What Can We Do?

Last week, the United Nations' Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change released a landmark report that predicted a dire future for the planet--"worsening food shortages and wildfires, and a mass die-off of coral reefs as soon as 2040." Yesterday, Donald Trump, who has in the past called climate change a hoax, claimed he had a "natural instinct for science," argued that the climate "goes back and forth, back and forth," and maintained that "scientists are divided on whether climate change is the result of human activity." 

In the face of the dire forecast and the current administration's efforts to reverse Obama-era efforts to reduce greenhouse gases and control global warming, there seems little one person can do. This Friday, October 19, at 7:15 p.m. at the Hudson Area Library, you can learn a hundred ways everyday people can battle climate change. A live stream of Drawdown Learn: Teaching a Solutions-Based Approach to Climate Change, featuring environmentalist and entrepreneur Paul Hawken and other experts, will show how reducing greenhouse gases can be both possible and practical.

Paul Hawken

The Drawdown Learn event, presented by the Omega Center for Sustainable Living and organized by Citizens' Climate Lobby in collaboration with Spacesmith architect Wendy Wisbrun, details what has been called "perhaps the most unexpected and hopeful development in the critical effort to reverse global warming." In the live video presentation, Hawken, executive director of Project Drawdown, will highlight findings of this global coalition organized with the goal of reversing global warming. In 2017, Project Drawdown mapped, measured, and modeled the one hundred most substantive solutions to reach "drawdown," the point at which atmospheric concentrations of greenhouse gases start to decline. After Hawken's overview, a panel discussion with Project Drawdown's expert team will lay out next steps in developing the tools, training, and curriculum needed to help communities join the fight for climate action. 

The event, which starts at 7:15 p.m., is expected to last until 10:00 p.m. A wine and cheese reception follows the live-stream video presentation. The Hudson Area Library is located at 51 North Fifth Street. Click here to RSVP. 

For a little background in preparation for Friday's event: Last September, Bill Maher, on his show Real Time, spoke with Hawken about his book Drawdown: The Most Comprehensive Plan Ever Proposed to Reverse Global Warming. That conversation can be viewed on YouTube by clicking here.
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