LEBANON — Aiming to have a local impact on a global problem, the Climate Change Leadership Academy is currently accepting applications for its Class of 2022.

Having “graduated” 35 students after the pilot launched in 2019, the Academy, also known as 2CLA, is now in its third year of training Upper Valley residents to design and lead local solutions to climate change.

The academy hopes to attract Upper Valley residents, from across age, towns and lived experience, who are passionate about climate change mitigation at the community level.

“This is supposed to be small-scale,” Gabrielle Smith said. Smith is the the academy project manager for Vital Communities, which runs the course along with the Upper Valley Climate Adaptation Work Group, a group of local organizations and leaders working together to build climate resilient communities in the region.

“But if enough people are thinking and acting on the community level, that’s how you start to see behavior and attitude shifts in the way people respond to climate change.”

Twenty-five Upper Valley residents will be selected to attend sessions every other week, from Sept. 20 through Dec. 6. Some classes meet in person in Lebanon, and others occur virtually.

The six sessions include group discussion and collaborative work opportunities to explore mitigation and adaptation strategies, and presentations from climate scientists and environmental justice experts focused on the effects of climate change that are already beginning to impact the Upper Valley. In between sessions, participants spend time reading and researching within a specially prepared curriculum.

This all contributes to the primary aim of the Climate Change Leadership Academy: Throughout the course, each participant identifies and designs a climate-related project within their own community to execute after the sessions wrap up.

Past projects have included a booklet on climate change and forests published by the Marsh-Billings-Rockefeller National Historic Site and a new pollinator garden in Colburn Park.

“The essence of 2CLA is really to help take a global issue, one that can feel and is really big, and instead generate ideas that come from the ground up,” Smith said.

Smith hopes that Upper Valley residents who are passionate about climate change mitigation at the community level will view this as an opportunity to support their neighbors and local businesses, and to implement actions that will make a difference.

“We also have a broad definition of what leadership can look like,” Smith said. “It doesn’t always mean that you’re up front,” Smith said.

“No one’s forced to work on anything that they aren’t excited about.”

Leadership training included in the course runs from driving community engagement events to recruiting and coordinating volunteers. The program is free for participants, and also offers a $200 stipend for expenses that might prevent someone from participating, such as child care or transportation.

“If this could interest you, reach out and ask questions,” Smith said. “The push for us right now is trying to get as many people aware of what this is, and to see 2CLA as an opportunity that is possible for them.”

Applications, which are due August 15, can be found online at vitalcommunities.org/ 2cla.

Frances Mize is a Report for America corps member. She can be reached at fmize@vnews.com or 603-727-3242.