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SNRE Seminar Series Talk by Amber Pairis
Now, more than ever, our communities and livelihoods are vulnerable to the imminent consequences of climate change—but there is still time. If we are to manage and restore our life support system, we must foster a new culture. We must think differently, we must act differently, and we must engage differently. Addressing these challenges and building a resilient future takes more than just plans on paper or engineered solutions—it requires that people be at the center of solutions. To do this right, we need an engaged, compassionate, and creative multigenerational community, willing to come together to make hard decisions about our future. As a society, we have a tendency to tell stories that shock and scare as forms of entertainment. However, if we talk only of doom and gloom then we are playing into a feeling of hopelessness that isolate and turn people away from engaging. Instead, we need to change the narrative to stories that are defined by ingenuity, creativity, and innovative solutions so that we offer alternative views of the future where individuals see themselves as part of the solution. In this talk, I will present current work, including work with the Climate Science Alliance, which is a California-based, science focused network of leaders, scientists, and managers focused on sharing ecosystem-based resiliency approaches to safeguard our communities and natural resources from climate change. Alliance partners focus their efforts on boundary-spanning projects by meeting in project-based working groups. Partners share skills, expertise, and knowledge in order to bridge the gap between research and application within the community. The Climate Science Alliance has grown to partner with over 200 organizations, collaborate on 6 large-scale research projects, and engage with over 100,000 community members. https://www.climatesciencealliance.org/