Change Is Our Choice

Northwest Earth Institute 107 SE Washington St, Ste 235 Portland, OR 97214 503.227.2807 fax: 503.227.2917 www.nwei.org CHANGE IS OUR CHOICE Thank you for your interest in climate solutions. You are welcome to print a copy of the Change Is Our Choice discussion course for your personal use. However, our copyright permissions do not allow reproductions of this material for anyone other than the person who purchased this electronic copy of our course book. NW Earth Institute is a small nonprofit, and we are primarily funded by member contributions and the sale of our course books. We sincerely appreciate your support of our work, and thank you for not distributing this course book beyond what our permissions allow. Please contact us at [email protected] if you have any questions. We’d love to hear from you! Best regards, Lacy Cagle, Curriculum Director, and the NW Earth Institute Staff DISCUSSION COURSE ON CHANGE IS OUR CHOICE: CREATING CLIMATE SOLUTIONS Copyright 2015 By Northwest Earth Institute 107 SE Washington St., Suite 240 Portland, OR 97214 (503) 227-2807 [email protected] www.nwei.org Requests for permission to reproduce any materials in this course book should be directed to Northwest Earth Institute. See “Permissions” page for information on reading materials; these cannot be reproduced without permission. Layout and Typography: Margaret Parker Cover Design: Lee Benson, City Limit Design Curriculum Development and Editing: Lacy Cagle TABLE OF CONTENTS ABOUT THIS CURRICULUM ........................................................................... 5 GUIDELINES ............................................................................................. 7 EVALUATION ............................................................................................ 9 INTRODUCTION .........................................................................................11 SESSION 1: CONNECTING TO THE SYSTEM. .13 Video: Climate Science: What You Need to Know ................................................15 Key Terms ...........................................................................................15 Video: What We Know: Marshall Shepherd Interview ...........................................16 “Don’t Look Away Now: The Climate Crisis Needs You” by Naomi Klein ....................... 16 Video: Temperature Data 1880-2011. .18 Video: Time History of Atmospheric Carbon Dioxide .......................................... 19 “A Systems Thinking Model: The Iceberg” .......................................................22 “Sources of Greenhouse Gas Emissions”. .23 “To Save the Future, Live in the Present” by Wendell Berry ....................................25 Action Plan: Carbon Footprint Exercise .........................................................28 SESSION 2: THE CLIMATE OF DENIAL ..............................................................29 Video: Why People Don’t Believe in Climate Science ...........................................32 “Why We All Believe Our Own Favorite Experts” by Chris Mooney ............................32 “How to Find Common Ground in the Bitter Climate Debate” by Yale Environment 360 Editors. .34 “How to Judge an Argument about Climate Change” by Mike Berners-Lee ..................38 Action Plan: SMART Goals .......................................................................40 SESSION 3: THE LOCAL-GLOBAL MOVEMENT. .41 “Global Warming Solutions: Prepare for Impact” by Union of Concerned Scientists .........43 “Why Climate Change Is a Human Rights Violation” by Janani B alasubramanian ............45 “Gulf Coast Activists Band Together to Fight Climate Change and Extractive Industries” by Adam Federman .................................................47 “Nebraska’s Community-Owned Energy” by Thomas Hanna ...................................48 “Meet the Lobstermen Arrested for Blocking a Coal Freighter” by Natasha Donovan .......50 “How to Be Hopeful” by Barbara Kingsolver .....................................................52 Action Plan: Outline Actionable Items. 54 4 SESSION 4: CHANGE IS OUR CHOICE ...............................................................55 Video: UN Climate Summit Poem “Dear Matafele Peinem” .................................... 57 “How Will Everything Change Under Climate Change?” by Naomi ............................ 57 “Cities Designed Like Ecosystems Offer Untold Gains” by Denis Hayes ......................62 “Five Big Considerations for the U.S. As Climate Change Sweeps the Globe” by John Light and Charina Nadura. 63 “Financial Statement “ by Reed McManus ......................................................66 “Get Intersectional! (Or, Why Your Movement Can’t Go It Alone)” by Kristin Moe ............68 “Ways to Reduce Your Carbon Footprint” ........................................................71 “Placing Yourself” by Alex Steffen and Edward C. Wolf ........................................ 