Community Environmental Council Recruits Winter Class of Climate Stewards
Winter 2026 session is now open for enrollment
SANTA BARBARA, Calif (January 13, 2026) – The Community Environmental Council (CEC) opened enrollment for the next session of its Climate Stewards certification course, designed to engage and empower individuals on the Central Coast to take meaningful climate action. CEC is proud to be the first and only nonprofit in the region to deliver the Climate Stewards certification program in partnership with the UC Environmental Stewards program, and one of only a handful across the state.
“At a time when federal support for climate action is shrinking, communities are increasingly being asked to lead,” said Kathi King, Course Instructor and CEC’s Director of Outreach and Education. “The Climate Stewards program builds the local capacity needed to meet the climate crisis head-on, empowering people to take meaningful action and drive solutions in their own communities.”
The course is open to all — teachers, high school and college students, non-profit staff, entrepreneurs, retirees, and community members are encouraged to enroll. The Winter 2026 course will meet weekly from January 27 through March 17, 2026. Prospective participants are invited to sign up online to join the next cohort of Climate Stewards. The eight-week program equips stewards with the tools to be a part of shaping a more sustainable Central Coast.
Class sessions are held online via Zoom on Tuesdays from 6:30 – 8:30 pm PST; the course also includes a few in-person field trips, mostly on Saturdays. The Winter 2026 cohort will have the opportunity to collaborate with the Santa Barbara Bucket Brigade — a volunteer organization providing community-led disaster response, restoration, and resilience — at their Elings Park Humanitarian garden. The 40+ hour course curriculum will include online modules, peer-to-peer discussions, small group activities, hands-on and inquiry-based activities, and experiential learning. Participants will gain access to climate action resources and ways to engage with the movement — and will graduate with a better understanding of the psychology and science behind climate change and the knowledge to effectively communicate the climate crisis.
The course curriculum also includes a Stewardship Project that allows participants to explore their interests. Past projects have succeeded in adding climate programs and messaging at foundations, large nonprofits, city governments and retirement communities. Many course graduates have gone on to integrate climate action into their professional and volunteer efforts.
Lauren Leland, a Spring 2025 cohort graduate, channeled her passion for climate justice into a Stewardship Project to hold fossil fuel companies accountable for the damages caused by greenhouse gas emissions. Inspired by national campaigns and local wildfire impacts, Lauren collaborated with Climate First: Replacing Oil & Gas (CFROG) in Ventura to expand the Make Polluters Pay campaign into Santa Barbara. She facilitated dozens of meetings and helped coordinate a student walkout, amplifying youth voices in advocating for the Board of Supervisors to support California’s Polluters Pay Climate Superfund Act.
“The course provides the tools and community to help someone move from passion into action,” said Lauren. “Becoming a Climate Steward gave me a solid foundation in climate science and communications as well as a clear view of the solutions across California that are working and how we can replicate or build on them.”
The course fee is $360 and covers part of the cost of instructor time for classes and field trips, as well as fees to the UC Environmental Stewards statewide program. Scholarships are available to Central Coast residents who express financial need and for 2026, nine full scholarships are available for K-12 teachers in Santa Barbara County.
Learn more about CEC's Climate Stewards program and sign up here: cecsb.org/climate-stewards
About the Community Environmental Council (CEC)
CEC advances rapid and equitable solutions to the climate crisis —including ambitious zero carbon goals, drawdown of excess carbon, and protection against the impacts of climate change. CEC was recognized as a 2020 California Nonprofit of the Year and a City of Santa Barbara Climate Hero, and is led by CEO Sigrid Wright who was recently named 2022 Congressional Woman of the Year. CEC has worked since 1970 to incubate and innovate real life environmental solutions that directly affect the California Central Coast. Our programs lead to clean vehicles, solar energy, resilient food systems and reduction of single-use plastic. Learn more about the work of CEC and why it receives high ratings from both Charity Navigator and Guidestar at CECSB.org/impact. Find CEC on the web at CECSB.org and on Facebook.com/CECSB, Instagram.com/CEC_SB, and Linkedin.com/company/cecsb/.
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