How Heat Local works, how towns are scored, and what happens when you sign up.
Heat Local ranks every US town of 1,000 people or more by which climate law its council could pass, and how much that law would cut. Each town gets a page with the law, a 90-second script for the public comment period, a model ordinance and a way to tell neighbors you’re going to the meeting.
Towns decide how land is zoned, how buildings are permitted, where the trash goes and how streets are built. Those rules shape a large share of a community’s emissions, and a council can change them with one vote.
Local laws are also hard to undo. Thousands of towns acting on their own add up, and when enough towns in a state pass the same law, the state often follows.
No. Everything on the site is free, including the model ordinances and the campaign kit. Tips pay for reading more towns’ codes, which costs about $5 a town on average.
You give us your email and we send you the meeting date, a calendar invite, and the script the day before. After the meeting, we send one email asking how it went.
The page shows how many neighbors have said they’re going, never who. If someone else near you signs up, we ask both of you whether you want an introduction, and share nothing unless you both say yes.
No. Showing up counts. Councils notice a full room, and signing in with your name and street shows you live there. If you do want to speak, the script takes about 90 seconds.
It depends on whether we’ve read the town’s code. If we have, the page quotes the rule that needs to change and links to it. If we haven’t, the page is an estimate based on state law and similar towns, and it says so. It also shows the words to search for so you can check the code yourself.
State law is checked for all fifteen laws in every state and DC. The tons and cars are estimates; the next question explains how they’re made.
Every town gets a score for each of the fifteen laws. The score multiplies five things:
Towns are then ranked three ways. Biggest impact ranks by total tons, neighbors included. Best value ranks by tons per campaign dollar; campaign cost is mostly organizer time and grows with population. Easiest win ranks by the chance of winning, among laws worth at least 1,000 tons.
Each law also gets a stage. Ready for a vote means state law allows it and the odds are good. Checking the rules means state law allows it but we haven’t confirmed the town’s own code. Long campaign means state law limits it or the odds are low.
Counties are scored the same way for the people who live outside any town. Cars use the EPA figure of about 4.6 tons of greenhouse gas per car per year (EPA).
Towns under 1,000 people aren’t ranked yet, and a town where state law or past votes have closed every law won’t appear. ZIP codes follow mail routes, not town lines, so a ZIP search may offer more than one town.
If something on your town’s page is wrong, email hello@[yourdomain] with the town and what you found. A person reads every message.
Heat Local doesn’t endorse candidates or parties. It points to laws a council can pass and explains what each one does for the people who live there.
Yes. The classroom unit is three lessons for grades 6 to 8. Students join with a class code and don’t give names or emails.
Email hello@[yourdomain]. See also the privacy policy and terms of use.