How We've Helped
Building Bridges for Energy Efficiency
At the Green Boot Camp organized by ISC and Living Cities, local leaders had the opportunity to focus and take time away from their usual routine. For many cities, this opportunity became course-changing. The breakthrough experienced by Val Jensen and his colleagues from Chicago is one such example.
more
Creating New Economic Opportunity on the Gulf Coast
ISC launched the Gulf Coast Sustainable Economies Leadership Academy to help smaller, primarily low-income communities explore how energy efficiency, renewable energy, and ecological restoration can revitalize their economies. 20 communities from across Florida, Alabama, Mississippi, and Louisiana sent teams to the Academy.
view slide show
The Life Cycles of Food and Clothing
To help primary school students understand how they can make a difference in their daily lives, ISC added two lessons to our Education for Sustainable Development curriculum: a food education workshop, which helps students understand the life cycle of the food they eat; and a clothing campaign, to illuminate the environmental impacts of producing and buying new clothes.
view slide show
Creating Lasting Change in Kosovo
In spring 2011, the civil sector in Kosovo celebrated its many successes, drawing public attention to the ways in which local civil society organizations are working to achieve a healthier environment, more responsive government, opportunities for youth, and a more peaceful nation.
view slide show
Urban Miners: Roma Scrap Collectors Press for Recognition
Scrap collectors in Serbia—long looked down upon by the rest of society—are banding together to earn better wages, work under safer conditions, and find dignity in their work. Their efforts play a crucial role in keeping recyclables out of landfills, and serve as as a source of income for many of the poorest populations, particularly Roma.
view slide show
Prosperity, Equity and Sustainability: Transforming Regional Development
At the Sustainable Communities Boot Camp, ISC brought together nearly 150 people—including senior officials from 13 U.S. regions and the Obama administration—to help develop new regional development approaches that integrate social, economic, and environmental priorities.
more
Green Roof Retrofits: Lowering Temperatures and Reducing Emissions in China
ISC's pilot green roof project is retrofitting 60 residential buildings in the community of Guanlan, in Guangdong's Shenzen city. Together, these buildings will reduce greenhouse gas emissions by up to 75 metric tons every year.
view slide show
“Win-Win” Solutions for Climate Adaptation & Resilience
Climate adaptation is a complex challenge: it requires resources, long-term thinking, action and leadership across sectors and jurisdictions. ISC's fourth U.S. Climate Leadership Academy helped 16 city and regional teams confront the challenge by developing strategies to become more healthy, resilient, and prosperous as they confront the local effects of climate disruption.
more
Launching Kosovo's EcoMovement
EcoMovement is the first grassroots, community-based network in Kosovo that can address environmental issues and challenges on a national level. Utilizing hands-on approaches such as park and river clean-ups, as well as hiking and cycling tours that promote alternatives to automobiles, the network is helping ordinary citizens see the local, tangible impacts of their environmental protection efforts.
view slide show
Developing Low Carbon Cities in China
ISC held its first two Climate Leadership Academies in China, one in each of the country’s most industrialized provinces, Guangdong and Jiangsu. The trainings focused on low carbon city planning and development, and brought together senior municipal officials and other local leaders from 18 cities to help them create low carbon action plans.
more
Building the “Next American Economy”
Our third Climate Leadership Academy focused on helping cities and regions across the country ramp up their efforts to develop clean energy economies and create green jobs. Senior officials and community leaders from 15 U.S. cities were in attendance.
more
Shaping Macedonia’s Future
In Spring 2010, ISC celebrated 15 years in Macedonia by completing a five-year project that helped make Macedonia’s civil society—the nonprofit sector—a more effective, influential, and permanent partner alongside government and businesses in shaping the country today and in the future.
view slide show
In China, the Next Generation Takes on Climate Change
In the town of Doumen, Guangdong Province, more than 400 primary school students attended an evening workshop celebrating energy efficiency along with their families, teachers and fellow community members. The workshop featured dancing, games, videos, and displays of student projects—all aimed at helping community members understand the impact of their individual energy choices.
