Climate & Energy Hackathon
The planet needs builders.
That's you.
One Saturday in DC. Four real climate problems. A room full of people who are done waiting for someone else to fix it. And a day that'll sharpen your skills, stretch your thinking, and introduce you to people actually making things.
People want change. People want to act. The solutions aren't there yet. You can change that.
Most people care about the planet. But caring isn't the same as knowing what to do — which flight to skip, which recycling bin to use, whether a solar program actually applies to you. The gap between wanting to act and knowing how to act is enormous. And it's not a knowledge problem. It's a skills and solutions problem.
This event exists because that gap won't close on its own. It closes when people who understand both the problem and the technology sit down together and build something. That's what May 16th is. Not a conference. Not a panel. A build day — where your perspective is the asset, and your skills grow to match it.
Four problems. Four teams. All of them real.
Each Pod is a small, focused research team working on a specific climate challenge. Upskillers are already mid-cycle on these. Newcomers will join after lunch and bring fresh eyes.
Carbon Footprint
People want to understand the carbon cost of their digital lives — a video call, a scroll, a ChatGPT prompt. That information exists. It's just buried in technical docs designed for engineers. This Pod is building something for everyone else.
Clean Energy
Households and community organizations want to go clean, but the patchwork of programs, eligibility rules, and financing options is a maze. This Pod is building a navigator that helps real people find what's available and actually take action.
Recycling
Recycling is confusing. Rules differ by city, by material, by building. Good intentions end up in the wrong bin. This Pod is cutting through that confusion and building something that actually tells you what to do with what's in your hand.
Sustainable Travel
The travel industry is designed to make high-impact choices easy and low-impact choices hard. Consumers who want to do better don't have the tools to. This Pod is building something that changes that calculus.
Learn more about each Pod: theupskillinglabs.org/programming/energyandclimate →
Your role in the room. Pick one.
Upskillers and newcomers run separate morning tracks, then the whole room builds together in the afternoon. Everyone presents at 3:30.
Pod Sprint
You've been in the cycle. This is the day it gets real. Your Pod frames the problem, picks a direction, and builds a prototype — start to finish.
- Bring your perspective to the problem
- Lock in on one direction with your Pod
- Build a simple prototype
- Leave with a real-user test plan
Build Track
New to this? Good. The morning is hands-on workshops — AI tools, design thinking, rapid prototyping. After lunch you're in a Pod, building alongside everyone else.
- Workshops: Design Thinking & AI prompting
- Intro to Vibe Coding & rapid prototyping
- Join a Pod after lunch as fresh eyes
- Build and present your own prototype
The day at a glance.
Emily Modde, Sr. Product Manager Build a product with the actual user in mind.
AJ Bubb, MXP Studio
Go from a rough idea to a working prototype using AI tools — no coding background required.
Register separately →
Ashwin Jaiprakash, VP of AI Product & Engineering, GTM Fabric
Practical techniques for talking to AI tools so they actually do what you mean. Walk away with skills you'll use the next day.
St. Mark's Capitol Hill
Conveniently located on Capitol Hill, steps from Eastern Market Metro.
About the organizer.
The Upskilling Labs
An open, project-based learning community where you build real things with real people. Every quarter, participants form pods around real problems and develop AI-enabled solutions together. No credentials required — just show up ready to learn.
theupskillinglabs.org →Supported by.
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