Following Los Angeles Climate Week, I headed north to attend San Francisco Climate Week. Over the course of the week, I attended events on AI, communications, ocean solutions, pesticides, and policy. With such a wide variety of events and topics, the common thread was pretty clear: climate work is all interconnected and our progress really does depend on how we can bridge and cross-pollinate industries, skills, and even everyday actions. Below are five events that stayed with me even after I returned home.

Re:wild Your Campus - Beyond: Imagining Toxics-Free Landscaping

Walking Softer’s Young Leaders Program Alum, Mackenzie Feldman, hosted a short-film screening for her organization Re:wild Your Campus. The twelve-minute film really captured both the intention and the behind-the-scenes work that goes into rewilding campuses and creating a healthier environment for groundskeepers, students, and surrounding communities. What stood out the most to me is how clearly the film showed why this work matters, especially for the groundskeepers on campuses across the country…which I had not really considered before in climate conversations, before watching. It highlighted the direct impact that conventional landscaping practices and the use of pesticides have on the health and safety of both the people and the environment. That perspective added a very human layer to this work, shifting the conversation from something exclusive to the environment to something deeply tied to health, safety, and even the dignity of workers and communities. Re:wild Your Campus’s film “Beyond: Imagining Toxics-Free Landscaping” broadened my understanding of who is affected and should be centered most in the conversations surrounding pesticides and landscaping. 

Climatebase Social

As the primary organizer and team behind the whole week, Climatebase has built much more than just a week-long calendar full of events. The organization has truly cultivated a space for connection, community, and opportunity. To kick off the week, I had the opportunity to attend their Climatebase social/happy hour…and although you are probably wondering why I included a happy hour in my list of events that stuck with me, this event actually ended up being one of the most impactful spaces of the week. In a setting that felt slightly more informal and approachable, over one hundred people - from founders, researchers, and investors to interns and job seekers - came together not just for networking purposes, but to genuinely connect before the pace of the week picked up. I found that conversations here flowed much more organically than at perhaps more formal panels. Many exchanged LinkedIns later, I can definitely say that this was one of the most interactive and connective events from my time at SF Climate Week. Thank you to the Climatebase social for reminding me that some of the most meaningful moments during such a serious week don’t always happen on stages and panels. 

Connecting Textiles to Climate: Inspiring Brands, Policymakers, and Consumers

The 5 Gyres Institute, in partnership with ecomedes and Silicon Valley Bank, hosted a session addressing microfiber pollution with speakers. Microfiber, the most widespread type of microplastic pollution, is a serious issue that is being acknowledged more and more through panels like this and popular documentaries such as Netflix’s The Plastic Detox. Hearing from speakers across science, materials innovation, and industry really made the issue easier to digest and actually learn more about what we can do about it. From capturing microfibers before they even enter waterways to redesigning textiles to shed fewer fibers, the conversation highlighted solutions that were already in motion. What stuck with me most is how overlooked this issue is, even though we come into contact with things like microfibers and microfibers every day, and also how the panel made the session feel hopeful by providing practical advice on how attendees can take part in solutions in our personal lives.