Hello, Friday. Hello, last day of February.
I plan to get into my backyard this week and do some clearing out. The daffodils are poking up and early spring blooms are ready to be uncovered. Hope you get outside this weekend, too.
This week’s must read: This Republican is Spreading the Word About Climate Change, One Garden Club at a Time (Yahoo News)
I enjoyed this profile of Kathleen Biggins, co-founder of the non-profit C-Change Conversations. I love a good origin story and here is hers:
“Biggins admits her views on climate change have evolved over time. Her shift began in 2006, when she attended the Garden Club of America’s National Legislative Conference in Washington on behalf of her local garden club. ‘At the time, I didn’t believe climate change was real,’ she recalls. ‘I thought it was overhyped — just concerns about polar bears in the distant future. It didn’t seem relevant.’ But as she listened to the speakers discuss the issue as a credible threat, she grew curious. ‘I started researching it seriously, and the more I learned, the more concerned I became,’ she says.”
Also, a key quote:
“People often see [climate change] as just an environmental issue, but it touches every part of our lives,” she explains. “When you connect the dots to health and community well-being, it resonates on a more personal level.”
EcoRight Speaks, season 10, episode 3, featuring Ari Matusiak
Welcome to episode 3 of the EcoRight Speaks, featuring Ari Matusiak, co-founder, president and CEO of Rewiring America. He is also the founder and co-chair of Power Forward Communities, a national coalition awarded $2 billion from the Greenhouse Gas Reduction Fund to decarbonize and reinvest in American households. He was founding partner of, and is currently a senior advisor to, PVG, a fast-growing consulting firm committed to driving climate solutions that also deliver real economic value at scale.
Earlier in his career, Matusiak was vice president of strategy and community impact at the Rhode Island Foundation and co-founder and director of HousingWorks RI, a coalition that catalyzed over $1 billion in affordable housing development and thousands of good paying jobs in the Ocean State, the second best New England state in my humble opinion. He’s a graduate of both Brown University and Georgetown University Law Center.
We talk about ways to electrify your life!
Coming up next week, my conversation with Leaf Van Boven, a professor of psychology and neuroscience at the University of Colorado and an expert on the intersection of social psychology, environmental psychology, and political psychology. He and his research partner, David Sherman, recently co-authored the op-ed, Republicans hold the key to depolarizing the climate issue.
Bob Inglis in action…
Bob was in Charleston, SC last week where he had lunch with some Young Republicans there for their annual national conference. In this fun coalition photo, left to right: Aidan Shank, American Conservation Coalition; Kacey Shriner, our consultant; Thomas Turner, Conservatives for Clean Energy-Virginia/CEN; Bob Inglis; and Evan Patrohay, ACC Charleston.
Another viral read…
We can never predict what article will go viral, but based on our google alerts, this one has gone global: To mark the 55th anniversary of Earth Day, Earthday.org launches Earth Action Day (Washington Daily News… but syndicated by nearly 50 media outlets).
The key quote that brought this one across our desks came from none other than our Executive Director, former Rep. Bob Inglis:
“Earth Day reminds us that we’re literally in this together.”
Literally!
Bust or Trust Webinar Part 2: communicating climate science
We finished up our two-part webinar series featuring Skeptical Science founder John Cook, who led us in a conversation about how to communicate effectively about climate science. Both of these events were well attended, and we thank those of you who participated. Angela Larck will be sending out the recordings of these segments to those who registered and for everyone else, they will soon be on our website! Ping me if you need a link! (And forgive me for not snapping a photo of our webinar in action!)
That’s it for me! See you in March!