Trump's position on climate change was discussed at length in the liberal news media and was cited by liberals as a reason to vote for their candidate. It was also reported that in the wake of their loss, a Hillary Clinton campaign staffer yelled at his co-workers during a post-election meeting that he was going to "die of climate change" [1] because of Trump's election, and this sentiment seems to be a widely held belief among liberals. So yes, it was made into a major campaign issue by the media despite an apparent lack of discussion about it during the debates.

Anyway my point was that opening a fund like this up for public participation would give those that so loudly claim to care deeply about this issue an opprtunity to actually do something other than protest or complain online about it.

[1] http://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/donna-brazile-democratic...