read. write. practice.

The weeks following the training in Nashville have been very interesting. The Climate Project has set up online message boards where us trainees can post questions about science, presenting, or anything else. I've been busily answering climate questions and providing references for people who want more technical information. Major props go to realclimate.org -- they've covered just about everything climate-related at some point and have been a great source of information for me!

I've begun the process of taking the 220+ slides we were given and trying to put together a 60-minute presentation. Gore seems to be able to get through these slides (and a few more) in 60 minutes, but I have serious doubts that I'll be able to. As I go through them, I'm cringing at the lack of y-axes, the casual leaps between frequency and intensity, etc. The scientist in me hates this kind of thing, but I'm *slowly* coming to terms with it. I'm even starting to believe, truly believe, that these things actually make the presentation better and more compelling. (To my scientific friends and colleagues out there, I hope you don't disown me!)

The 2nd Climate Project army brigade is rolling out of Nashville. It's really exciting to think about all of us going back to our home towns where we can hopefully get people thinking in new and different ways about global warming. I'm looking forward to practicing and polishing my presentation and, ultimately, taking it to the streets.

This weekend was absolutely fascinating. I met teachers, psychologists, doctors (the medical kind), IT professionals, retirees, Wal-Mart employees, and high school students. And I kept finding myself having interesting conversations that I reluctantly ended after breaks were over. At the end of the training, there was such a high level of energy and anticipation for what was to come -- almost as if we were racehorses anxiously awaiting the opening of the gates. Well, the gates are open.

If you'd like someone to give a presentation in your town or to a specific group, please let me know. I'm hoping to start giving presentations in January in New England, but I can also put you in touch with someone locally.

Link of the day:
Learn about energy efficient lighting options at eartheasy.


Tip of the day:
Save paper by removing yourself from junkmail lists. You can do that here.

This afternoon, we broke into groups of 50 to go through the slide show presentation. Each person was given a few slides to present, then the next person picked up where the previous had left off. For almost everyone, this was the first time they'd put climate change concepts into their own words. Coincidentally, the slides that I had to present during my turn were about Lonnie Thompson's ice cores -- I'm sure it was coincidence, but it felt a bit eerie! Anyway, this part of the training was really challenging for the scientist in me.

Most of the folks here don't have a background in science let alone climate science. So watching people who are brand new to these concepts trying to present them in a compelling, effective way was, well, painful. I had to sit on my hands to keep myself from jumping up and correcting people, had to hold my suggestions back until the designated feedback period. I spent much of this practice period in a panic -- how can we send these people out with very little science training to talk about global warming? What happens if they encounter science-savvy skeptics? Will they be seen as credible? Are they credible? Every person at this training has the passion and desire to communicate the truth about global warming to as many people as they can. But is that passion plus a weekend training session all one really needs? Who are the best people to communicate the science and the urgency that underly our current climate crisis?

This is a tough one for me to answer because I personally want to hear about global warming science from the scientists who are actually in the thick of the research. But that's me (well, and most of my friends who are scientists, too) and I know that people like me make up a small percentage of the population. It's clear, though, that scientists aren't the right people to be communicating this message: They are boring speakers, and it's not in their job descriptions. We need good communicators who understand the science well enough to get by and to answer questions.

In terms of the science within a given presentation, it's hard to judge what an audience can and can't absorb. Without a science background, it's hard to know when you can paint with a dramatic broad brush and when you actually need to be precise with your language. Fundamentally, however, a presenter has to have a command of the science that allows them to make these judgments soundly. The audience may not need to know the difference between infrared radiation and reflected light, but a presenter needs to in order to be credible. When you listen carefully to the words that Gore says during the presentation, everything he says is factually correct. It's oversimplified and spun in a very dramatic way and, at times, the presentation is slightly manipulative. So nothing he says is incorrect, but if his words were not so carefully chosen, the information could be very misleading. Which leads me to my next question: Does it matter?

This is a question that I imagine I'll be asking myself often as I practice and present this slide show. What is it that we're trying to communicate to people? Is it the scientific facts? Or is it the potential implications? The more I think about it, the more I think that it is the latter. My gut, and the glazed look my family gets when I talk about science, tells me that people don't want the nitty-gritty science, or the complicated graphs. In fact, those things might hinder them from getting the overall message. If we simplify -- while maintaining accuracy -- they will get more out of it. On the science and solutions sides, the exact numbers for CO2 concentrations are important. What matters more for the general public is that their beach houses could be underwater, that their allergies could get worse, and that their drinking water could become salty.

Science experts or not, one thing became very clear during this practice session: In terms of our presentation skills, we're all in the same boat and we all suck compared to Al Gore. But he's given the presentation 1200 times...


Links of the day:
Buildings are responsible for about half of all energy usage in the US.
Architecture 2030 aims to change that over the next 25 years.

Tip of the day:
See if you can buy your electricity from green sources. For example, Maine Interfaith Power and Light has teamed up with energy brokers to provide 100% clean, renewable energy to Mainers. It's really only slightly more expensive than traditional sources of energy...and the extra money you spend translates directly to good karma points!

Wow, today has been an interesting day. It's not everyday that one gets to meet Al Gore! I'm now one of the many thousands of people who have shaken Gore's hand and attempted to impart to him my special interest in his cause as well as my admiration within a thirty second time span.

This morning began with breakfast -- we were instructed to be done eating and ready to pay attention by 8am when Al would walk in the room. As promised, he was delivered at 8. As he walked down the aisle of the hotel conference room, a mere two feet from me, my heart began to pound and I could feel the energy of his minions building as we anticipated the beginning of his slide show. Is this just the geeky enviro-equivalent to what all those teenagers felt when watching Elvis shake his hips almost 50 years ago? Is it just a Tennessee thing?

