I am currently fortunate enough to be participating in the virtual training from the Climate Reality Project, which at the end will mean I’m part of the Climate Reality Leadership Corps. This program has been running for over a decade, after Former Vice President Al Gore founded the non-profit back in 2006. The organization is dedicated to solving the climate crisis through education and awareness, aiming to engage as many people as possible in what is essentially a grass roots movement.
And it is certainly growing in strength of numbers. So far, they have welcomed more than 21,000 people from 154 countries into the Leadership Corps. This means there are more than 21,000 people now equipped to have robust, informed, science-backed conversations with friends and peers, as well as deliver hard-hitting presentations in schools, universities and workplaces. This can only be seen as great news!
Usually this training happens once per year in changing locations around the globe, with hundreds of passionate, aspiring climate activists hanging on Al Gore’s every word. This year things are different (yes, you may have noticed). So in the Era Of COVID-19, this training has been taken virtual. Over a period of 8 days, hours upon hours of presentations will be delivered both live and on-demand. This has the added bonus of a touch point of small groups of trainees, local to each other, allocated to an experienced mentor to support one another through the training and offer discussions on the very numerous sessions. Support one another, you may query? Well, the training is hardly set to be uplifting or filled with riotous laughter. So the support may be needed to keep spirits buoyed. But, in addition, the trainees are expected to complete assignments and assessments, in order to confirm that the correct information will be disseminated in the most appropriate ways afterwards. So brainstorming may be helpful. And of course, post the Era of COVID-19, when human contact can be permitted on a wider scale, these newly connected individuals who all share a passion and drive for helping abate the climate crisis, can literally get together to form a more powerful voice. This will be particularly beneficial as to be signed off as a Climate Reality Leader, you must participate in and officially log Acts of Leadership–community based presentations, events, meetings and so on, designed to inspire action from your local community peers. This training isn’t sit-and-learn-and-then-forget, it’s driven by action, as that’s the only thing which will help mitigate the climate crisis.
OUR MISSION IS TO CATALYZE A GLOBAL SOLUTION TO THE CLIMATE CRISIS BY MAKING URGENT ACTION A NECESSITY ACROSS EVERY SECTOR OF SOCIETY.
Climate Reality Project
Something which has been especially positive for this year’s unusual format is that the Climate Reality has been able to accept even more trainees than ever before. And you better believe that even more than ever applied! As we reported only a few months ago from a OnePoll poll, more people are becoming aware of the need to incorporate sustainability into their lives, and in fact intend to continue with the COVID-19 borne changes (some of which have seen environmental benefits – see: not flying across the country for one business meeting). The registration/application process includes potentially having your CV scrutinized, and the questions you must answer are much more than just filling out your name and email address, so not everyone gets accepted. But so many applied and were deemed to have the ability of a Leadership Corps member, that they’ve actually run the 8 day program twice! The current cohort has over 3,000 soon-to-be verified climate activists from all over the world. This is genuinely exciting!
Let’s now talk briefly about the Project’s founder, Al Gore. His name is likely to elicit a response from most people, certainly from anyone in the climate change/environmental activism space. He is the author of #1 New York Times best seller “An Inconvenient Truth”, which was made into a low budget, Oscar winning, $81 million earning (box office and video sales combined) documentary. It was widely loved. People responded to the message but also to the transformation of Al Gore himself, from politician to passionate and informed activist. But, with the release of the sequel to the aforementioned documentary, “An Inconvenient Sequel: Truth to Power”, there came some controversy over his continued role as a climate leader. He is apparently divisive, not generally a trait which is conducive to gathering a wide following of people who wish to emulate actions. This is reportedly based on him not sitting solely in the Purist Climate Activist camp nor the Inclusive Climate Activist camp. However, and I speak as someone who was not following US politics in the time he was VP, nor did I give any time to reading about him as a person (it’s his climate knowledge alone that I’m interested in), I believe this man to have a pure heart in his missions and goals. I think he is authentic. I accept whole heartedly that he implores us all to take action, because he actually wants to save the planet. I’ve now seen him present a few sessions within the training. I trust his passion. You can check out his recent interview with Emily Atkin of HEATED if you’d like a candid snapshot of him, including his take on the intersection of climate and racial justice.
The Climate Reality Project has launched another new platform this year: On October 10-11, there will be “24 Hours of Reality: Countdown to the Future”. This is a partnership with TED Countdown and is literally 24 hours of virtual presentations and conversations, provided all over the globe, by many of the Climate Reality Leaders (those who’ve successfully completed to training). This is a huge event, and I implore you to keep an eye on the website linked above to catch as much information as you can during that time.
The training has a huge focus this year, and I genuinely consider myself lucky to be participating. Not just to become a Climate Reality Leader, but because this year’s virtual format affords me the opportunity to see so much more training than had I had a two day face to face event. Those presentations cover personal health, public health, green jobs, a just transition from fossil fuels, racial equity, youth activist leadership, political lobbying, human rights, climate science, biodiversity and more. To say I’m excited about getting even further energised for the continuing flight for climate action and climate justice and racial justice, and that I’m fully prepared to have very little sleep over the next week, would be understatements. And you can get involved too- the Climate Reality Project website is chock full of great resources, in addition to a portal to request a local Climate Leader to present or moderate a panel or hold a meeting to really get conversation going in your region. The time for action is now.
