Islander Beverly Boos joins Al Gore in the fight against global climate change.
It’s the end of the world as we know it and Beverly Duperly Boos feels fine.
That’s because the island resident is solidly devoted to the “Gospel of Gore,” a view of global climate change that, despite all its doomsday predictions, offers followers a glimmer of hope.
“His most important message is that we have everything we need, and that we just have to make the decision…to create change,” she said of Al Gore, who’s documentary film “An Inconvenient Truth” turned Boos from a climate change newbie to a pollution reducing devotee.
Trained for three weeks at the global warming guru’s side, Boos has returned from Tennessee to spread the word on Bainbridge, and then, with Seattle Mayor Greg Nickels in tow, a wider Northwest audience.
“Mr. Gore was an incredible teacher who worked selflessly and tirelessly” said Boos, who was handpicked along with 1,000 others to train with the former vice president on climate change issues.
“During the three days, he trained with each person,” she said. “That really shows the dedication he has to the topic. He has such a clear heart in this.”
Boos, who founded the island-based Opening of the Heart education network, was trained by Gore and members of his Climate Project organization to give presentations and slideshows on the ills of global warming, as well as the possible cures.
Her first presentation is Saturday at the Bainbridge Public Library as part of the Bainbridge Island Arts and Humanities Council’s “Great Decisions” series. Boos will moderate a public discussion on climate change after attendees view a short film.
Other events include an April 21 Earth Day presentation for children at City Hall and a May 2 forum with Nickels at Seattle Central Library, which kicks off a series hosted by a dozen Seattle libraries.
Working as a volunteer to get the message out, Boos believes fast action is necessary to halt global catastrophe.
“Unless we get organized very quick, we could be looking at significant challenges over the next few years,” she said.
According to Boos, the recent rash of hurricanes and rising ocean temperatures are rooted in carbon-based pollution from over 30 years ago.
We reap what we sow, she said, but we have not yet begun to measure the seeds of climate change planted today.
“We’re not experiencing the levels we’re creating now,” she said. “That moves me into action.”
In the Northwest, Boos predicts growing problems with sea level rise, beach loss, wetter winters and increased coastal erosion.
It is for these reasons, and many others, that BIAHC’s Kathleen Thorne considers Saturday’s discussion of climate change one of the most important in the Great Decisions series.
“It’s pretty scary,” she said. “We know things are dire and people can feel overwhelmed by the scope of the problem.”
Thorne points to a new global-warming report issued this month by the United Nations.
The report conjures an apocalyptic vision, with more than 1 billion people in need of water, extreme food shortages, deadly floods and millions of species erased from the globe.
But Boos holds hope for Bainbridge amid the growing storm.
“People here are very sophisticated and are already very engaged,” she said. “People have a lot of resources and the will to create change.”
According to Boos, much of that change will come out of personal choices and in how islanders consume and spend their wealth of resources.
Leading by example, Boos has cut her energy dependence by traveling by plane less, purchasing a hybrid gas-electric car and eating more locally grown foods. If more Americans take similar steps, they can reduce or slow climate change’s impact, she said.
“What was so magnificent about (Gore’s) film was that he showed how fragile the world is,” Boos said. “But even though I received such a terrible message about how things are, I felt more excited about the future than I have in a long time.
“It helped me realize that individual actions lead to collective change.”
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Global perspective
Beverly Duperly Boos will discuss the impacts of climate change Saturday at the Bainbridge Public Library. The free event, part of the Bainbridge Island Arts and Humanities’ Great Decisions series, begins at 9 a.m. For more information on Boos’ work related to Al Gore’s Climate Project, see www.openingoftheheart.org.
