Local Climate Initiatives
Tuesday October 23, 2018
Presenters: Dr. Brad Dibble, Al Gore Climate Reality Leader; Ms Margaret Prophet, Simcoe County Greenbelt Coalition; Dave Collacutt, Drawdown Facilitator; Deb Woods, Moderator
Dr. Brad Dibble: As a Climate Reality leader trained by Al Gore who has subsequently served as a mentor for his training session in Toronto, I will draw from Mr. Gore’s bank of slides and review the basic science behind global warming and climate change, providing examples of what is happening around the world to demonstrate how it is affecting our planet. I will put on my physician’s hat and focus on the health impacts resulting from climate change, and what we can do both as a society and as individuals to mitigate the negative impacts.
Margaret Prophet: Sometimes when people are confronted with a changing climate and the problems it creates, they feel overwhelmed about what significant contributions they could make to mitigate it. Margaret will outline that one particular act that we can take is grow smarter and better protect our natural resources that help mitigate climate change. She will outline one such initiative that is shared by over 30 groups from across Simcoe County – expand the Greenbelt to Simcoe County. Think globally, act locally!
Dave Collacutt: When I hear people talk about climate chaos and excessive carbon pollution in the atmosphere, I hear “slow the increase”, “mitigate”, “adapt”. What is really needed, is to reduce the carbon in the atmosphere to 1950 levels, or even to pre-industrial levels.
Finally a team of over two hundred scientists and researchers have assembled a list of one hundred creative solutions. They’ve done the research, modelled the solutions and done the math! These will work, are affordable and scalable. Many are things we would want to do on their own merit. The result is Drawdown, the Most Comprehensive Plan Ever Proposed to Reverse Global Warming.
Deb Woods: Moderator
See Biography: Dr. Brad Dibble, Margaret Prophet, Dave Collacutt, Deb Woods