Climate Connections: Year-end reflections
Abby Huseth, Susan Teitelman, Shanti Devins, and Amy Cilimburg
As 2025 ends, it’s a natural time for reflection – for looking back at all that’s transpired and looking ahead to the hopes and promise of a new year.
In the world of climate advocacy and solutions, there’s plenty to reflect on. Here at Climate Smart Missoula, our work covers a lot of ground, and we strive to stay current on wider climate trends – from on-the-ground solutions, to communications strategies, to advocacy - that influence our local efforts.
For this final Climate Connections column of the year, we four staff share our perspectives on three questions:
- What was your biggest highlight of 2025?
- What are you looking forward to in 2026?
- What’s taking up space in your brain right now?
Abby
My 2025 highlight is all things SOLAR! On a local level, I got to host a Solar House Party during Climate Solutions Week with 15 neighbors, join the global Sun Day celebrations on September 21st, and encourage several friends along their solar journeys. And despite the federal administration’s attacks on clean energy, it continued to shine this year: renewables & battery storage made up 91% of new additions to the grid, 50% of which was solar!
I’m really looking forward to our next Climate Ambassadors Training, coming up February 12th! This training, which we piloted last spring, then offered again during Climate Solutions Week, has been such a great way to connect with folks and help more of our community plug into local efforts and find climate solutions that get them motivated and excited. RSVP now to join us!
What’s on my mind right now is water – too much, not enough, or not the right kind. The recent catastrophic flooding in Washington state and Northern California has barely gotten any national news coverage – it’s absolutely wild how much rain these storms have dropped, with climate change loading the dice. Meanwhile, our weird warm weather and rain over the last few weeks has been really depressing. It’s hard not to be sad about the third year in a row my kids haven’t had a white Christmas, and to wonder how winters of the future will be different. I’m thinking about how important it is to have collective space to share our climate emotions – something we’re hoping to offer more of, with partners, in 2026.
Susan
I have two highlights for 2025! First, the Trees for Missoula program planted 30 trees in the Northside and Franklin to the Fort neighborhoods, both of which have a lower tree canopy compared to other parts of Missoula. Second is implementing the Heat Watch citizen science campaign. In August, our collaborative Stay Cool Missoula team and rockstar volunteers collected heat data throughout Missoula County. This data will be used to help our community plan and prepare for increasing heat. Preparing for rising temperatures and growing our tree canopy are two efforts to help Missoula become climate resilient – work which I’m looking forward to continuing next year!
Looking forward to 2026: I’m excited to grow Trees for Missoula’s volunteer programs. Volunteers can help plant and prune trees, steward our native plant restoration site, or become tree ambassadors. Our Tree Ambassadors program is an effort to ensure equitable distribution of trees across Missoula’s neighborhoods. Tree ambassadors can help care for newly planted trees, educate residents about tree care, and help with advocacy efforts. We also know how important it is to prune our existing trees to maintain a healthy urban forest. In that spirit, we’re kicking off the year with a community pruning workshop on January 22nd. It’s free and open to the public, so join us to learn this cool and much-needed skill!
At the top of my mind lately are the policy changes happening at the City of Missoula and the climate opportunities therein. Currently, a new zoning map and updated development code are being considered by City Council. As our community grows, we know it’s important to have ample trees, parks, and greenspace to ensure a climate-resilient city, so we’re advocating for strong green infrastructure in the Unified Development Code. Climate Smart Missoula will continue to offer input on City projects that align with our climate goals, and we’ll continue to inform the community about ways to speak up and get involved in the planning process.
Shanti
My 2025 highlight: I had a blast during our third-annual Climate Solutions Week. Our goal was to foster a lineup of programs to help everyone find their place in the climate movement, from fashion to farming, crafting to mental health resilience. And you all showed up! With over 1,300 participants across 22 public events, we found joy in coming together to build a better future. Your presence, creativity and determination really buoyed me during a tough year for climate action nationally.
Looking forward to 2026: Climate impacts all sectors and we can multi-solve by addressing climate change in a way that also bolsters affordable housing, public health, equity and community resilience. We’re excited to bring this cohesion to a long-standing event by expanding our “Electrify” homes tour into a broader “Resilient Homes Tour.” We’ll still be showcasing and championing electrification efforts and solar, in addition to touring homes that have implemented wildfire preparedness measures, improved their indoor air quality and embraced resilient landscaping. Make sure you’re signed up for our e-newsletter to get more details about this May event!
I’m perpetually thinking about better ways to communicate about climate issues and the many, many solutions we have. We can get this right, but the momentum and speed with which we must act means solutions need to go viral ASAP. I’m taking inspiration from very different influences and trying to find what resonates with Montanans. My favorite tactic is using humor to make climate solutions accessible.
I loved making five short, ridiculous climate-positive loves stories this summer and I’ll make Season 2 this spring (if you’ve yet to see Season 1, watch it now!) I’m also challenging myself to bring more loss messaging into our communications. The team at Potential Energy released an impactful report showing that messages emphasizing how much we have to lose, and how much has already been lost, are much more effective at getting people to take action.
I’ll be exploring different communication tactics next year and welcome your feedback, social sharing and influence. We know that no matter what, talking about climate change is one of the most impactful things we can do. So be bold and strike up the conversation when you can.
Amy
My 2025 highlight: Without question – our 10 Year Anniversary + Celebration earlier this month. I founded Climate Smart Missoula a decade ago, with the help of this community, and we’ve grown, thrived and navigated our way through the ups and downs of climate efforts because of this community. Thank you to all who have stepped up, partnering or donating or offering advice or new ideas, giving hugs when the challenges feel mighty, or helping us see humor in the absurdity. At our anniversary gathering we celebrated with our Smarty Pants awardees, bringing home once again that it’s all of us together acting with love for our community and the future.
Looking forward to 2026: Our team is ready to launch into the next decade! I’m particularly stoked to grow our long-standing, but under-invested, carbon offset Footprint Fund to help our low-income neighbors or other nonprofits save energy, weatherize buildings, electrify or go solar. This program has not only demonstrated success but is primed for growth to meet community needs, especially with limited funding due to federal rollbacks. Stay tuned for ways to help us go big in 2026!
It’s a wild ride in my brain right now – reveling in the thoughts of the snow I found with my family in Oregon, sad about the Missoula rain, and excited for a new year of climate action. The absurdity of the feds shutting down wind farms, threatening the closure of the essential National Center for Atmospheric Research, and the explosion of energy-hungry data centers is mixed with still expanding solar, democracy rising, and new approaches for our efforts. Take for example our joining PSC regulatory efforts and litigation – new levers we at Climate Smart Missoula are ready to pull to help protect residents and small businesses from data center and fossil energy greed. Our strategy to remain nimble, curious, and resolved keeps my brain focused. Onward!
JOIN US
All of us at Climate Smart Missoula know that 2025 has been an incredibly challenging year for climate action. Cuts to critical scientific research, the abrupt cancellation of solar and electrification tax credits, pulling back critical grant funding for communities – these blows to progress have been incredibly disheartening. And at the same time, our community has chosen connection and action over fear, stepping up time and again.
We’re going to need that spirit of hope and determination even more in the coming year – join us for upcoming events, sign up for our newsletter, donate to support our work (it matters!), and please keep in touch.
Shanti Devins, Susan Teitelman, Amy Cilimburg and Abby Huseth are the staff of Climate Smart Missoula. Climate Smart Missoula brings this Climate Connections column to you twice per month. Learn more about what we do, sign up for our e-newsletter, or support our work at missoulaclimate.org.