Programs

Programs are available from speakers trained by two different organizations active in researching and combating climate change and its effects:

• The Climate Reality Project / The Climate Reality Leadership Corps
• Climate Interactive / MIT Management Sustainability Initiative

Each group has different strengths and perspectives, reflected in their presentations.

Climate Reality Presentations

In 2006 former Vice President Al Gore made his historic climate film “An Inconvenient Truth.” He also formed The Climate Reality Project and has since personally trained thousands of climate speakers to deliver regularly updated climate presentations around the world.

Climate Reality presentations offer a solid scientific and practical base for understanding climate change, its impacts, and the accelerating pace of developing solutions.  The presentations are appropriate for a range of audiences, from those just beginning to learn about the climate crisis to experienced activists, who often find they gain new knowledge as well as further motivation to pursue actions. Events provide excellent fundamental knowledge for further exploration of specific solutions.

Climate Reality sessions cover the basics of how greenhouse gas emissions cause global warming and the current and projected impacts of more severe storms, rising sea levels, flooding, increased droughts, frequent wildfires, health effects and climate refugees.

“Several people have approached me to tell me how impressed they were with your presentation. I think that it was a perfect way to kick off our Greener Church Project.”
E. Kevin Conley

Climate Interactive Presentations

Scientists have long bemoaned the fact that their persistent warnings about global warming have not created the appropriate widespread will to act.  Some have turned to more experiential teaching and learning.

Climate Interactive is an independent, not-for-profit think-tank that grew out of MIT Sloan in Cambridge, Massachusetts.  Based on a long tradition of system dynamics modeling, their simulations and insights help people see connections, play out scenarios, and see for themselves what actually works to address climate change, inequity, and related issues.

In the workshop, participants propose climate solutions such as energy efficiency, carbon pricing, fossil fuel taxes, reducing deforestation, and carbon dioxide removal. The facilitator then tests these approaches in the cutting edge  En-ROADS Climate Solutions Simulator, so participants can immediately see the impact on global temperature and other factors.  The results are scientifically grounded and eye-opening.

En-ROADS has been used by members of the U.S. Congress, the UN Secretary-General’s Office, leading science educators, and many others worldwide.  A predecessor model, C-ROADS, was similarly used in preparation for the Paris Climate Agreement by UN officials and President Obama’s climate staff.

En-Roads sessions can include a brief introduction to global warming but are not a substitute for the more comprehensive climate crisis background offered by the Climate Reality presentations.  En-ROADS focuses primarily on solutions – how they work by themselves and in combination with other solutions, co-benefits that can be realized, and equity issues that some solutions raise..  The En-ROADS experience drives home the realization that there is no one “silver bullet,” but that “silver buckshot” in the form of many solutions is a better way to visualize how we can reach our climate goals.

“I think we all walked away with a better understanding of the complex energy and climate system and hope in our collective ability to drive a more sustainable future.”