Trained to give the slide show seen in An Inconvenient Truth, Ileana Jones, a Cambridge retired schoolteacher, talks about her efforts to educate the public about climate change.
Corie Lok
In 2006, Al Gore announced that he would teach 1,000 volunteers to give the presentation that’s at the heart of the Oscar-winning documentary about climate change An Inconvenient Truth. Earlier this year, The Climate Project finished training the volunteers in Nashville, TN.
Ileana Jones, a Cambridge-based retired middle and high school science teacher, was one of them. She has since given eight presentations to various local community groups and plans to do more than the minimum of 10 she committed to. She recently spoke with Nature Network Boston about what it was like spending three days with Al Gore and what role nonscientists have in educating the public about the science of climate change.
Cambridge retired school teacher Ileana Jones gives public talks about climate change after she received training from Al Gore.
Why did you decide to become a presenter with The Climate Project?
For 30 years, up until I retired in 2004, I taught at The Winsor School in Boston, an independent girls’ school, grades five through 12. I was head of the science department for six years. I developed a course about 20 years ago on environmental issues and taught that during that time. By 2000, I was beginning to feel that climate change would be the most important issue for me to teach. So when I retired, I knew I wanted to use my background, interest and skills to go out into the community and continue to teach about this issue. But I wasn’t sure how to do it. So when this project came up, I jumped at it.
What was the training session like?
We were in Nashville for three days. We watched Al Gore give the slide show, basically like what’s in the movie, and then he went through it again, step by step, with a science advisor there, explaining the scientific background: why he chose the slides and how he transitions from one to the next. The next day, there was a fair amount on presentation skills. We practiced in small groups. The training was short and intense. Gore was quite involved. He gave a concluding speech that was very moving. He’s very inspiring in his passion and in his sense of humor.
Who were the other people being trained with you
There was a lot of diversity in the people there. All different ages, different occupations, from all over the United States and a few foreign countries too. From Massachusetts, the former mayor of Provincetown was there. So was state Senator Marc Pacheco, who now heads a global warming and climate change committee.
Who have you given talks to so far?
In March, I talked to a group of Cambridge middle school science teachers. I talked to the Friends of Fresh Pond Reservation [a volunteer group dedicated to the conservation of Fresh Pond in Cambridge]. I did a talk for an environmental horticulture class at Wellesley College. I did one for the alumni of my high school and the alums at The Winsor School. And I did one at the Stata Center for the Cambridge Science Festival.
Are you allowed to change the slide show in any way?
They have asked us to not interfere with the order of the slides. But I have taken slides out. For people who have already seen the movie, I’ve put in slides about solutions: what people can do to lower their carbon footprint. The Climate Project also sends us new slides with updated data. We’re not allowed to give out the slides.
How have people reacted to your talks?
After the talks, I ask everyone to fill out a questionnaire. It asks them to rate how important they think this issue is and how the talk may have influenced them. We mail the questionnaires to The Climate Project.
For some people, I think that maybe we’re preaching to the choir a bit. But I’ve had a few people come up to me to say that they were in doubt before about the human fingerprint on global warming, but that the talk convinced them that we are having an impact. I’ve gotten a few people who said they weren’t convinced though.
What’s the role of nonscientists in educating the public about important scientific issues like climate change?
When I first heard about the project, I thought they would only want to train scientists and teachers. But no, they’re looking for people from all different walks of life. So I think this has shown that you don’t have to be a scientist to go and talk about these issues. We’re all responsible for climate change. That’s the bad news. But the good news is that we can all contribute to the solution. Part of that is spreading the word.