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]
