The Climate Reality Project Announces Speakers at 36th Climate Reality Leadership Corps Training in Pittsburgh

October 11, 2017

Washington, DC (October 11, 2017) – Today, The Climate Reality Project announced that Pittsburgh Mayor Bill Peduto, world-renowned climate scientist Dr. Michael E. Mann, and The Heinz Endowments Chairman of the Board André Heinz will join former US Vice President and Climate Reality Chairman Al Gore as speakers at the 36th Climate Reality Leadership Corps activist training, taking place in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania from October 17-19.

This will be the first training following the release of An Inconvenient Sequel: Truth to Power, the follow-up to the Academy Award-winning documentary An Inconvenient Truth. After starting a global conversation about the climate crisis with An Inconvenient Truth, Vice President Gore created the Climate Reality Leadership Corps to empower citizens to take the conversation forward and organize their communities for action.

Over the course of three days, these world class scientists, communicators, and climate experts will join Vice President Gore to train citizens to become Climate Reality Leaders. Climate Reality Leaders will emerge from the training equipped with the knowledge and tools to build public awareness of global climate challenges, share the good news about the practical solutions in our hands today, and strengthen public support for leaders at all levels of society taking action. While the application period for the Pittsburgh training is closed, people can click here to receive email notifications about our next trainings.

The Pittsburgh training is generously sponsored by The Heinz Endowments, which is devoted to the mission of helping the Pittsburgh region prosper as a vibrant and equitable center of creativity, learning, and social, economic and environmental sustainability. Core to its work is the vision of a “Just Pittsburgh,” where all are included and where everyone who calls the area home has a real and meaningful opportunity to thrive.

Pittsburgh was thrust into the national spotlight after President Trump announced his decision to withdraw from the Paris Agreement, saying that he represented the citizens of “Pittsburgh, not Paris.” Yet, Pittsburgh has become a national model of how cities can embrace clean energy and other climate solutions and prosper in the twenty-first century. Pittsburgh’s mayor has pledged that the city will be 100 percent renewable by 2035 and will support the Paris Agreement, whatever the White House does.

The Climate Reality Project has trained more than 12,000 Climate Reality Leaders from 136 countries, with recent trainings in Seattle, Washington; Denver, Colorado; Houston, Texas; Shenzhen, China; Manila, Philippines; Miami, Florida; Toronto, Canada; Cedar Rapids, Iowa; New Delhi, India; and Rio de Janeiro, Brazil.

Speakers include:

· Al Gore, Founder and Chairman, The Climate Reality Project

· Ken Berlin, President and CEO, The Climate Reality Project

· Mayor William Peduto, Mayor of Pittsburgh

· André Heinz, Chairman of the Board, The Heinz Endowments

· Dr. Michael E. Mann, Distinguished Professor of Atmospheric Science and Director of Earth System Science Center, Pennsylvania State University

· Lisa Garcia, Vice President of Litigation for Healthy Communities, Earthjustice

· Fred Brown, President and CEO, Homewood Children’s Village

· Veronica Coptis, Executive Director, Center for Coalfield Justice

· Khari Mosley, Pennsylvania Regional Programs Manager, BlueGreen Alliance

· Dr. Joylette Portlock, President of Communitopia, Climate Reality Leader

· Caitlin Howarth, Co-founder and CEO, Aulenor Consulting

· Professor Don Henry, Public Policy Fellow for Environmentalism, University of Melbourne, Climate Reality Leader

· Dr. Henry Pollack, Emeritus Professor of Geophysics, University of Michigan

· Dr. Jennifer Francis, Research Professor, Department of Marine and Coastal Sciences, Rutgers University

· Larry Schweiger, President and CEO, PennFuture, Climate Reality Board Member

· Dr. Matthew Mehalik, Executive Director, Air Quality Collaborative

· Dr. Inês Azevedo, Professor of Engineering and Public Policy and Co-director, Center for Climate and Energy Decision Making, Carnegie Mellon University

· Dr. Richard Alley, Evan Pugh Professor, Department of Geosciences, Pennsylvania State University

· Dr. Gregory Asner, Department of Global Ecology, Carnegie Institution for Science

· Dean Barone, Climate Reality Leader, trained in Manila in 2016

· Donna Hope, Climate Reality Leader, trained in Seattle in 2017

· Divya Nawale, Climate Reality Leader, trained in Colorado in 2017

· Victoria Serda, Climate Reality Leader, trained in Nashville in 2007

· Olena Alec, Director of Climate Reality Leader Engagement, The Climate Reality Project

· Katie Malzbender, Chapter Campaigns Manager, The Climate Reality Project

· Theo Koboski, Climate Training Manager, The Climate Reality Project

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ABOUT THE CLIMATE REALITY PROJECT

Founded by Nobel Laureate and former US Vice President Al Gore, The Climate Reality Project is working to catalyze a global solution to the climate crisis by making urgent action a necessity across every level of society. With a global movement more than 5 million strong and a grassroots network of trained Climate Reality Leader activists, we are spreading the truth about the climate crisis and building popular support for clean energy solutions. For more information, visit www.climaterealityproject.org or follow us on Twitter at @ClimateReality.

ABOUT THE HEINZ ENDOWMENTS

The Heinz Endowments, among the nation’s leading private foundations, is devoted to the mission of helping the Pittsburgh region prosper as a vibrant and equitable center of creativity, learning, and social, economic and environmental sustainability. Core to its work is the vision of a ‘Just Pittsburgh’ where all are included and where everyone who calls southwestern Pennsylvania home has a real and meaningful opportunity to thrive.