How the struggle to protect one small town can share lessons for solving America’s converging health, racial, economic, democracy, and climate crises   By Dominic Frongillo One evening, as the golden sun warmed the summer evening air, I was riding my bike down old Creamery Road to a Town Council meeting in the little hamlet […]

Recently, I was in downtown Manhattan at the Manhattan Youth Center, a lively center full of children three blocks from City Hall. Five years ago, the building was flooded to the second floor with standing water when Superstorm Sandy cost the lives of 44 New Yorkers and $19 billion in damage in hours. Without dramatic […]

Dear Friends, I’m writing from the bustling halls of the U.N. climate negotiations in Bonn, Germany. Nearly 20,000 people from 196 nations are hurrying through crowded corridors between meetings. The halls are buzzing with dozens of languages, spoken by a rainbow of people wearing suits and brightly-colored traditional dress. Reporters with cameras and microphones swarm around top […]

As leaders, we all need support. I’ve been blessed to be trained by former Vice President Al Gore and elected officials who helped me grow. Now, I want to pay it forward. That’s why I’m giving away an hour of my time for a Mentorship & Coaching Call to you and your student group — exclusively for […]

I get asked frequently by students when speaking on campuses around the country how to make a difference after graduation. After being elected at age 22 as the youngest public official ever in Caroline NY over a decade ago, I’ve observed a lot. Having experienced everything from leading countywide campaigns to drafting my state’s climate plan to traveling […]

Dear friends, Last evening, I watched the election returns late into the night with a hundred Freiburg University students and fellow teaching staff, and felt the immensity of the results. Early this grey morning, I knelt down to Marelle, our beautiful three-month-old daughter. Holding my fingers with both hands, she looked up at me with […]

In this dispatch: Negotiations near close History in the making Change starts at home The new tide “The greatest climate crime of the century” Beyond Paris NEGOTIATIONS NEAR CLOSE Greetings from the Le Bourget convention site of the U.N. climate negotiations in Paris. As I write, participants are hurried finishing two weeks of intense high-profile […]

by Dominic Frongillo, Founding Member of the TCCPI Steering Committee As the Tompkins County Climate Protection Initiative (TCCPI) celebrates its fifth anniversary, it is an opportune moment to reflect on the progress made and challenges ahead. In the past five years, the county as a whole has moved forward in three major areas of climate […]

Dear friends, family, neighbors, and colleagues, After eight years of service to my hometown of Caroline, New York, this weekend I announced that I will step down from the Town Council in August to pursue a professional opportunity in Freiburg, Germany. Freiburg is a leading city in sustainability, and I will bring back what I learn […]

Frongillo on Fracking: Statement on Vote to Ban Gas Drilling September 11, 2012 I grew up here in Caroline. I’ve lived here all my life.  As child, I walked with my mother along our dirt roads picking up trash thrown from car windows. In summer, I caught grasshoppers in the fields near my house, and […]