Gore to host climate change workshop in Pittsburgh
Al Gore, former vice president of the United States and climate change crusader, is bringing his Climate Reality Leadership Corps training program to Pittsburgh in October.
The three-day training program Oct. 17-19, sponsored by The Heinz Endowments, will be conducted by Mr. Gore, scientists and climate experts. According to a joint Heinz and Climate Reality Project news release Thursday, it is designed to equip attendees with “the knowledge and tools to build public awareness of global
climate challenges,” share news about practical available solutions, and strengthen public and political support.
Although the Trump administration has said it will not support or be a part of the 2015 Paris climate accord, and President Donald Trump invoked Pittsburgh as supporting that position, the city’s political leaders and now Mr. Gore have pushed back against that assertion. “After President Trump’s announcement that the U.S. would withdraw from the Paris Agreement, the city of Pittsburgh became a symbol of local leadership working around the federal government to solve the climate crisis. I am thrilled to join the people of this great city to continue the momentum of climate action in the United States,” Mr. Gore said in the news release.
The training program in Pittsburgh is the 39th conducted by Mr. Gore and the first following the release of his movie, “An Inconvenient Sequel: Truth to Power,” the follow-up to his “An Inconvenient Truth,” which won two Academy Awards for best documentary feature film and best original song in 2006.
More than 12,000 people from 136 countries have attended previous workshops, which have been held in Seattle; Miami; Denver; Houston; Toronto; Shenzhen, China; Manila, Philippines; New Delhi, India; and Rio De Janeiro, Brazil.
“Pittsburgh has taken a leadership role in fighting against climate disruption, but we need to fight even harder,” Pittsburgh Mayor William Peduto said. “The Vice President’s Climate Reality training is just what our residents and advocates need in this critical time, and I thank The Heinz Endowments for their commitment and generosity.”
Grant Oliphant, president of The Heinz Endowments, is quoted in the release saying Pittsburgh has staked its future on remaking its relationship with the environment and work on climate change is a part of that.
“This community has labored diligently and creatively for decades now toward a prosperous, green future, not a misguided return to a lost past,” Mr. Oliphant said. “It is increasingly clear that American leadership on creating a sustainable economy for all our people now resides in communities like ours and in the informed, collective action of individual citizen activists who believe in a world governed by facts and science and who will make this their personal fight.”