be thinking, that's what I've been studying and that's what I do. I very carefully frame it. So, I don't think it was [the Dean’s] priority and it definitely isn't the Director of Extension’s right now. I don't think our [Director of Extension] really thinks it's a priority or a burning crisis , which has been frustrating.” (R11) ● “I've gotten invited to come out into some of the hardest places to talk about this and have big, big discussions about it. Senator (NAME) was at one of the river watershed meetings and it was all about climate change, because our local Extension Directors were like ‘ we can't not talk about th is anymore. We've got to have this discussion.’ ” (R04) Sense of Urgency to Invest & Act on C/EW Issues Collectively, interview respondents felt that there is a widespread lack of urgency from within the Cooperative Extension Service to act on climate change and extreme weather issues in a unified and strategic way. Compounding this institutional challenge, they noted a commensurate lack of financial investment from Extension leadership for both personnel/salaried full-time employees (FTEs) dedicated to climate and extreme weather issues and for costs of program development, delivery, and evaluation. For example, very few Extension faculty lines are dedicated to climate programming specifically (or with ‘climate’ in the position title) and this makes it dif ficult to scale and replicate successful programs within or beyond institutions and states. ● “When I was doing the work and reaching out to Extension educators, that's where I found the ones who weren't interested... And I don't know if there's a shift where people aren't interested in it or just more people just realized this is how it is now and it's part of what we do... But by and large it's not an issue [within Extension]. I've been at it for twenty years and we need to make it a more central part of education because it's not going away. ” (R07)
● “I think there is sometimes a sense of like, ‘ I don't have the support to [deliver a] program about this’ or ‘I don’t know how I would’ …that sort of thing.” (R03)
●
“ We do need, at the very least, a core group of people , agents, specialists, and researchers working together on addressing climate change i mpacts on each state.” (R14) “You know there's this concept of safe spaces and this concept of brave spaces and it's especially used in I think some of the racial justice work. Like how we can
●
36
Powered by FlippingBook