I saw 'An Inconvenient Truth' when it came out in the theaters and remembered being both impressed and depressed by it. Seeing Al go through the slide show live this morning, though, was so much more overwhelming than I had anticipated. My family always kids my older sister for crying at the end of 'Die Hard,' and 'Terminator.' Well, this morning I cried at the end of a slide show about global warming. They weren't tears of sadness, of frustration, or anger. Rather, they were tears of admiration, of having witnessed such an incredible level of passion and dedication on the part of a public figure.

When we took a break for lunch, the introvert in me watched a small crowd gathered around Mr. Gore. My hands got clammy even thinking about introducing myself, so I did what any level-headed paleoclimatologist would do: I went to the bathroom. But then I went back, I joined the groupies, and waited for my turn. When my turn came, I summoned all my bravery, ran through my introduction one last time in my head, and gave him the handshake that I'd practiced with my dad since I was a kid (as a father of three girls, Dad ensured that none of us actually shake hands like girls). I babbled about being a paleoclimatologist, being impressed with how well he presents such complex concepts, blah blah blah. He thanked me and moved on. But later, in a Q&A session, I stood up and answered someone's question about climate change (again, heart beating double-time) and, lo and behold, Al remembered me (ok, it had only been an hour or so) and said "That's our resident expert about past climates in this session." Huzzah, that felt good.

Link for the day:
Buy the movie, 'An Inconvenient Truth' here.

Tip of the day:

Reducing your weekly car mileage by just 20 miles can decrease your CO2 emissions by 1,000 pounds per year.

My senior year in college, a volunteer from the Sierra Club came to my door asking for a donation. At the time, I was broke, so I told him that my time and dedication to studying climate change was my donation. But I had to wonder which would do more good for the environment, my $10 donation to a large organization like Sierra Club, or a lifetime of academic research.

Tonight, I met a few dozen of my fellow trainees and this question of how one can best contribute to the mitigation of climate change has come back to me. The trainees are an impressive lot hailing from all 50 states, Canada, Mexico, and even Uganda. The youngest is just 14 years old and incredibly well-spoken. The people I talked to tonight ranged from architects and pharmaseutical workers to forest service employees and Sierra Club board members. The undercurrent, however, was one of both passion for the environment and an interest to be an advocate for changes to environmental policy. Despite having spent almost 10 years in college and graduate earth sciences departments, the feeling was new to me.

Scientists' passions are often quiet, showing themselves only at conferences or within the confines of an office. You don't find many scientists going door-to-door for the Sierra Club -- even the ones who strongly believe that we need to change our environmental policies. While I'm sure it varies from scientist to scientist with differences in personality, there are a number of overarching principles within the science sector of academia that discourage scientists from becoming environmental advocates. Just to name a few...

1) For an academic scientist, sweeping statements are a big no-no. Science is a field that strives for accuracy and precision, and almost every good scientists knows and openly acknowledges the limitations and assumptions inherent to his or her data. Knowing the limitations of the data is an important part of being a scientist. So scientists put caveats on their every statement and conclusion. "More data are needed." "We know it is getting warmer, but we're not sure just how warm it will get and what the timeframe will be."

2) This need for accuracy makes scientists really boring speakers. Don't get me wrong, I'm as fascinated as the next scientist by an intriguing line graph or map of model output. But it's clear that the methods that scientists use to communicate with each other don't work when a scientist is trying to communicate with a non-scientist.

3) There is very little incentive for academic scientists to talk to the general public. The job description often includes teaching, research, supervising of a lab group, writing proposals to fund the research and employees of the group, publishing research results, and participating in departmental planning decision-making. Each of these activities is important in the tenure and promotion process. Unless public outreach gets added to the job description and is included in employee evaluation, it will remain a low priority.

At some point during my time as researcher, I came to feel that academics weren't doing enough to inform policymakers and the general public about climate change, and perhaps they aren't. I certainly felt like I needed to do more. But I'm starting to see that there can be -- and needs to be -- a continuum between academics and advocates. The academics can direct research and provide sound data, but they often lack the sense of urgency and the good communication skills of advocates.



Links for the day:
Calculate your Carbon Footprint here, and offset your carbon usage with green energy investments at Native Energy.

Tip of the day:
Washing your clothes in cold water uses half the energy of washing in hot water and your clothes will come out just as clean and well rinsed. See Energy Star for more information.

I arrived in Nashville, TN this morning for a weekend training program through Al Gore's Climate Project. The project aims to train 1000 volunteers over the next year to give Gore's presentation on climate change and global warming from the movie 'An Inconvenient Truth' all over the country. In a sense, it's boot camp for the Al Gore Army. I'm really curious to meet the other trainees later today -- there are 200 of us in this session -- and equally curious to find out when Al himself will appear!

OK my invisible readers, brace yourselves:

I am going to meet Al Gore!

As part of Al Gore's Climate Project, he's training 1000 volunteers to give a verson of his presentation on climate change. I'm still somewhat in shock about the fact that I've been chosen to be one.

How, you might wonder, did this happen? Well, up until about 6 months ago, I was a paleoclimatologist. Now I'm not sure what I am, but in trying to find a new career I applied to be in the Al Gore army a few months ago. I'd totally forgotten about it until last night, when I found out. So I'll be going to Nashville with 199 other green soldiers for a weekend of training.

I plan to blog about the training when the time comes, so stay tuned.

So I'm finally joining the other 11,512,366 Live Journalers out there. Hello.