How RegenAll Is Turning Local Climate Action Into Community Strength

Tell us about RegenAll: what does RegenAll aim to do and how can the next generation help?

RegenAll is a Lancaster-based community benefit organization working to identify and implement local climate solutions for a more resilient future. The next generation is full of solutions-oriented innovators, builders, and community organizers that can help us build a better future that works for everyone.

What can the community expect from your upcoming Climate Summit?

We love the Climate Summit because it showcases the amazing climate and sustainability work taking place across our community and creates tangible opportunities for people to get involved.

Your mission states that RegenAll “identifies and implements local climate solutions, through convening and working collaboratively with stakeholders for a more resilient future.” — What do “local climate solutions” look like in Lancaster County in 2025, and how do you decide where to focus your efforts?

We are focusing on developing a Resilience Plan for Lancaster across five key areas: Energy Independence, Food Security, Carbon Neutrality, and Future-Ready Infrastructure so that we all might Thrive Together. We believe this is a blueprint that everyone can get behind at the local level, and that by building a local nonpartisan coalition prioritizing implementation, we have an opportunity to make real progress here setting an example for the nation that it’s possible to transcend political differences on climate.

The upcoming Lancaster County Climate Summit 2025 is positioned as a full-day of panels, workshops and interactive activities (on Nov. 8 at the Lancaster County Convention Center). Can you tell us about the theme of this year’s summit, and what kinds of participants (businesses, nonprofits, citizens, students) you are hoping to bring together?

The day is divided into three sections: foundations, present, and future; with talks grounding each theme in climate resilience and sharing opportunities for people to get involved. The presenters and tabling organizations represent a full cross-section of our community: businesses, nonprofits, municipal leaders, citizens & students. We’ve designed the summit for people who are curious, want to learn more. Many others feel like climate and other large-scale environmental challenges are overwhelming. We’ve felt that way too, but find purpose empowering people who have found ways to take meaningful action in the face of big problems.

One of your stated priorities is “Community Economic Investment” – linking climate action with jobs, local investment and economic development. How will the summit help catalyze those kinds of opportunities, and can you share a real-world example of where this has already taken root?

RegenAll wrote the first greenhouse gas inventory for Lancaster County, a study that helps benchmark current emissions and show why this matters. Through this work, we were also able to quantify how much money Lancaster collectively spends on energy – an astonishing $2.5B annually, nearly all of which leaves the county. Energy is a tangible example because we all pay our share of this cost. As a practical example, RegenAll developed a home energy navigator program that helps households prioritize energy improvements and find the contractors to do this work – taking an overwhelming and complicated process and making it easier.

The agenda for the summit spans topics like climate policy, AI and its environmental impacts, energy efficiency, rewilding and more. Which of these topics do you feel is most under-addressed in Lancaster’s public or private sectors, and how might the summit advance action in that area?

Lancaster is exciting because we have so many people doing incredible work in all of these areas. We created RegenAll, because we felt the broader community was missing the opportunity to see the interconnections among all of these issues. The summit shows that climate is a thread that links all of these other important areas – and that by bringing new resources to the community to address climate, we will also make progress on key issues like land and water conservation or farm preservation that we already care about as a region.

We aim to inspire the “next generation” of Lancaster leaders — How do you envision the next generation of Lancaster citizens, entrepreneurs and community leaders stepping into climate leadership through RegenAll and this summit?

Our dream is that the next generation of Lancaster fully embodies the opportunity to be leaders on the national stage through this work. As we look around, we don’t see many examples of places where tricky challenges like “climate” are able to rise above partisan rancor and actually move toward solutions that make everyone’s lives better. Lancaster is a community that leads on issues like refugee resettlement, organic farms, or benefit corporations that embody the values of our people. We believe Lancaster is the place that could show the nation a model of effective nonpartisan climate leadership that creates jobs and strengthens communities while making progress on key environmental metrics. We’re excited to work with next generation leaders in Lancaster to build this future together!

RegenAll’s work reminds us that climate leadership isn’t limited to policymakers or experts—it begins with everyday people choosing to engage, collaborate, and envision a better future for their community. By focusing on local solutions, building cross-sector partnerships, and creating accessible pathways to action, RegenAll is helping Lancaster become a national model for practical, nonpartisan climate resilience. The next generation of Lancaster leaders stands at the center of this movement, ready to turn innovation, curiosity, and commitment into real progress. Through initiatives like the Climate Summit, RegenAll is not only educating and inspiring—they’re building the foundation for a stronger, more connected, and future-ready Lancaster County.