view slide show
Rebuilding Sustainably on the Gulf Coast
The third meeting of ISC's Gulf Coast Sustainable Communities Network focused on helping communities utilize creative strategies to rebuild their neighborhoods and organizations sustainably. The meeting took place in the historic Holy Cross District of New Orleans' Lower 9th Ward, which local advocates and organizations are transforming into a model for Gulf Coast communities looking to make themselves stronger than they were before Hurricane Katrina.
view slide show
Paving the Way for Green Transportation
ISC's second Climate Leadership Academy focused on transportation efficiency, smart growth and urban development. It brought together teams of senior municipal, regional and state officials from 16 metropolitan areas around the country to tackle transportation-related carbon emissions, which are responsible for nearly a third of all greenhouse gas emissions nationwide.
more
Young Kosovars Reach for the Future
23 young Kosovars attended the Kosovo Summer Youth Leadership Academy, a unique residential program for high school students who are dedicated to improving the lives of their peers in Europe's youngest country. The academy brought together a regionally and ethnically diverse mix of Kosovo’s youth, and helped prepare them to be effective leaders and agents of change in their home country.
more
The Green Boot Camp
Together with Living Cities, ISC organized a Green Boot Camp at Harvard's Kennedy School—an intensive training and peer-learning program for senior climate, energy and economic development officials from 16 U.S. cities. City leaders rolled up their sleeves to save energy and create green jobs, focusing on promising practices for improving, accelerating, and scaling up integrated building energy retrofits. The boot camp is part of ISC's Climate Leadership Academy.
more
Environmental Educators Get Fresh Ideas
Educators from the U.S. and China traveled to Nishinomiya, Japan for a study exchange to learn about implementing school-based environmental programs, and how those programs can support energy efficiency in the broader community.
view slide show
Rebuilding After the Sichuan Earthquake
ISC is helping people in Sichuan use the devastating 2008 earthquake as an opportunity to rebuild thoughtfully and sustainably, explore ways they can live and work in better harmony with their natural surroundings, use fewer resources, and build healthier and more resilient communities for future generations.
view slide show
Serbia's Green List
Twelve nonprofits in Serbia band together with businesses, festival organizers, and even the Army to turn the tide on illegal dumping and inspire environmental awareness.
view slide show
Two Years After Katrina
FOCUS, a new community organization in Moss Point plays the critical role of uniting the community and connecting citizens. Their vision? A resilient Moss Point that can thrive in the face of future challenges.
view slide show
The Business Leaders Forum: Companies Pioneer Corporate Social Responsibility in Serbia
Company executives from across Serbia came together to launch a Business Leaders Forum that will stimulate socially responsible practice among companies in Serbia, supporting and encouraging companies—and their employees—to contribute to social and environmental causes as part of their everyday operations.
view slide show
Turning Crisis into Opportunity
Like its neighbors along the Gulf Coast, the city of Moss Point, Mississippi suffered tremendous devastation during Hurricane Katrina. Today, ISC is helping city officials become stronger leaders, a fledgling nonprofit grow to better serve its community, and the city's poorest neighborhoods—severely flooded by Katrina—engage in the rebuilding process.
view slide show
Saving Energy, Improving Lives
Our locally based approach to energy efficiency in Russia is yielding dramatic drops in CO2 and saving millions of rubles—proving that what is good for the climate is good for the community.
view slide show
Clean Air, Healthy Children
The Russian city of Nizhnii Tagil straddles the border where Europe ends and Asia begins. Like many places where ISC works, it also marks the dividing line between a toxic past and a sustainable future.
view slide show
We never come to a country or community and say, "This is how you do it." We always take great pains to engage the local people and to work with local nonprofits. While we can't provide all the answers, we can offer some hope, some technical assistance and education that can help people solve their own problems.
— Madeleine M. Kunin
Board Member and Founder, ISC
