"Never doubt that a small committed group of citizens can change the world.
Indeed it is the only thing that ever has."
........ Margaret Mead
(15 August 2015)
Responding to Climate Change: A Personal Planning Workshop
Special thanks to the workshop sponsors, the Green First Task Force of the First Universalist Church Denver who hosted this event and the 30 some attendees who shared their questions, concerns and experiences.
Several attendees asked if the presentation materials are available in electronic form and if so, how could they access this information. This page is in response to that request.
Workshop and Workbook Content
The focus of the workshop was "Responding to Climate Change." Since climate change/global-warming is directly linked to the additional Green House Gases (GHG) seven billion humans are introducing into the atmosphere, we used a graphic from the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) depicting GHG emissions as a road-map during the workshop.
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| GHG Emissions by Sector (USA), EPA July 2015. |
As shown, the EPA traces the U.S. GHG emissions (for the year 2013) back to five basic sectors of our society. The pie chart defines the relative GHG contributions from each sector as percentages.
As shown the largest contributor (31%) to CO2 and other GHG is the sector that generates electrical power for the country. Each sector was discussed briefly along with some suggestions on how a change in our life style (and personal investment) could reduce or nearly eliminate each source of emissions contributing to climate change.
| "RESPONDING TO CLIMATE CHANGE" Electronic Workbook | |||
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| Responding as an INDIVIDUAL | |||
| GHG Emission Sectors | Part I - | Part II Materials |
Part III Worksheets |
| All |
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| Electricity (e.g. Solar PV) |
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| Transportation (e.g. Electric Vehicles) |
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| Residential & Commercial Heating & Cooling (e.g. GeoExchange Heat Pumps) |
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| Industry | |||
| Agriculture | |||
| All | |||
| Responding as a Member of a GROUP | |||
| All | Organizations involved in Climate Change
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| RESOURCES | |||
| All |
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To borrow a quote from Neil deGrasse Tyson, "The dinosaurs did not see that asteroid coming. What's our excuse?" Indeed we humans do see a metaphorical asteroid headed our way.
Facebook Page
And of course, we had to add a Facebook page:
https://www.facebook.com/groups/RespondingtoClimateChange/
(2 November 2015)
"Resilient Investor" Presentation
Tom's presentation on "Divesting /Re-Investing" was well received at the August workshop - so he created another event that focused on Investing.
Authors Hal Brill, Michael Kramer, and Christopher Peck provided an overview of their new book "The Resilient Investor: A Plan for your Life, Not Just Your Money."
For a 90 minute video of their presentation, please see: https://youtu.be/_giWtjC5Gbg
Their Resilient Investment Map was discussed in detail.
Also see: www.ResilientInvestor.com
End Note: The graphic at the top of the page is a composite of local photos.
In the background, (shown partially faded to indicate this landscape is coming under stress with global warming) are mountains near Quanella Pass on the hike to Silver Dollar Lake.
In the foreground are examples of our response to climate change. Wild Sunflowers are shown on the left as a gentle reminder that life is possible only because of the ample and nearly inexhaustible energy from the Sun. Next is a glimpse of Milt's rooftop solar photovoltaic (PV) that now provides all of electrical power he needs (with zero emissions and zero use of water) without contributing to climate change - including the power needed to operate a geothermal heat pump that provides all the heating & cooling for the home by exchanging thermal energy with the Earth - again with zero emissions. The red car is Tom's plug-in hybrid vehicle powered by electrical energy produced by his rooftop solar PV system.(Milt's silver colored plug-in hybrid can be spotted in the background of this photo). And on the far right, the photo shows Tom's raised beds with organic vegetables and edible fruit-bearing permaculture sustainably watered using drip irrigation (and the 20,000 gallons of water saved annually with rooftop solar).
In the far background, you might be able to spot three healthy beehive colonies apparently benefiting from Tom's organic surroundings.
Just some examples of individual responses to climate change.