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With all the doom and gloom that  surrounds the conversation on climate change, it is understandable for environmentally conscious people to feel as though they are powerless to make a difference. After all, climate change is an international crisis, and when you see headlines like this– Amazon forest felled to build road for climate summit from the BBC– you start to get a little cynical.

How can one individual in little Arkansas make a difference as the world faces an ongoing climate and ecological crisis? It’s a question I ask myself all the time, and a question that I hope guides my work as a journalist. 

And as Jo Elsken, a longtime Fort Smith resident and the chairwoman of the Arkansas Climate League, would tell you, one individual in Arkansas can make a difference. Especially when you organize with dozens of others, and make it a priority to invest in clean energy and conservation, regardless of the naysayers.

Elsken said she understands the cynicism, but she also said there are too many people in her community who don’t have power or a voice. Their need for advocacy, resources and empowerment keep her from sitting on her hands. Her background is in education, and she makes civic and environmental education workshops integral to their community work.

The Arkansas Climate League was founded in 2017 as a nonprofit to encourage cooperation between grassroots social justice advocacy and environmentalists across the state. The league is one of the only organizations in Arkansas that looks to center and uplift lower-income people and those from minority groups, while also investing in renewable energy and conservation.

“Our push, our mission, is to let Arkansans live in a healthy, sustainable environment,” Elsken said. “But we wanted to be different and go into the community to talk with them about the problems and help find solutions that work for them.”

And 2024 was their most successful year yet. After winning $360,000 in U.S. Department of Energy grants, the league was able to invest heavily in low-income Fort Smith communities. From 2023 to 2024, the organization’s revenue increased from around $35,000 to $413,000, with most of the increase from the federal government.

“We received the grant because of our authentic work in the community and our connections with a solar company and other community groups,” Elsken said. “They were impressed with our community engagement and our partnerships and our goal to bring green energy to people who didn’t think that it could be part of their lives.”

With the additional federal funding, the league was able to fund the installment of 187 solar panels at the Elizabeth McGill Center and Antioch for Youth and Family food bank, dropping utility costs by over $500 a month at the McGill Center. Both organizations work with low-income, and primarily Black, Fort Smith residents. Around $323,000 of the grant was used to build solar at McGill and Antioch, while the rest was to fund their weatherization program for low-income households.

They also opened a resource office inside the McGill Center to help low-income residents weatherize their homes and reduce their utility costs. They’ve run dozens of events, workshops, and conferences on environmental education, and their group collaborated with Antioch to revitalize the Charolette Tidwell community garden.

Elsken’s organization helped 35 low-income households weatherize the windows and doorways in their homes by the end of 2024. The league is now paying four people part-time to administer the program, and Elsken said they have about 14 consistent volunteers helping with events, community outreach and workshops.

Herbert McGill runs outreach on a part-time basis for the league, and is now directing the group’s resource center.

“I’m passionate about helping people in general,” McGill said. “‘There is no service like service to mankind’ is our motto, and being able to help people is a cornerstone of what we stand for. Joining and partnering with the climate league gave me more ability to do more in the community.”

McGill is the nephew of former state representative, now Fort Smith Mayor George McGill, and has run programming at the McGill Center for years, which was founded by his grandma. The solar investment at the McGill Center is allowing them to save money on energy costs, which they hope to soon reinvest in small business resources. 

He spends hours each week building relationships with businesses, nonprofits, churches and residents to connect low-income people with resources.

Looking forward with the Arkansas Climate League

Elsken said their biggest challenge moving forward would be raising enough money to sustain all of their growth over 2024. With four part-time employees and the weatherization program to run, the group needs to fundraise, especially with the grant running out.

The Arkansas Climate League has also drawn ire and opposition from many conservatives in the community. But Elsken doesn’t take it personally, and said part of their group’s success is building bridges with those conservatives at City Board meetings in Fort Smith. We previously reported on how Fort Smith just narrowly voted to implement their portion of a federal clean energy grant last December after fierce opposition from some residents.

“You catch more bees with honey,” Elsken said. “I like people and I like to find common ground on things. We don’t have to name-call to talk about how we feel. During confrontations I try to be conversational, and just say we have to agree to disagree sometimes. They feel emotional for a reason, it’s because they do care, they just have a different perspective.” 

She’s been at nearly every meeting of the Fort Smith City Board for months trying to build more support for clean energy initiatives and her group’s work. Central to her organizing is connecting with all people, whether they agree or not, decentralizing politics, and asking how they can make progress together.

Over the next year, Elsken hopes her organization can dive more into green energy workforce development work for young people, by trying to open up more apprenticeship opportunities and get young people thinking about career opportunities in solar and conservation.

On My Radar:

You don’t hear much talk about climate justice anymore, with a new sheriff in Washington, D.C. But just because the federal government has turned against climate justice, doesn’t mean it doesn’t matter. Or that we should stop talking about the disproportionate impacts climate change will have on low-income people.

If you are interested in a no-nonsense conversation about climate change and climate justice, I recommend the podcast Drilled. The podcast was started by investigative journalist Amy Westervelt in 2017 after she had the brilliant idea to do a true crime podcast about climate change. Now Drilled is an accessible, ongoing investigative project on climate change. I check them out weekly!

Subscribe to the Climate Watch Newsletter

The Arkansas Times Climate Watch is the first free newsletter in Arkansas dedicated to exploring how Arkansans are adapting to climate change. Subscribe to get it in your inbox twice a month.