Climate Classes DC
Our Mission
Climate Classes DC is a growing local community that empowers individuals to address climate change by learning and sharing sustainable life skills together.
Our History
Climate Classes volunteers came together for their first meeting in early March 2020. With the onset of the pandemic, the group shifted online and adapted to several different formats to start conversations and to distribute information about climate change and about local resources to combat climate change in the Washington DC, Maryland, and Virginia region. In the past two years, Climate Classes has held several online, in-person, and hybrid events, including online cooking demonstrations and panel discussions on clean energy and the fashion industry. Since its founding, Climate Classes has prioritized listening to and engaging with diverse communities of stakeholders and has partnered with local and national groups, including Remake, Anacostia High School, and the Friends of Anacostia Park.
Board of Directors
Katherine Christopher (she/her/hers) is a founding member of Climate Classes and serves as the Chairperson. As Chairperson, Katherine leads the overall operations and facilitates the growth of the organization. She has resided in Washington, D.C. for 4 years and works as an attorney. Katherine can’t remember a time where she didn’t love being outdoors, and as she grew up, that evolved into her identification as an environmentalist. She began volunteering with a national environmental group in 2019, and from there, she was inspired to start an organization that focused on connecting with and building communities around understanding their connection to the environment and protecting it. Katherine has set a goal to visit every National Park in the United States
Elena Paredes (she/her/hers) is secretary for Citizen Climate Classes and contributes to the development of events for the group. Elena has lived in Washington, DC for over ten years (since 2003), with a two-year stint in Phoenix, Arizona as a Teach for America corps member and two years of working and living in Morocco. Elena works for an Arlington-based organization focused on promoting democracy and elections around the globe; her role primarily centers on designing and implementing data collection and analysis strategies to evaluate the effectiveness of programs implemented abroad. Elena was drawn to join Citizen Climate Classes because she sees climate change as the most pressing issue of our time, and believes that all world citizens can contribute to this shared goal in some way. In her spare time, Elena is an avid backpacker and outdoor enthusiast, obsessive home cook, and voracious listener of podcasts and audiobooks.
Bradley (Brad) Lusk (he/him/his) is a founding member of Climate Classes and serves as the chief financial officer. Brad co-leads the technical, media, and production aspects for the organization and organizes outreach and community service events with traditionally underrepresented communities. He has resided in Washington, D.C. since 2019, and works as an environmental specialist for the United States Agency for International Development via a fellowship with the American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS). Bradley is a serial entrepreneur, having founded four companies in the for-profit and nonprofit sectors. He also has a PhD in Biological Design from Arizona State University and has spent much of his life investigating how to use bacteria to build a carbon neutral circular bioeconomy. He is also interested in investigating the origins of life and has studied many thermophilic bacteria which are deeply rooted in the tree of life. Brad loves hiking, running, climbing, caving, and traveling, and has visited over thirty countries across the Earth. Brad is passionate about Science, Technology, Engineering, Arts, and Mathematics (STEAM) education, including the intersection of climate, engineering, and politics, and currently leads STEAM communication efforts through his non-profit organization Science The Earth.
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