73 Action Plan: Implement ...........................................................................76 SESSION 5: CONNECT, REFLECT, ACT ...............................................................77 ENDNOTES .............................................................................................79 BECOME A MEMBER ..................................................................................80 PERMISSIONS ..........................................................................................81 CHANGE IS OUR CHOICE: CREATING CLIMATE SOLUTIONS NORTHWEST EARTH INSTITUTE 5 ABOUT THIS CURRICULUM NW Earth Institute (www.nwei.org) was founded in 1993 Lee Benson (Cover Designer) is a freelance with a simple objective: to give people a framework to graphic designer living in Portland, Oregon. talk about our relationship with the planet and to share in After obtaining a Bachelor’s degree in Film discovering new ways to live, work, create and consume. & Digital Media, he moved to Portland to It turns out that within that simple objective is a recipe study design, earning an AAS at Portland for powerful change. Over 160,000 people (and counting!) Community College. Since graduating, he has been sole worldwide have discovered powerful change in their own proprietor of City Limit Design. He enjoys working with lives through NWEI’s discussion course programs and our local non-profits that work to improve quality of life. In his annual EcoChallenge. spare time, he enjoys crafting cocktails, riding his bike and Lacy Cagle (Editor) is the Director watching classic movies. of Learning and Engagement at NW Tara Alatorre is a freelance journalist Earth Institute, where she oversees the based in Arizona. Her work focuses on development of NWEI’s discussion courses sustainability issues affecting the American and other educational programs. She holds Southwest, specializing in water, mining, and a MS in Educational Leadership and Policy with a focus on wildlife topics. She was the first-student-ever Leadership in Sustainability Education from Portland State to receive a minor from Arizona State University’s Global University. Lacy is the Executive Director of the Zahniser Institute of Sustainability while earning her Bachelor’s in Institute of Environmental Studies. She enjoys exploring Journalism. She considers herself a scientist whisperer; her city by bike, gardening, cooking and playing trivia in St. putting meaning and context to important scientific works Louis, Missouri. and data through clear and concise journalism. Her hobbies include hiking, dogs, traveling, and studying the craft CURRICULUM COMMITTEE of fermentation. This discussion course would not exist without the Sam Baraso is the technical lead at the expertise and time volunteered by the people on our Willamette Partnership (Oregon) where he curriculum committee. NWEI would like to offer sincere adapts protocols and models for both the and deep appreciation for the many hours of time they Partnership’s biodiversity and water quality collectively invested in this project. programs. Sam has managed the development Ashley Johns (Curriculum Intern) is working of endangered species mitigation programs, adaptation of on her Master’s degree in Global Sustainability nutrient models for water quality, and exploration of new at Webster University in St. Louis, MO. She ecosystem service markets. With a background in finance likes to volunteer in her free time and serves and ecology, he brings an interdisciplinary perspective to on the Young Friends Board of Brightside the challenges of environmental management. Sam has a St. Louis and as a board member of the Bi-State Pet Food Masters in environmental management from the Nicholas Pantry. She has two cats that she adores, likes to read, and School at Duke University and an undergraduate in finance goes to zumba class every chance she gets. from Washington University. Margaret Parker (Layout Editor) is a Lynette Cagle is a retired elementary freelance graphic artist in Portland, Oregon. school teacher and lifelong learner. Although She says that after taking several NWEI she got roped into this work by her daughter, courses that were “life-changing,” she jumped she enjoys it thoroughly and plans to use at the opportunity to be involved in the what she has learned through this course to creation of NWEI course books. Margaret is a native of the gently persuade her friends and family to act on climate Pacific Northwest, spent a year in Poland, and has lived in change. A Midwestern transplant from the Deep South, she Portland for the past 11 years. currently lives with her husband

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