Now
NOW
A few of the things I'm working on now
Climate Ad Project
In August 2020, I gathered a team of writers and producers dedicated to creating simple, impactful climate ads for the general public. The Climate Ad Project is the first ad agency for the Earth. It is backed by the 501c3 non-profit we started called Climate Science Education Project (CSEP).
So far, every climate ad we’ve made has been a pure volunteer effort. We are attempting to raise funds to hire a full-time staff. Please donate to the Climate Ad Project if you can! We really need your support.
Book #2
My second nonfiction climate book: coming soon.
I’m currently writing and searching for the right literary agent. If you are an agent who might be interested in this project, or you may have a referral, please contact me.
Earth Hero (app)
I co-founded Earth Hero, a non-profit team of about 20 volunteers creating a smart phone app that will help users shift the culture away from fossil fuels and toward a massive climate mobilization. It track users’ greenhouse gas emissions and helps them to reduce those emissions, but it’s much more than that. It also helps them engage politically, and to create digital communities to inspire and support direct action, climate advocacy, and climate-appropriate living.
Earth Hero is available for download now, but it’s also always a work in progress, and we could use your help! We are especially interested in Swift and Java developers and UI designers. If you’d like to pitch in, please contact our team.
Climate Disobedience
On April 6, 2022 three other XRLA activists and I walked up to the doors of fossil-fuel-financing JPMorgan Chase bank in downtown Los Angeles, secured the double doors closed with bike locks, and locked onto the door handles with chains and padlocks. We did this as part of a global Scientist Rebellion.
The Scientist Rebellion gave a lot of overwhelmed people new hope. It was so impactful that I am now convinced that climate disobedience is the key to deep social transformation on climate. I had long “known” this theoretically, but to experience it directly was something else.
Articles, talks, and media
I average approximately a talk or interview per day. I speak to reporters and frequently appear on podcasts based in media outlets around the world. My goal is simple: to alert the public that we’re in a climate emergency. I also write articles when I have the time and energy.
Here’s an example LA Times op-ed, and here’s a NYT article that leads with a quote from me. Here’s a page with my Guardian op-eds. I like the Guardian because their climate coverage is great and doesn’t hide behind a paywall.
Unfortunately, I get too many requests now to fulfill all of them, and I’ve given up trying to keep my media page up to date. If you work in PR or the media and you think you can help me get the message of climate urgency to larger numbers of people, please contact me.
SchoolsForFuture
When my sons decided to start climate striking in front of their school in the morning during drop off, I noticed more kids joining them, parents honking and encouraging them, and parents with younger kids having conversations about “what the big kids” were doing and why. I realized this was a way to climate-activate a school, and I wondered if climate-activated schools could then catalyze meaningful climate action within their communities.
Working with Greta’s team and FridaysForFuture, I formulated SchoolsForFuture and was about to roll it out when COVID hit. Unsure of how to proceed without that critical face-to-face energy, I’ve put this on a back burner for now.
NoFlyClimateSci.org
Climate advocates are much more effective when they “walk the talk” by burning less fossil fuel in their own lives. For me, this meant #FlyingLess. I haven’t flown since 2012, because flying feels wrong to me. Burning any fossil fuel feels wrong, but flying creates such huge emissions. The stories at noflyclimatesci.org inspire me, and the site generates significant media attention and has been instrumental in shifting society to greater climate urgency, thereby paving the way for democracies to enact systems change.
If you are #FlyingLess, please tell your story at noflyclimatesci.org! We are a small group of volunteers, and we’d welcome your help. If you’d like to help the site grow, please contact me. (I’m going to change it to flyless.org as soon as I can find the time.)
FridaysForFuture_USA
The school strikers’ action is reasonable given the best available science. I’ve organized two open letters in support of the school striking youth, including this open letter from the world’s scholars
Climate Cafes
When we truly accept the reality of climate breakdown and let it into our emotional selves, we might feel grief, or rage, or terror, or a complex mix of emotions. However, if we don’t do this, it means we’re holding Climate Truth at arms length, which means we’re still in denial at some level, which means we won’t be doing everything we can to stop climate destruction. Acceptance is the key to action, but acceptance takes courage.
Climate Cafes are a way to meet with other climate freaks and express our emotions. I hope this might lead to greater community, greater acceptance, and greater action. We are in this together. ClimateCafes.org provides simple guidelines for holding a Climate Cafe in your community. Like all my projects, we could use your help – please contact me!
Storytelling Climate
I start4ed talking to writers, producers, documentarians, actors and others to see how we can be more effective at communicating climate breakdown. I mean, I live in Los Angeles, and Hollywood is a tremendous resource – and just like everyone else, people in film and TV are starting to climate freak. They have the storytelling skills and platform, and I have the science… let’s talk!
This led to my involvement with the Good Energy Project, which was founded by Anna Jane Joyner. Check out our Storytelling Playbook! I contributed several sections, and it was a lot of fun.
I’ve with Pixar several times to encourage them to do climate storytelling, which I think would be amazing. I still hope they give it a shot. (WALL-E doesn’t count, IMO.)
Self care: Meditation, Running, Earthy stuff
I’ve been a serious Vipassana meditator since 2003. Meditation keeps my climate anxiety at bay, and increases my ability to feel compassion for all beings. It was also an immense aid for me during the April 6 Scientist Rebellion action. I play soccer every Sunday in a league composed entirely of AYSO coaches and referees. At least I did before COVID. During COVID I started running most days, which surprised me with how much it helps my creative thinking. I love composting, and gardening, and fruit trees and find this work therapeutic. Yes, I still compost my poop (and it’s actually an amazing practice that more people should do – read about it here). And I’m always looking for ways to live well and with less fossil fuel – which to me is also a kind of self care. I’ve stopped feral beekeeping because I’ve decided it’s not safe enough in a small yard, and I miss it. Someday I hope to do it again.