American University School of Communication (AU SOC) professor Gemma Puglisi teaches the community-based learning course, Public Relations Portfolio Capstone, every semester. This class starts by identifying a nonprofit in the DC community that the aspiring professionals in her class can help by putting their skills to use. Puglisi told the class about Jeffrey James Madison, who is the director of technology at SOC, an adjunct professor at AU, and the founder of The Climate, Inc. and The Climate Daily podcast. As a former pilot, Madison remembers flying over Louisiana after Hurricane Katrina and seeing the damage from a bird's eye view. This led him to start The Climate Daily podcast, which highlights positive stories of people all over the world who have made an impact in their communities both locally and globally with the goal of reversing the effects of climate change. Jeffrey then founded The Climate, Inc., which inspires people to mobilize their communities to make a change by planting trees. The organization partners with 26 tree-planting organizations globally and sends those partners small recurring or one-time donations. With the help of 250 people giving $50, or 125 people giving $100, The Climate can plant 10,000 trees! Reforestation is the most effective way to combat CO2 emissions. That is why Jeffrey approached the class with the Trillion Tree Campaign. The new campaign has the goal of raising enough awareness to plant a trillion trees by the year 2030. 

As members of the DC and AU community, PR Portfolio students knew this project was important and wanted to help bring attention to the mission Madison cares so much about. The goal is to help amplify the mission of The Climate to a global audience, but first, they are bringing it to their own backyard in Washington, D.C.  

The PR Portfolio class mobilized quickly and began planning panel discussions and community events from April 11th through April 22nd, Earth Day. The class is also partnering with AU student coffee shop The Bridge to create a drink sponsored by The Climate. Students decided that the most celebratory and symbolic event to kick off the upcoming events and promote the mission was to join the 30th anniversary celebration of AU Beautification Day in planting trees across campus. Students from the class set up a table with stickers and flyers, information about The Climate, Inc., and a potted plant that students committed to protecting the environment were able to sign. The plant will be gifted to Madison at the end of the semester. Dozens of students at Beautification Day showed interest in the organization and the upcoming events, and hopefully, they will commit to working with The Climate to fulfill its mission.