Welcome to the Introduction to Drawdown for People of Faith workshop focused on introducing you to the solutions we need to accelerate to reverse the global climate crisis and to help you discover the role you have to play.
If you have any questions or feedback on any of the materials or workshop, please send to scott.henson@outlook.com.
Goals of the Workshop
- You gain a basic understanding of how it is possible to reverse global warming, and specifically how you and people in the faith community can accelerate and expand the work being done to achieve one or even several of the solutions outlined in the Drawdown research.
- Inspiration and education from leaders in the faith community from the great work and solutions they are engaged with in their communities.
- You start to think about how you can engage and expand your own portfolio of action at all levels to take part in solutions you are passionate about.
- That engagement will spark a new attitude, a new hopefulness, to create meaningful and sustained engagement in areas you care most about.
Resources From Our Discussion and Project Drawdown
- Invitation to View 2040. Between November 13-22 there will be a sponsored viewing of the movie 2040 which paints a picture of what the world will look like if we simply embrace the solutions we know can address the climate crisis. There will also be a hosted discussion on November 22nd to discuss the solutions outlined in the movie.
- Introduction to People of Faith Presentation . Introduction to Project Drawdown, the four levels of action, and examples of getting into action from local congregations. PLEASE NOTE: The Zoom recording is here, the audio only is here, and the text chat is here. All files (presentations, handouts, videos, etc.) can be downloaded here.
- Climate Justice & The Episcopal Church. Resources for You and Your Congregation. A great list of resources to dive in further and learn more.
- Videos During Presentation:
- The Wombat: All is One (1:02). A fun way to contemplate how everything is connected.
- Project Drawdown Overview (11 minute original here, female downloadable dubbed version here). “Drawdown in a nutshell”. This is the video we typically show in our introduction sessions and it is perfect for anyone who has not yet been introduced to Project Drawdown.
- The Four Levels of Action (3 minutes version here, 7 minute downloadable here). Will Grant’s amazing framing for how to think about and build your action portfolio from individual action all the way to the systems and structures that govern society.
- 2040 Movie Trailer. (2:15). A journey in fact-based dreaming focused on solutions that exist today to create a better tomorrow. We hosted a large showing of the movie in August 2020 and posted all of the material from that event here (including how you can watch and Q&A panels).
- Polling and Quizzes
- CNN and Project Drawdown’s Climate Quiz. The most effective ways to curb climate change might surprise you. To reduce our impact on the climate and avert disaster, it’s going to take more than switching to high-efficiency light bulbs. But the most effective ways that individuals, policymakers and businesses can reduce our carbon footprint might surprise you. Let’s see how much you know about what can be done to fight climate change.
- Yale Climate Opinion Maps 2020. (Interactive) These maps show how Americans’ climate change beliefs, risk perceptions, and policy support vary at the state, congressional district, metro area, and county levels.
- Global Warming’s Six Americas. One of the first rules of effective communication is to “know thy audience.” Climate change public engagement efforts must start with the fundamental recognition that people are different and have different psychological, cultural, and political reasons for acting – or not acting – to reduce greenhouse gas emissions.
- Six America’s Quiz. Take the quiz to find out are you Alarmed, Concerned, Cautious, Disengaged, Doubtful, or Dismissive.
- The original 2017 book – Drawdown: The Most Comprehensive Plan Ever Proposed to Reverse Global Warming. In the face of widespread fear and apathy, an international coalition of researchers, professionals, and scientists have come together to offer a set of realistic and bold solutions to climate change. You can borrow the book at the library, buy the book at Amazon, Walmart, Barnes and Noble, and find out more on the Drawdown website. You can find the original Frequently asked Questions (FAQ) document for this work here which provides a great overview for the original work.
- Drawdown.org web site. The world’s leading resource on climate solutions. This is where you will find the latest up to date information on solutions which are in-hand and if scaled up over the next few decades can reverse global warming due to increasing greenhouse gases in the atmosphere. There are lots of ways to discover solutions now. For example, you can look at all solutions or discover them based on sectors or sort based on the two drawdown scenarios.
- The Drawdown Review 2020: Climate Solutions for a New Decade This is the digital (PDF file) update to the original book with updated information and modelling. It is focused on solutions we have now where the book had a section called “Coming Attractions” which are promising solutions but not yet proven to be deployed at scale. There is a new framework with solutions focused on Reducing Sources, Supporting Sinks, and Improving Society organized into the following sectors: Electricity, Food Agriculture & Land Use, Industry, Transportation, Buildings, Land Sinks, Ocean Sinks, Engineered Sinks, and Health & Education. You can download this document on home page of the Drawdown web site or download directly from here.
Here are some other helpful documents which summarize solutions and key takeaways from the Drawdown Review:
- Drawdown solutions spreadsheet
This is a spreadsheet to make it easy for you to sort based on name or rank as well as filter based on sectors. It includes links to each of the solutions (with brief descriptions) and sectors on the Drawdown website and is available as a Microsoft Excel file or Google sheet. Note: These spreadsheets are read-only so if you want to edit them , simply save a copy. - Overview materials. For a quick overview on the key things you need to know for this workshop, here are some “essential” resources:
- Project Drawdown Overview (11 minute original here, female downloadable dubbed version here). “Drawdown in a nutshell”. This is the video we typically show in our introduction sessions and it is perfect for anyone who has not yet been introduced to Project Drawdown.
- The Four Levels of Action (3 minutes version here, 7 minute downloadable here). Will Grant’s amazing framing for how to think about and build your action portfolio from individual action all the way to the systems and structures that govern society.
- Climate Science, What You Need to Know. From PBS Digital Studio’s “It’s OK to be Smart” series, this is a great primer to the problem. You can find a downloadable version here.
- Jonathan Foley’s Overview (about 1 hour). Dr. Foley is the Executive Director of Project Drawdown and in this one-hour presentation he gives a great overview of the problem and proven solutions to address the climate crisis. In this presentation you will get the updated Drawdown Review framing, sectors, and solutions from March 2020. If you would like a downloadable version of that video, you can find it here.
Additional Resources for Learning
- Drawdown Seattle resources from Awakening the Dreamer, Getting into Action and the 2040 movie viewing workshops. These are other workshops and discussions that we offer. If you are interested in bringing any of these to your community, please e-mail scott.henson@outlook.com.
- The Game Changer Intensive. The Game Changer Intensive is a unique online course that will inspire you and equip you to become a game-changing leader in the world. Over an eight-week period, Intensive participants delve into a wealth of carefully-curated resources—videos, readings, and activities—delivered on a platform that allows you to explore the course content on your own schedule and interact with others in lively online discussions. You can also participate in weekly conversations with a small group of learning partners and join in web gatherings with all participants at the beginning and end of the course.
- Learn and Engage. Pachamama Alliance has created the Up to Us engagement pathway to educate, inspire and engage a critical mass of pro-activist leaders who are committed to bringing forth a thriving, just and sustainable world for all.
- Awakening the Dreamer On-Demand. Take an honest look at the challenging state of the world, reflect, and discover opportunities to create a new future where you have a key role to play. This is a two hour course that you can take at your own pace wherever you like!
- Reversing Global Warming: Introduction to Drawdown. In this 90-minute course, you’ll explore a new orientation to climate change as you dive into the 100 most substantive solutions for reversing global warming and begin to discover your unique role.