if you're bored, you're not paying attention

Going to Nashville.

Not because of my bluegrass banjo-pickin’ talent, but because I’ve just been selected to go take part in The Climate Project’s next training session, Dec. 1-3.

Along with about 200 other volunteers, I’m going to get trained by Al Gore, so that I can go out and give presentations on the global climate crisis and what people can do about it.

As a volunteer, I’ve already got my hands on Al’s entire 329-slide PowerPoint deck, which is the basis of the movie An Inconvenient Truth. This monster weighs in at nearly 300MB, compressed. I can see that my first challenge will be choosing which slides I will actually show.

I’m excited about this because it’s a concrete and direct way to make a difference on an issue that I feel strongly about–one of the biggest issues facing humanity today, in my opinion. I will get to use my public speaking and presenting skills before new audiences (and in a new subject). And I’ll learn a lot more about the science and politics of climate change.

One of my goals is to figure out how to interpret this science for kids, starting with my daughter. If I can explain it to Clara without scaring the bejeezus out of her, I hope I can do kid-oriented climate presentations at schools, too.

I’ll admit I’m a bit nervous about this… the last time I was involved in any kind of grassroots activism was in 1988, when I was going door-to-door in Seattle for WashPIRG. (There’s a reason I am not a door-to-door salesman today.) And while I’m comfortable speaking in public about technology, I’m less sure-footed when it comes to climate science.

But for now, excitement is outweighing nervousness. I’ll keep you posted.

[tags]climate crisis, global warming, climate, crisis, global, warming[/tags]

2 Comments

  1. Penelope Trunk

    Congratulations, Dylan. I am looking foward to seeing more about these topics on your blog — so curious to know what they do at the training.

  2. Scot Hacker

    Dylan, this is fantastic. It’s so hard to find time through the miasma of work and kids to stand up and give what’s left to stuff that matters. Kudos to you.

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