Data-driven insights, community stories, and policy analysis from the front lines of climate action.
Showing 30 of 30 articles ·~176 min total reading time
When we talk about climate resilience, the conversation often centers on infrastructure. But our data shows that community gardens deliver measurable climate, health, and social benefits that infrastructure alone cannot.
Our 2026 cohort includes eight extraordinary young people from across Oregon, each bringing unique skills and perspectives to the challenge of building climate-resilient communities.
2026 is shaping up to be a pivotal year for state-level climate policy. Here are the bills and regulatory actions that will have the greatest impact on communities like ours.
Environmental organizations that cannot rigorously measure their impact cannot credibly claim to be making one. Here is how TerraFuture approaches the challenge of quantifying environmental outcomes.
Pollinator decline threatens one-third of our food supply. Our three-year monitoring study across 42 community gardens shows that even small urban green spaces can serve as critical refugia for native bee populations.
Most communities know they need to adapt to climate change but lack the tools to assess their specific vulnerabilities and prioritize investments. Our open-source toolkit changes that, and it is free for anyone to use.
Oregon DEQ operates 6 air quality monitors for all of Portland. Our network of 84 low-cost sensors reveals pollution variations of up to 340% within a single neighborhood — disparities that regulatory monitors cannot detect.
Portland has 1,200 acres of vacant and underutilized land suitable for food production. Our analysis shows that activating just 30% of that land could supply fresh vegetables to 26,000 food-insecure households.
When 42 high school students walked into the Oregon State Capitol, they brought data, personal stories, and specific policy asks. Three legislators have since committed to co-sponsoring the climate education bill our students championed.
Can Oregon's grid handle 80% renewable energy by 2035? Our modeling says yes — but only with 2.4 GW of battery storage, upgraded transmission corridors, and demand response programs reaching 15% of peak load.
In 2024, TerraFuture reached 18,400 community members, published 6 peer-reviewed studies, trained 250 green workforce participants, and measurably reduced emissions by an estimated 2,840 metric tons of CO2 equivalent. Here is the full accounting.
Food waste in landfills generates 14% of US methane emissions. Our community composting program kept 50 tons of organic waste out of the landfill this year, turning a climate problem into a community resource.
Between 2020 and 2024, Oregon's net in-migration increased 23% from states experiencing severe climate impacts. Our analysis quantifies the climate signal in migration data and projects what it means for the region's future.
We sampled 18 waterways over two years and processed 432 water samples. The results reveal microplastic concentrations of up to 847 particles per liter in urban streams — concentrations that raise serious questions about aquatic ecosystem health.
Eight high school fellows spent six months analyzing TriMet ridership data and interviewing 200 transit-dependent residents. Their policy brief argues that fare-free transit would reduce transportation emissions by 4.2% while eliminating a regressive cost burden on low-income riders.
Isolated habitat patches support 40-60% fewer species than connected ones of equivalent size. Our Urban Biodiversity Corridor project is stitching Portland's fragmented green spaces into a functional ecological network.
The 2021 heat dome killed 96 people in Oregon. Climate projections show events of similar magnitude will occur every 6 to 10 years. Our analysis reveals that community-based preparedness, not just cooling centers, is the key to preventing future deaths.
The clean energy transition will create an estimated 14,000 new jobs in Oregon by 2030. Our workforce training program is ensuring that those jobs are accessible to the communities that have been excluded from the fossil fuel economy.
Oregon aims for 250,000 registered EVs by 2025, but our analysis reveals that charging infrastructure gaps and affordability barriers are concentrating EV adoption in affluent, predominantly white neighborhoods.
Government agencies monitor water quality at just 12 sites across Portland's 34 named streams. Our volunteer network fills that gap, generating data that has already triggered two regulatory investigations and informed a $2.1 million stormwater upgrade.
On March 23, 500 volunteers descended on 6 restoration sites across Portland and planted 2,000 native trees, shrubs, and groundcovers. Here is what we accomplished and why these numbers matter for long-term ecosystem health.
Environmental burdens do not fall equally. Our new Environmental Justice Index maps 23 indicators across Portland's 95 neighborhoods, revealing that communities of color face pollution exposure rates 2.7 times higher than predominantly white neighborhoods.
The top meter of Earth's soil holds more carbon than the atmosphere and all plant life combined. Our three-year study across 46 Willamette Valley sites quantifies just how much carbon healthy soil management can sequester.
When we asked 62 high school students to transform climate data into art, they produced work that communicates the urgency of the crisis more powerfully than any policy brief. Here are the highlights from our inaugural exhibition.
Our winter energy audit program assessed 420 households and found that the average home was losing 34% of its heating energy through addressable inefficiencies. The fixes are simpler and cheaper than most people expect.
COP28 produced the first-ever agreement to transition away from fossil fuels. But what does that language actually mean for organizations like TerraFuture working on climate action at the local level? We break down what matters.
Western conservation has spent decades catching up to what Indigenous communities have practiced for millennia. Our partnership with the Confederated Tribes of Grand Ronde is producing measurable results that challenge conventional restoration approaches.
Nearly 60% of Portland households are renters who cannot install their own solar panels. Our new community solar program changes that equation, bringing clean energy savings to neighborhoods that have been locked out of the solar revolution.
Our new LiDAR-based analysis of Portland's urban tree canopy reveals that the neighborhoods most vulnerable to extreme heat have 62% less canopy coverage than affluent areas just miles away.
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