This summer, I interned with the Climate Reality Project Canada (CRPC), headquartered in Montreal, for twelve weeks between May and July. I could not have asked for a better opportunity to pursue what interests me about politics and development - my hope with my field of study is to focus on sustainability in development and in equity and accountability in global climate policy. The Climate Reality Project was originally founded in 2006 by former US Vice President Al Gore, in an effort to find new ways to tackle governmental inertia on climate change. The organization seeks to mobilize community-level activists in a national and international network to increase the urgency of climate action across political, economic, social and other sectors. I hoped that, in working with this organization, I would get a chance to gain a more hands-on understanding of the processes involved in organizing national grassroots support for a cause, and to make a tangible and positive change in an issue area I care deeply about.
As an intern, I feel I was able to get out of this experience what I hoped to - CRPC was established in Montreal just three years ago in 2017 and the national office staff is still relatively small. As a result, I got to work closely with the people at the highest level of the organization and perform tasks that were of some significance. My official title was ‘Communications and Outreach Intern’ and my mandate was broadly to work on making the many resources gathered by the national headquarters more accessible and user-friendly for those just joining the organization. CRPC is unique from the US branch of the organization for its introduction of the Community Climate Hub (CCH) Initiative, a framework for citizens’ groups in Canadian municipalities to form local ‘Hubs’ which can lobby local government to adopt measurable sustainability goals and monitor progress along a series of implementation milestones. The Hubs vary in size but are generally led by a core team of six to eight ‘team captains’ who take on different roles and responsibilities (i.e. Data Analysis, Communications, Policy & Research). One of my primary duties as an intern was to develop team-specific briefing guides for team captains as they are onboarded to the CCH Initiative. These took the form of five-page PDF documents with (many) hyperlinks, explaining the various priorities of each team and where to find tools and resources to execute their roles. This was super fun and a highlight for me, because I felt I was getting to speak directly to the members of Hubs across Canada and provide them a jumping-off point for their participation.
While I would have been more than happy to receive credit for this internship, I had to forego this option in order to avoid surpassing my 150-credit limit as a Ã山ǿ¼é undergraduate (I have been trying to take advantage of all the possible credits I can fit into my degree because so many interesting courses are offered!). I can say that as I arrived at Ã山ǿ¼é, my interest in politics and development was more centered on human inequities (i.e. global health, economic underdevelopment, and education) but over my three years here, I have begun to shift more towards sustainability and global environmental policy. This internship reinforced my sense that more action is urgently needed to pressure Western governments to make and honour significant commitments to sustainability, and that this pressure needs to come from organized and coherent action on the part of citizens, with one strong and representative voice. I can predict my future path will certainly include work with more organizations focusing on climate action, perhaps including this one.
I was honored to receive the Lev Bukhman Internship Award in Arts, which seeks to help Faculty of Arts students gain experience in governance, microfinance and/or self-sustainability. The funds generously donated by Ms. Sokoloff and Mr. Bukhman helped me cover the cost of living in Montreal over the summer (due to the COVID-19 pandemic, my plans to return home to the US for part of the summer were altered). While living in Montreal during the summer and carrying out my internship remotely, I found that I was challenged by not being able to physically be in the CRPC offices and with the staff and fellow interns. I was able to participate in some team meetings with other interns to get to know them, and held weekly Zoom meetings with my supervisor, both of which helped me develop a sense of our team and belonging to the organization.
