Al Gore inspires activism
Iwas scrolling through Facebook in mid-march and saw an invitation to apply for Al Gore’s Climate Reality Project training in Seattle. I applied and a month later I was accepted.
As I walked into the conference, I sensed this would be a life-changing experience. And by the time the former vice president reached the end of his “An Inconvenient Truth” presentation, I think all 800 of us were ready to start making a change.
Gore talked about the terrors being revealed by the latest climate science. He showed pictures of heatwaves in India that melt the streets, historic floods and droughts coming much more frequently, and how warmer temperatures make it easier for diseases like the Zika virus to spread. But he also talked about how quickly we are switching our economy from polluting the climate by burning coal, oil and gas and instead rapidly developing wind, solar and other renewable energy sources. It is staggering to think of how fast the world is changing, both with climate impacts and the solutions.
But the training program wasn’t just the Al Gore show; over three days we heard from scientists, politicians, activists and leadership trainers. After one town hall session, Washington state Rep. Joe Fitzgibbons was gracious enough to spend time speaking with me about his job and my future in politics. I learned an enormous amount about not only the climate but also leadership, and will forever remember those three days.
Why did I care so much to go learn from Al Gore? To me, it’s simple. Climate change can become glossed over for issues that are affecting voters right now, and the fight to keep the subject in the conversation is not an easy one. But by the time it is affecting my daily life, it may be too late. I don’t want my unborn children, or today’s children, to inherit a planet suffering from unpredictable weather, refugees in the millions, sea levels swallowing coastal towns or weather so hot it melts the wheels of the plane to the tarmac. I’m not being apocalyptic or hyperbolic — that is how serious this issue will become if we let it sit on the back burner.
Climate change is too important not to take an active role in trying to solve it. I recently joined the leadership of UNLV’S Sustainability Team, and Al Gore’s training helped me see the ways we can make the university into a truly innovative leader on climate issues. We are exploring how we can take advantage of our massive solar resources, make our buildings more energy-efficient and reduce our impact on the planet.
Beyond the campus, the most important thing we can all do to fight climate change, even more important than changing lightbulbs or driving an electric car, is to vote for candidates who take this issue seriously. When it comes time to vote for legislators, let’s choose individuals who are progressive on climate change or at least not opposed to creating thousands of jobs in Nevada by ramping up solar production.
Brandon Monson is a UNLV junior majoring in political science.