and the mid-20th century Civil Rights Movement—and building for a brighter future for the city’s people is evident. Still, in the spirit of the mythical phoenix (prominently featured on the Atlanta seal since 1887) and notable Atlanta civil rights leaders before them, residents continue to rise from the challenges and learn from history to chart a new path forward. This is true even when it comes to climate solutions.
Drawdown’s Neighborhood: Atlanta, premiering globally in mid-November 2022, will feature the stories of nine everyday people, each with their own unique story and role, taking on the climate crisis. While their stories are set in Atlanta, they answer questions that we all have:
- Beyond emissions, what might motivate us to be part of climate solutions?
- How do we navigate community challenges and personal challenges—like climate anxiety—on the road to making an impact?
- What role can history play in inspiring the ways we show up today?
- How can we unlock our own “real-world superpowers” to be part of the solution?
Drawdown’s Neighborhood, an episodic climate solutions short documentary series that premiered in spring 2022 with stories from Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, focuses on passing the mic to climate heroes who often go unheard. As such, reflecting the diversity of the city and its problem-solvers, the Atlanta series will feature the stories of Black people and people of color working to help the world reach “drawdown”—the point in time when greenhouse gases start to steadily decline—today.
Drawdown’s Neighborhood: Atlanta, hosted by Matt Scott, Project Drawdown’s director of storytelling and engagement, will feature climate heroes from Captain Planet Foundation’s Planeteer Alliance, Concrete Jungle, Emory University, the Kendeda Building for Innovative Sustainable Design at Georgia Institute of Technology, Lifecycle Building Center, Love is Love Cooperative Farm, Power Solutions, Southface’s GoodUse program, and Drawdown Georgia. Beyond their day-to-day roles and job titles, each person brings their story and life experience to show a different side of climate problem-solving—not focused simply on emissions and solutions, but on people who are striving to build a more healthy, more equitable, and more just world but who have often gone unheard.
Do you want to receive Drawdown’s Neighborhood: Atlanta in your inbox when it launches in mid-November? Sign up here to receive Drawdown’s Neighborhood updates and, if you’d like, share ideas for how you want to use the series in your classroom or community.
