Introductory Presentation

The Our Climate Ourselves Introductory Presentation has three elements:


Systemic Rigor -Managing any system, a garden, a car, your body, requires understanding how that system works. What is connected to what? What are the system’s tolerances and limits? What are the signs of breakdown or ill health? The introductory OCO presentation focuses on the basics of Earth’s climate and provides simple, clear explanations of our need for immediate and very deep cuts in carbon dioxide emissions.


Time for conversation -A solid understanding of the climate system brings with it the realization that we are already far beyond the limits of the Earth’s climate system. Significant climatic change is inevitable and avoiding dangerous ‘runaway’ climate change requires immediate and very deep cuts in greenhouse gas emission. Facing these facts is not easy. Climate change requires us to face loss and risk, and pushes us to re-examine old habits and assumptions. Where many approaches to addressing climate change jump directly from “the problem” to the “places to act” we believe it is critical to acknowledge and draw power from our emotional reactions to the situation in which we find ourselves. Fear, anger, grief, and also excitement and energy are all normal, healthy reactions to something as staggering and overwhelming as the way we humans are altering our own life support system. In the Our Climate Ourselves Introductory Presentation participants explore and share their thoughts and feelings, often finding a sense of commonality and a source of inner guidance in the process.


Emphasis on vision – Individuals and communities are much more likely to embrace change if they can first imagine it. Our current nonrenewable-based way of living is not only threatening the Earth’s ability to sustain us, it also produces traffic jams, ill-health, international conflict and ugly landscapes of concrete and strip malls, yet in our introductory workshops on climate change, it is not uncommon to find people who believe that weaning ourselves from fossil fuels, while necessary, is not desirable. And this is not surprising: the reality we know, even with all of its problems, often feels safer than the reality we can’t imagine or haven’t yet envisioned. We make sure in our workshops to ask people to imagine how our world might look – cleaner, more efficient, with vibrant local economies, good land stewardship, and international equity – once we have moved beyond fossil fuels. There is another world waiting to emerge from the crisis of climate change. Helping that world come into being requires us to first imagine it.


Why a presentation and facilitated conversation about climate change?
A natural reaction to the enormity and the immediacy of climate change is to charge full speed ahead into action mode - testing new technologies, petitioning politicians, changing lightbulbs. All of this and more is badly needed. Action is critical, but the Our Climate Ourselves Program also recognizes the need for LEARNING. We wouldn’t be in the situation we are in if we really understood the climate and our influence on it, and our action is likely to be more appropriate and effective if we have had the opportunity to explore our reactions to it and learn from the experiences of others. In designing the Our Climate Ourselves Introductory Presentation we have relied on several assumptions.

  • It isn’t enough to take the 'experts' word on it. We need citizens with informed intuitions about how our global climate system work. Although fewer and fewer people will argue that climate change is not real or serious, neither the full extent of changes required to avoid dangerous climate change nor the extreme rapidity with which those changes must come is widely understood. Active citizens who understand the climate system and its dynamics can press to make sure that action, when it comes is strong enough to meet the challenge and not merely symbolic.
  • Climate change is best addressed by communities of people. Many of the most promising options for addressing climate change are at the level of neighborhoods, communities, or whole industries. Finding these solutions will thus require coming together to recreate our food systems, our transportation networks, our community centers and our economics. Coming together for a few hours in a church basement or a community center offers a first small step towards such cooperation, the realization that many members of a community share the same hopes, fears, and longings.
  • We can’t move towards what we can’t first imagine. And our imaginations and visions are enriched by the process of sharing them with each other.

Ways to participate

  • Attend an already scheduled presentation.
  • Invite us to lead a presentation; this is an especially viable option in New England, but we are planning trainings in other areas of the country as well. Groups of 10-30 people work best, we need a minimum of two hours for the training, and we charge a small fee to cover our travel and materials expenses. Contact Phil Rice for more information
  • Download our powerpoint slide set and lead a group yourself. The slides offer documentation and tips for presenters.
  • Do your own presentation of the climate science (or use An Inconvenient Truth or other resource) and use the slides (and facilitation tips) we've developed to incorporate exercises that help people work with their feelings around climate change, explore their visions, and find places for action.

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