ST. JOHN — A representative from the Climate Reality Project will speak at 2 p.m. Sunday, July 23, in the annex building of the Stafford County Courthouse in St. John.
Dr. Joyce Frey from Macksville, a PhD in international psychology, recently completed the training put forth by the Leadership Corps of the Project. Her presentation is free and open to the public.
The Climate Reality Project is a global network of activists committed to spreading awareness of the climate crisis currently affecting our planet, and working for solutions of what could be called the greatest challenge of our time, Frey said.
Frey has taught college courses in psychology and communication in California and at Barton Community College and Pratt Community College. She retired last year and is now involved in private consulting and public speaking.
Although she has lived in Macksville for the past 16 years, she spent many years in California and learned to appreciate the natural beauty of the mountains and the environment. For the dissertation, she went to Saskatchewan, Canada, and meet people of the Plains Cree First Nations. “There I really got the appreciation for our human connection to our planet Mother Earth,” she said.
But her knowledge of climate change goes beyond an appreciation for the land, she said. It is based on science.
Around the first of the year, Frey saw the Climate Reality Project on Twitter and decided to learn more. The nonprofit organization was started 10 years ago by former Vice President Al Gore with 10 people, Frey said. Today there are 136 countries involved in the project.
Frey also saw that the project offers training and that one of the sessions would be held in Denver that spring. She applied and was accepted.
“You learn about the real science and what really is going on with climate change,” she said. The trainees also learn how to carry the message forward. Participants sign a commitment to follow up their training with 10 “acts of leadership,”
Frey’s presentation this Sunday is one of her 10 acts.
Speaking on climate reality isn’t all gloom and doom, she said.
“We have problems but there are solutions and there are a lot of people working around the globe to make them a reality,” she said. However, the time to act is now. “We are at a tipping point. This is the most important crisis that our planet has ever faced.”