The Climate Project

The Climate Project, Est. June 2006

The Climate Project (TCP) is an international non-profit founded by Nobel Laureate and former Vice President Al Gore with a mission to increase public awareness of the climate crisis at a grassroots level worldwide. TCP consists of a professional staff and more than 2,600 dedicated volunteers throughout the United States, Australia, Canada, India, Spain, and the UK, all personally trained by Al Gore to present a version of the slide show featured in the Academy Award-winning film An Inconvenient Truth. In 2009, TCP expanded its mission with a new commitment to advocacy and activism to combat the climate crisis. TCP presenters have reached a combined audience of more than 5 million people worldwide and plans are underway to develop affiliate offices in Israel, China, Eastern Europe, Mexico, and Latin America. Our hope is that by raising the awareness of our fellow citizens about this crisis and informing them about potential solutions, all of us, together, can preserve the climate balance on which humanity and our planet depend.

TCP Goals

TCP seeks to raise awareness about the urgency of the climate crisis. We seek to motivate people to become active participants in solving the climate crisis by:

1) Training a diverse range of citizens from numerous geographic regions and walks of life to communicate the science and impacts of climate change.

2) Engaging the public through presentations, news media, individual conversations, and grassroots advocacy and activism so that they will make an informed choice about public policy matters related to climate change.

3) Promoting local, domestic and global initiatives to solve the climate crisis.

TCP presentations are available for public engagements of any size, free of charge, and may be requested by clicking here.

History

TCP began in June 2006 as an effort to train 1,000 Americans about the effects of global warming in order to spread the message about the problem. The class of "First Fifty" presenters was trained in Nashville, TNm which has since become
the home of its international headquarters.

International

Since then, TCP has established international branches in Australia, Canada, India, Spain, and the United Kingdom resulting in the training of hundreds of other committed individuals.

Expansion

TCP also has an official presence in Mexico, Israel, Italy, Turkey, Indonesia and Singapore. New plans are being devised for trainings in Eastern and South Europe, Latin America, South and East Asia-Pacific region, and China.

Presenters

TCP thrives as a result of the commitment, dedication, and passion of presenters to educate, encourage, and promote dialogue about climate change as well as potential solutions and policy reform. TCP's 2,600 presenters have reached a worldwide audience of more than 4 million people and its reach continues to grow. TCP Presenters come from all walks of life. They are in science, academia, government, business, civic groups, places of worship, and schools.

Faith-based Training

In October 2008, TCP held its first-ever Faith Community Training session in Nashville. The program resulted in the training of an exemplary group of faith leaders to deliver a version of the TCP slide show and engage in other congregational activities geared toward combating the climate crisis.

Inconvenient Youth

In 2009, TCP took oversight of Inconvenient Youth, a network of teens committed to educating their peers and developing activities to engage young people.

Activism

In February 2009, TCP expanded its mission with a new commitment to advocacy and activism to influence government leaders to take strong positions to the treaty negotiations scheduled to take place in Copenhagen in December.

Staff

Staff at TCP's international headquarters aim to support presenters in every facet of their work as climate change messengers.

Contact TCP

The Climate Project
2100 West End Avenue, Suite 600
Nashville, TN 37203
Email: i nfo@theclimateproject.org
Phone: (615) 327-7577

Meet the TCP Staff

Jenny Clad is the Executive Director of The Climate Project. She was trained as a lawyer and has worked as a consultant for the New Zealand Minister of Justice, lecturer & tutor in law at Hong Kong University, Mediator-Dispute Resolution Specialist at the Superior Court of the District of Columbia and Attorney/Mediator in private practice in Washington, DC. She has lived in several countries and traveled extensively for most of her life and continues to do so today. She has a BA in Political Science and Anthropology from Canterbury University and a LLB (JD) degree from Victoria University of Wellington (NZ).

Sabrina Cowden, Chief of Staff/ Director of Partnerships and Programs: Sabrina Cowden joined The Climate Project in July 2006, serving as the first paid employee of the organization. She has been involved with all aspects of TCP from managing staff and logistics to strategic development. In her present role, she is responsible for forging relationships that strengthen and expand the TCP message as well as managing program development for TCP events. She has a background in Human Resources and Communications. She holds a BA in Speech Communication from Lipscomb University.

