Geeking Out & Saving the World

As a capstone to 24 Hours of Reality I finally dove in and and did my first climate presentation this past Wednesday night. I invited 40 of my closest friends, family, and neighbors to come to my house and hear my version of Al Gore's slideshow. 5 showed up, but at least they came, especially since it was the first night of the World Series. It also forced me to stop stalling and edit Al's 360+ slides into something a bit more manageable. Deadlines are great friends sometimes.

I edited the slideshow to make it less overwhelming/depressing because climate change research is sobering to say the least. I focused on general worldwide data and trends and included examples primarily from the US. I added my own anecdotes about what I have personally experienced in this changing climate which is definitely different than when I was a child in the 1980s and 1990s.  Audience members related their personal experiences as well. It was wonderful to hear people relate this big, abstract issue to their own personal lives.

Though the turnout was small, it was a great event. My audience liked the presentation, understood the content, and it held their interest for the 22 or so minutes that I talked pretty much nonstop--so they reported back to me afterwards. It didn't end there. We chatted more about energy and politics and I certainly got my geek on about things like nuclear power, geothermal heating/cooling and natural gas/fracking. My husband had to remind me that it was getting late and I had better let my poor friends eat, drink and be merry while thinking about other, lighter topics before bed. I could go on and on.

So now I feel ready to go out and do more presentations around my community. I have agreed to do at least ten as part of my attendance at the Climate Reality Project's Climate Leadership Training back in July. So, if you know of a potential audience send me a message. Mama of Ma'at's climate change presentation coming soon to a public venue near you!

Yup, I wore my pin