About Us

Beginning explorations began in January 2014 when a small SOCAN team interested in the idea of a course on climate change met to kick around ideas. Since SOCAN was established with a strong focus on science-based information and education, this idea seemed a perfect match to address both our emphases and increase the number of area residents who not only understood the science behind climate change, but also had an interest in sharing their ideas with others. The name, Master Climate Protector was identified at this time and a sign-up sheet was created to seek others who might be interested.

It wasn’t until 2016, after a series of diversions, that the first Master Climate Protector planning meeting was held in earnest. From an initial list of 23 possible topics we whittled down to 10 sessions that were first offered as the Master Climate Protector Pilot in February 2017. The planning team agreed to make the presentations and prepared the material for each of the sessions.

The participants of the Pilot did not pay, but agreed to offer suggestions for improvement. This was very valuable; with their input, the second MCP course began in September 2017 with a $100 registration fee but scholarships available to those interested. After this, we decided to offer the course once a year  from February through April, allowing graduates to share their knowledge and skills at such events as  Earth Day and July 4th. The course has been offered annually since then, in person until 2020 when the COVID-19 pandemic erupted and we switched to  Zoom, a format we adopted also in 2021 and 2022.