Guest Post – from Janis Bookout
Janis Bookout is an organizer with 2020 or Bust, a nonprofit organization that seeks to end the climate crisis by helping people all over the world reduce their own personal carbon footprint.
When you speak to people’s higher self, that self listens. I don’t think people’s deepest desire is to spend their time opinion-mongering and demonizing their opponents. It’s a cheap substitute for what I believe people really want — to feel connected and make a difference. My experience this past weekend reaffirmed that belief when my parents hosted a climate event in Bandera, Texas, and got a new conversation started in the Cowboy Capital of the World.
Apparently climate change has become a family affair. This is my mom and dad, Sandy and Tom Gadsden, and they are kicking butt on climate change! Back in March of this year, after attending a 2020 or Bust event, Mom and Dad walked away with a new perspective on climate change. The climate crisis is something they are now empowered to own, claim responsibility for, and take action on. It was a pretty radical shift from where they had been previously, which was incredibly supportive of me personally, and proud of my work, but not inspired to take up the cause.
What changed? For Mom, it was realizing that her personal actions could, in fact, make a difference. For Dad, it was confronting, for the first time, the urgency of the situation and hearing the opportunity to say, “the climate crisis is mine.”
Two days after attending the 202 or Bust event with me, I got an excited call from the two of them. They were playing the game to go carbon negative and were also out to transform climate action in Bandera, Texas. On Saturday, June 3rd, they hosted what was perhaps Bandera’s first climate change event. One Bandera newspaper devoted a full page in their community section entitled: “2020 or Bust” A Project With Purpose. The article reads:
“2020 or Bust is a non-political global initiative created by average citizens that has gained the attention of the international leadership community… The innovators at 2020 or Bust developed a phone app (free) that offers each person and household the opportunity to “play the game of the century” and be part of resolving the climate crisis by participating in a global action initiative. The app offers people the experience of being a part of history — the history in which the climate crisis is resolved in time.”
Also promoting the event was the community thrift store, local churches and The Frontier Times Museum – not to mention Mom and Dad tabling at the Saturday market.
Posters went up all over town.
As a result, despite it being graduation weekend, a group of Bandera citizens met at the United Methodist Church for a non-political conversation about the climate crisis and what everyday people could do about it.
Local legend Jud Ashmore makes a case for science
Opening the talk was career meteorologist and local legend, Jud Ashmore. A long-time San Antonio radio and TV personality, Jud is certainly one of the most influential voices in Bandera. At 90 years old, he commands attention and respect from the local leadership and business community. And Jud is concerned about climate change. Jud spoke for a good 30 minutes about the science of meteorology and what is happening to the ice caps and shelfs in particular.
I followed with a 40-minute presentation covering the realities of climate change (with slides provided by the Climate Reality training) and my favorite subject, the 2020 or Bust “Game of the Century.” I started my talk by letting people know that I was not out to change anyone’s mind or force a belief system or opinion on anyone. It’s my intention, I said, to share the realities as I understand them, stick with impacts over predictions, and most importantly, what people can DO about it. (Props to climate communication experts Katharine Hayhoe and Robin Rather for their great insight into how to speak climate when you are not preaching to the choir.) I included videos from firemen and a local rice farmer. I shared the story of Georgetown and talked about the new Texas energy boom. And most importantly, I shared about my own children and my promise to them to cause an end to the crisis before it’s too late. The audience was very attentive and the message was welcome.
Following me was Miguel Rivera, Director of the Renewables Program for Bandera Electric COOP. Bandera, as it turns out, is offering community solar, and, get this — solar installation. Sound odd for that electric company to operate as a solar installer? That’s because hardly any other electric company is doing it. Miguel says that BEC can offer very affordable rates. What’s more, they are one of very few distributors of the Tesla Powerwall.
The audience was a combination of conservative and liberal citizens. One came from Boerne and wanted to talk about bringing a presentation to Boerne and starting a friendly competition between the two towns. Both of the two local papers (The Bandera Courier and The Bandera Bulletin) covered the event, and the Bandera Courier is even talking about offering a weekly column on the subject (stay tuned.) A few members of the audience also decided that by next year, they would have the beginnings of an effective recycling program in Bandera.
This is clearly just the beginning, but I say, why shouldn’t Bandera, Texas be at the very heart of climate action? And according to my parents, they will become just that!
Clipping from the Bandera Bulletin
