Climate Reality Leaders

The 39th Climate Reality Project Leadership Training took place in Downtown Los Angeles – and it was the biggest ever with 2,200 climate activists gathered together under one big solar roof. Yes, the LA Convention Center has 2.21MW of solar installed on its roof, making it the largest solar array on a municipal convention center in the US.

The buzz of excitement and energy (clean of course) kept us all happy and smiling despite the long wait in-line for registration. Networking with like-minded climate action advocates was a highlight throughout the event, as we forged connections with local activists and organizations to make the climate movement stronger and more active.

Al Gore – The Inconvenient Truth Marches On

Al Gore founded the Climate Reality Project in 2006 following the success of his ‘Inconvenient Truth’ documentary. He has been actively involved in every training event since, as the project strives to train leaders that can share the mission ‘to catalyze a global solution to the climate crisis’. Now, there are around 15,000 Climate Reality leaders in 80 chapters across 100 countries – and Green Eatz is proud to join this movement as a new member of the Leadership Corps.

Vice President Gore emphasized that it is ‘our time on watch’ and we must ‘not be silent, not asleep and not oblivious’. He also highlighted the need for environmental justice, as many disadvantaged communities bear the brunt of both climate change impacts and polluting fossil fuel industries in their neighborhoods.

Mr. Gore also inspired us with two versions of his famous slideshow – the full 2-hour epic and the abbreviated 10-minute short! As new climate leaders, we will be giving our own tailored presentations of these slides – sharing our stories of the climate movement and how we can help to save our threatened planet.

Los Angeles – The Good, the Bad and the Ugly

Eric Garcetti, the Mayor of Los Angeles, inspired us with his eloquent speech on LA’s efforts to become the greenest city in the USA. Los Angeles follows a roadmap to combat climate change and is on course to be carbon neutral by 2050. The mayor is also a climate leader across the country, founding a coalition of 400 city mayors that have adopted the Paris Climate Agreement.

Later, we learnt from People not Pozos and Stand-LA that California is the 3rd biggest oil-producing state in the US and that Los Angeles alone has over 1,000 oil wells. The ugly truth is that three-quarters of these wells are located within disadvantaged neighborhoods, where asthma, lung cancer, premature births and many other health issues are the result. These organizations are asking us all to sign the pledge ‘Brown’s Last Chance‘ requesting Governor Jerry Brown to commit to a fossil-fuel free future for our Golden State.

Property Brother Goes Green

Jonathan Scott of the Property Brothers showed us that he is not just a reality star but a climate reality star too! His battle to install solar on his own home in Las Vegas was the start of his own mission to share the message on renewable energy.

Jonathan is currently producing a documentary on solar power, focusing on personal stories from across America. He was shocked to be warned off making this movie, with fossil-fuel advocates threatening to cut the funding to his television series’ such as Property Brothers and Buying and Selling. This reinforced his determination to stop the spread of ‘fake news’ about renewable energy, and share the good news on a sustainable future for us all.

Thanks! And Find Out More

Thanks to the Climate Reality Project team and Vice-President Gore for organizing and leading this event. And if you want to know more about the impact of climate change, contact a Climate Reality Leader in your area to arrange a presentation of the greenest slideshow on earth. It might even be me, Green Eatz!