Events

NECI holds a variety of virtual events to connect Extension professionals across the country. Together, we learn, share experiences, and strategize how to advance climate action at the local, state, and federal levels.

Professional Development Webinars

This one-hour meeting has the following framework: brief updates and an introduction from one of our NECI Executive Committee members (5 minutes), a featured speaker sharing about climate change science, research, and/or communication for Extension educators (40 minutes), and a question/answer and discussion session (15 minutes). Learn more and see recordings of previous webinars.

Upcoming Webinar

Data Centers and Climate Change: Drivers and Impacts
Erik Nordman, Michigan State University Institute of Public Utilities
Tuesday, February 17, 2026, 1:00pm ET

So-called “hyperscale” data centers are being proposed and constructed across the country. These facilities use large amounts of electricity and water to cool the powerful computers that answer AI prompts. This webinar will explore why data centers require so much energy and water, how data centers may affect local water supplies and regional electricity grids, and the potential for data centers to reduce or eliminate their climate impacts.

Climate and Communities Webinars

In spring 2025, the NECI Curriculum Working Group hosted a webinar series on the third Wednesday of each month. These Climate and Communities Webinars featured speakers from across the country who work on topics such as civic engagement, state-level climate policy, environmental justice, and more. Learn more and see recordings of the webinars.

Member Engagement Meetings

This one-hour meeting is intended to serve as a safe space to share ideas, obstacles, and solutions to advance climate change outreach in Extension through casual, facilitated discussion. We also use this space to share updates and discuss progress on our Extension Climate Change Action Items and work from the Working Groups. These meetings are NOT recorded. We begin with a reflection on the last Professional Development meeting and member ideas for how to incorporate content into our Extension programming, followed by member sharing of ideas, obstacles, and solutions to advance climate change outreach in Extension.

This meeting is on the last Thursday of every month at 2:00 pm ET via Microsoft Teams. If you are on our listserv, look for a calendar invite for the meetings resuming in fall 2025. Contact Paul Lachapelle with any questions.

Executive Committee Meetings

The NECI Executive Committee is tasked with oversight of the Initiative, and its meetings are open to any participant of the NECI network.

The Executive Committee meets for 1.5 hours every month on the second Wednesday at 3:00 PM ET. If you are interested in attending an Executive Committee meeting, email nat.ext.climate.initiative@gmail.com.

Advancing Climate Action Across the Extension System

Alongside the Extension Committee on Organization and Policy’s Climate Priority Action Team and the Extension Foundation, we held three online events in summer 2025 as a climate action convening for Extension professionals across the country. The intent was to further actions put forth in the 2024 National Extension Climate Change White Paper. This free series was made possible with support from the New Technologies for Ag Extension (NTAE) program.