The Green Flash

This Saturday, August 5th, 1:00 PM at Escondido Public Library (upstairs in the air-conditioned Turrentine Room) 239 S Kalmia St. Escondido, CA 92025

Hard Realities and Pragmatic Optimism A presentation by Eve Simmons. Join us for an eye-opening and inspiring afternoon with keynote speaker, environmental advocate, former photojournalist and wildlife guide, Eve Simmons. She’ll bring a blast of hard realities and pragmatic optimism. Sourcing the world’s top experts, Eve brings awareness, humor, and hope to the climate challenges we face and explores the many solutions at hand.

Yes, I’ve seen it… twice, and so should you. (I’m pictured here with producer Richard Berge.) “An Inconvenient Sequel, Truth to Power” is the clear-eyed follow-up documentary to 2006″s zeitgeist challenging original Oscar and Nobel Prize winning film. This is not just a sequel, it’s Al Gore’s  powerful, pragmatic and prophetic soliloquy to us all. And it’s about time we listened. It’s about time we respectfully and passionately speak up and speak out again and again and again. It’s about time we look at our own choices, policies, and practices with an eye towards positive change. It’s about time we vote with our dollars on the products and services we purchase and the investments we make.  Let’s start reaping the rewards of sustainable living because, as I so often say, when pollution goes down, economies rise. Go see the movie and bring everyone you know, because here’s another saying worth remembering, this one comes from Al himself… “Never let anyone take away your hope.”

Join us for an update on the policies, problems, and potential of “The State of Our Oceans” at UCSD’s Peterson Hall, room 103 (just north of the Faculty Club). I’ll be speaking Monday, July 10th, from 12:30 to 1:50 pm. All are welcome, it’s free (except for campus parking) and open to the public. Come early to park and walk to the venue.

See that box, the envelopes, and the huge stack of papers on the table? During a great hourlong meeting with Senator Kamala Harris’ staff, we hand-delivered over 1800 constituent letters from the Bay area, in support of our legislative proposal for climate change, a Carbon Fee & Dividend (charge polluting fossil fuel industries and give the money to the poorest 70% of citizens). Both California State Senate and Assembly have endorsed our plan as well (see AJR43). We’re building political will for a livable world! Where am I? I took the photo 🙂 Where was Senator Harris? She was questioning Atty. Gen. Jeff Sessions at the Hearing on Russia at the time.

Sharing a joyful moment in D.C. with Congresswoman Mia Love of Utah. You may remember that she was featured in this follow-up to “Years of Living Dangerously”. I am working with Citizens’ Climate Lobby on Environmental Justice and Climate Change WITH ALL Republicans AND ALL Democrats TOGETHER! It’s easy to judge from far away, but there’s so much more to the story. Let me clarify the nature of this challenging, but rewarding work. This is NOT party politics. It’s not about one party or even one faction of one party. It’s about our shared problem, our shared planet, and what we can do to help restore our world. While I understand the partisan frustration on both sides, refusing to speak to, let alone work with, those in power whom we may not agree with on all issues, will get us nowhere. Cynicism is worse than useless, it’s acquiescence.  Ultimately, the solutions are about love instead of hate. We’re not ignoring our differences, we’re choosing to step beyond them and focus on what we can accomplish together. When you look for the good in people you will find it. Well-informed, proactive, optimistic, hard work is not only moving us toward climate legislation on “The Hill”… it’s moving mountains. Release the blame, visualize the good, then make it happen, together. <3<3

It’s not every day that I get a big bear hug from a former director of the EPA. That’s exactly what happened in D.C. the other night when I introduced myself to the Honorable Gina McCarthy and told her that I’m a volunteer with #CitizensClimateLobby and that we had over 500 MEETINGS with MOC’s and/or their staffers on Capitol Hill IN ONE DAY! And though after many days of prep meetings, lectures, planning, phone calls, coalition building, and a second intense day of lobbying, I was as tired as I look here,  it was really wonderful to lift her spirits on climate, as she most definitely lifted mine!