'Inconvenient Truth' draws many to be messengers, Vice President Al Gore's global warming documentary
'Inconvenient Truth' draws many to be messengers
After former Vice President Al Gore's global warming documentary, An Inconvenient Truth, came out last spring, he was asked in interviews, "What's next?"
His answer was that he would train 1,000 messengers to pass on information from the film, said Jenny Clad, executive director of The Climate Project, with headquarters in Nashville.
She's also the wife of Roy Neel, Gore's chief of staff.
A rush ensued to put together training and a schedule.
"We've had no advertising," she said. "Still, thousands have found us."
The first workshop, in Nashville with 50 people in September, included Bill Bradbury, Oregon's secretary of state, who has given talks ever since. An additional 85 were trained in Australia in November.
More than 600 others joined the ranks of the "presenters" after three sessions in Nashville this winter.
Another begins today at the Hilton downtown. Two hundred are signed up for the session in the United Kingdom in March.
There are no openings for thousands more who have asked to take part, but more sessions are expected, Clad said.
"It is a living, breathing thing that is developing," she said.
Participants pay for their travel and lodging, with scholarships for some, but meals, the workshop and materials are free.
They must sign a legal document that says they will be faithful to the slide show provided by The Climate Project, that they won't give the program for profit and that they'll make 10 presentations within a year.
Big donors to The Climate Project include Participant Productions, Wal-Mart Foundation, Martin Brown Family Fund, Martha and Bronson Ingram Foundation and Al and Tipper Gore.
For information, call 615-463-8181 or go to www.theclimateproject.org.
The address for donations is The Climate Project, c/o The Community Foundation of Middle Tennessee, P.O. Box 440225, Nashville, TN 37244.
The website for the Gore film is www.climatecrisis.net.
— ANNE PAINE
http://www.fairviewobserver.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20070108/NEWS08/701080367
After former Vice President Al Gore's global warming documentary, An Inconvenient Truth, came out last spring, he was asked in interviews, "What's next?"
His answer was that he would train 1,000 messengers to pass on information from the film, said Jenny Clad, executive director of The Climate Project, with headquarters in Nashville.
She's also the wife of Roy Neel, Gore's chief of staff.
A rush ensued to put together training and a schedule.
"We've had no advertising," she said. "Still, thousands have found us."
The first workshop, in Nashville with 50 people in September, included Bill Bradbury, Oregon's secretary of state, who has given talks ever since. An additional 85 were trained in Australia in November.
More than 600 others joined the ranks of the "presenters" after three sessions in Nashville this winter.
Another begins today at the Hilton downtown. Two hundred are signed up for the session in the United Kingdom in March.
There are no openings for thousands more who have asked to take part, but more sessions are expected, Clad said.
"It is a living, breathing thing that is developing," she said.
Participants pay for their travel and lodging, with scholarships for some, but meals, the workshop and materials are free.
They must sign a legal document that says they will be faithful to the slide show provided by The Climate Project, that they won't give the program for profit and that they'll make 10 presentations within a year.
Big donors to The Climate Project include Participant Productions, Wal-Mart Foundation, Martin Brown Family Fund, Martha and Bronson Ingram Foundation and Al and Tipper Gore.
For information, call 615-463-8181 or go to www.theclimateproject.org.
The address for donations is The Climate Project, c/o The Community Foundation of Middle Tennessee, P.O. Box 440225, Nashville, TN 37244.
The website for the Gore film is www.climatecrisis.net.
— ANNE PAINE
http://www.fairviewobserver.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20070108/NEWS08/701080367
posted by presgore19 at 1:09 AM
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