By Robert Ganger
9/12/19
Wendy Burton’s World Tree, a vital organization whose goal is to plant 3.5 million trees (34,000 acres) over the next five years and to drawdown 34 million tons of carbon in the process, just put on a fabulous event in Atlanta, Georgia featuring keynote speaker Paul Hawken.
Expertly curated by Jordan Daly, it was incredibly refreshing to see this caliber event in a ‘beyond the choir’ market like Atlanta that has quietly contributed mightily over the years, pushing environmental protection innovations (Ray Anderson, Jimmy Carter, Ted Turner,
Laura Turner Seydel and more) further than most are aware of.
Speaker’s included Nicole Hagerman Miller of Biomimicry 3.8, filmmaker Nathan Havey who’s got a new Ray Anderson/Interface doc in the works and Impact U/Vanderbilt Financial Group’s always engaging, Steve Distante. Keynote Paul Hawken was on fire, focusing on his Drawdown book and its call to ‘create conditions for self organization’ to implement the 100 most substantive solutions to reverse the effects of climate breakdown. He seemed even more excited though about his forthcoming book Regeneration: Ending the Climate Crisis In One Generation, arriving next year.
I hadn’t seen Paul speak in about 10 years and it was refreshing to see his take on the enivro movements overall poor narrative, lack of inclusivity, othering, framing climate as an ‘it’ and attempting to control population and it’s choices rather than empowering us all, as deeply flawed. To me it seems that the climate/enviro meta narratives are finally up for renewal, making it an exciting and clearly important time right now.
On the subject of inclusivity and deeper engagement for the movement, an ex pro bowl NFL player named Ovie Mughelli stole the show. He’s the first NFL player in history to start an environmental foundation. OMFGreen Foundation develops sports programs and gaming tools that teach kids and teens about environmental issues with engagement programs. He’s also got a comic series/graphic novel called Gridiron Green that educates kids and teens about the UN Sustainable Development goals and how they can plug in. He too challenged the predominantly white audience (in the black capital of America) to reach beyond the choir, especially to black communities that have been left out of the narrative thus far and are an essential part of the movement if it is to succeed. Tapping into sports is an obvious way to quickly build bridges. “Environmental justice is social justice,” he reminded us all.