To become resilient and sustainable to the effects of climate change, a city and community – into which mitigation and adaptation efforts will be introduced and implemented – must understand how they are or will be affected by the social, ecological and economic impacts from a changing climate, how social practices contribute to climate change, and what kind of resources – including changes in behavior – are required to mitigate GHGs and achieve sustainable adaptation. However, simply having this knowledge is not enough to prompt action. Real action is achieved when a community is able to mobilize its citizens toward collective participation and invested engagement with climate change issues wherein social practices become modified. This paper seeks to show (1) how a community’s level of interaction with climate change issues can be assessed using anthropological ethnographic research methods, and (2) the steps a community can take to move toward invested engagement on climate change issues via social learning. Invested engagement means taking intentional action for change. Social learning is such a tool that can be used to influence social practices within a community that in turn can lead to intentional action or invested engagement to help a community become and remain resilient and sustainable against the effects of climate change.