Katy Valesky, Production Manager, joined The Climate Project in 2006. Katy has a BA in Psychology from Emory and an MSSW from the University of Tennessee. Prior to working for TCP, the majority of her prior work was with youth in and transitioning out of foster care. She enjoys reading and traveling and is a Sudoku addict.

Marisa Hackemann is Logistics and Event Coordinator for The Climate Project. She graduated with a Bachelor's Degree in History from Sewanee: The University of the South. Previously, she worked in higher education as an admissions representative for Cumberland University, a private, liberal arts university in Middle Tennessee. In her free time, Marisa enjoys traveling, supporting the Florida Gators and Vanderbilt Commodores, and spending time with her family.

Raj Shukla, Manager of School Programs, joined The Climate Project in 2008 with a decade's worth of experience in community education and organizing. He's managed an inner city reinvestment campaign in Milwaukee and trained candidates to use technology to win elections across America. He's also led teams of professionals to help organizations improve performance and protect the planet through his own consultancy. Raj regularly speaks to corporate and community audiences on the science of global warming and the benefits of clean energy as a Climate Project Presenter. He's also a proud Badger (BA, University of Wisconsin). You can often find him watching Bucky in person or on his wind-powered television.

Tami Coleman, Director of Community Support, joined The Climate Project in 2009. Tami was a member of the "first 50" class of Climate Project presenters trained in September 2006. She has also served as a volunteer Central Regional Director, where she facilitated communication among Climate Project presenters in the Midwestern states and TCP staff in Nashville. Tami has also previously worked in environmental education at the Tennessee Department of Education. She continues to deliver TCP presentations in and around Nashville for diverse audiences.

Carrie Criado, Communications Director, joined The Climate Project in 2009. Previously, she was a corporate staff attorney and Director of Public Relations for USLegal, Inc. Criado has also worked for KVII-TV, KEYT-TV, KUHT-TV, The First Amendment Center at Vanderbilt and was a law clerk for the Federal Communications Commission. She has also taught media law and journalism courses at Middle Tennessee State and Southern Methodist University. Criado received a BA in Journalism from the University of Texas at Austin, and earned a juris doctorate from the University of Houston. Carrie is licensed to practice law in Texas and Tennessee.

If you're a member of the news media and need assistance with a story you're working on or if you have any questions, comments, or story suggestions for TCP, please contact Carrie directly at (832) 576-6207 or via email at press@theclimateproject.org.

TCP Presenter Leadership

The Climate Project's volunteer leadership consists of Regional Directors, who serve the staff in an advisory capacity, and District Managers, who supervise and coordinate presenters in their area.

REGIONAL DIRECTORS
Bill Bradbury (West)
Tamara Coleman (Central)
Lise Van Susteren (East)

DISTRICT MANAGERS

West
Beverly Duperly Boos (AK, ID, MT, OR, WA)
Camille DeMarco-Hay (CO, KS, UT, WY)
Jeff Mikulina (HI)
Eric Torres (Southern CA, NV)
Haily Summerford (AZ, NM, OK, TX)
Paul Valva (Northern CA)

Central
Karen Cochran (AL, AR, LA, MS, TN)
Mary Panks-Holmes (FL, GA, NC, SC)
Sarah Lynn Cunningham (IL, IN, KY, MO, OH)
Lisa Kamil (IA, MI, MN, ND, NE, SD, WI)

East
Steven Leibo (Upstate NY, VT)
Peter Kelley (MD, VA, DC, WV)
Stephen Nodvin (CT, MA, ME, NH, RI)
Katie Scheidt (DE, NJ, New York City and Long Island, PA)

International

Yves Mathieu

Evan Wiliams (UK)
Gerardo Pandal (Mexico)

Support

TCP welcomes support to continue and expand its work to educate the public about this vital issue. Our organization has 501(c)(3) nonprofit status and all donations are federally tax-deductible.

The Climate Project
2100 West End Avenue, Suite 600
Nashville, TN 37203
Email: info@theclimateproject.org
Phone: (615) 327-7577

TCP presentations are available for public engagements of any size, free of charge, and may be requested by clicking here.

Donations

You can contribute to the effort by donating to The Climate Project. Your donations will help fund training sessions in Nashville, including training materials, lecture space, and much more. In addition, donations work towards funding web-based resources to ensure the continued growth of this movement.

The Climate Project welcomes individuals to contribute their solutions, ideas, words, and images to help solve the climate crisis. At its discretion, TCP will post certain suggestions in the Ideas Gallery.

IDEAS GALLERY