Climate Restoration: Paralysis, Promise, and Potential Pitfalls

What if the world didn’t have to be this way, or end this way?  Are there any alternatives to scary apocalyptic climate futures?  In addition to focusing on climate mitigation and climate adaptation, what if we could take our future into our hands and minimize climate turbulence and risk through climate restoration – restoring the climate to a pre-industrial state, mostly using nature-based ecosystem and climate restoration and regenerative farming methods?  The odds are indeed long, but the risks of not doing so are astronomical.  So let’s talk about how to make it happen.  Global change scientist, environmental futures professor and filmmaker, Dr Phoebe Barnard will tell us about the 2023 global documentary series she and John Bowey are making, Back to Our Future: Climate Restoration and Survival, and what they are learning about risks, research and reputations in this incredibly fast-moving field.

It’s easy to feel despondent with daily reports of ecological crisis in the news – from wildfires, to droughts, to floods & more. The dismal facts threaten to overwhelm us. But doom and gloom never did any good nor made any positive change. And, there is reason for real optimism — not wishful thinking — with a clear-eyed focus on solutions ready to hand and well within reach. Join our eminent speakers in this virtual lecture series to learn where they find hope — and why you should, too, — that empowers us all to respond to the ecological crisis.

Our speakers include:  Phoebe Barnard, PhD, CEO of the Stable Planet Alliance & Professor of Biodiversity and Environmental Futures at the University of Washington, Jeff Crane, PhD, Dean of the College of Arts, Humanities, and Social Sciences at Cal Poly Humboldt University, Prof. Dr. Christof Mauch, Director of the Rachel Carson Center for Environment and Society at Ludwig Maximilian University Munich, Jaclyn Bringuez, Senior Director of Development & Mallory Henig, Senior Manager, Individual and Planned Giving, both at Conservation International, and Dawn M. Nothwehr, OSF, Ph.D., Professor of Catholic Theological Ethics & The Erica and Harry John Family Endowed Chair in Catholic Ethics at Catholic Theological Union. Details for each lecture are given below.  Attend all five lectures, or just one.  All lectures are recorded with recordings distributed to all registrants. Register on www.eventbrite.com at https://www.eventbrite.com/e/stories-of-hope-amid-ecological-crisis-tickets-669424595987.  Contact Lisa Brenskelle at gcs.lrc@gmail.com for more information.