Climate Headquarters for the Class of 1969

The page will serve as “show notes” for links to slides, recommended books, notes, and other resources recommended by the speakers.

For God, for Country, and for the Planet (Redux): How Do Members of Our Class View Current Developments in Climate and Energy?

The challenging relationship between people and the planet has been one of the defining issues of the half century since we graduated. Nowhere has this issue been more fraught than on climate and energy. How do members of our view what is happening? This popular topic from our 50th Reunion will add new voices and share class survey results on climate change, plus the latest science and what we Boomers can do about the issues. We will hear from Derry Allen, Tom Emmons, Tom Guterbock, Skip Hobbs, Eugene Linden, and Wayne Willis.
    Organized by Tom Emmons and Derry Allen.

PROGRAM

Derry Allen: Introduction

Tom Guterbock: Class Survey Results: How we view the problem of climate change

• slides

Eugene Linden:  The Big Picture: Four clocks moving at different and changing speeds

• Fire and Flood: A Peoples History of Climate Change, from 1979 to the Present
• Op-Ed: Europe’s carbon tariff is the right general idea, but doomed by details
• other books by Eugene Linden

Skip Hobbs:  State of the Earth: Some very worrying trends in global warming

• slides

Tom Emmons:  The Energy Transition: How far have we come?  Much more to do!

slides

Wayne Willis: Public Opinion and Political Will: What can a boomer do?

• Slides
• Remarks
• Links
  • Bill Gates, What you can do to solve the climate disaster) (purchase book or download a free pdf copy)
  • Gates Notes:  Blog post summarizing what actions ordinary people can take.
  • List of environmental and conservation organizations (Wikipedia)
    (click on individual orgs for more information)
  • Top 55 Non-Profit Organizations Fighting for the Environment with Technology
  • Class Colloquium 20: What Boomers Can Do To Address Climate Change
    Sign up to get an invitation to Class Colloquium 20, “What Boomers Can Do To Address Climate Change.  This Zoominar will be scheduled in the Fall.  It will show how new technologies that provide cheap, reliable, abundant and clean energy can be nurtured and accelerated through individual and collective action by Boomers like us.

Speakers

DERRY ALLEN (Co-organizer): Introduction: For the planet
Derry Allen served at the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency in Washington, DC for 37 years, working on a wide variety of environmental and sustainability issues, both nationally and internationally. He has continued some of that work with the EPA Alumni Association and several Yale-related activities, as well as by co-chairing a group working on local transportation issues in Washington, DC.

TOM EMMONS (Co-organizer): The Energy Transition: How far have we come? Much more to do!
Tom Emmons has been financing energy, natural resources, and infrastructure projects globally for almost 50 years, with a focus in the last 20 years on renewables, particularly solar, battery storage, and wind. He currently manages a renewable energy and sustainable infrastructure fund based in New York. He is on the Leadership Council of the Yale School of the Environment.

TOM GUTERBOCK: Class Survey Results: How we view the problem of climate change
Thomas M. Guterbock is Professor Emeritus of Sociology and Senior Survey Consultant at the Center for Survey Research at the University of Virginia.  Tom founded CSR 35 years ago and has designed and carried out hundreds of scientific surveys, including two surveys for the Yale Class of ’69 as well as surveys for other alumni groups.  Most of his publications are survey-based or investigate problems in survey methodology.

SKIP HOBBS: State of the Earth: Some very worrying trends in global warming
G. Warfield “Skip” Hobbs is a professional geologist and Managing Partner of Ammonite Resources, a consulting firm that has specialized in the business of global energy and mineral exploration and production since 1982. He is a Past-President of the American Geosciences Institute, a federation of earth science professional societies with a combined membership of over 250,000 geoscientists of every discipline. Skip lectures frequently on climate change and resource sustainability.

EUGENE LINDEN: The Big Picture: Four clocks moving at different and changing speeds
Eugene Linden is the author of ten books of non-fiction and one novel, and still going… or at least trying. His most recent book, Fire and Flood: A People’s History of Climate Change from 1979 to the Present, was the recipient of the American Meteorological Society’s 2023 Louis J. Battan Award. A previous book on climate change, Winds of Change: Climate, Weather and the Destruction of Civilizations, won the Grantham Prize’s Special Award of Merit. Linden’s other books and articles have ranged widely from finance, to animal intelligence, to the nature and origins of the consumer society.

WAYNE WILLIS: Public Opinion and Political Will: What can a boomer do?
Wayne Willis, a co-webmaster of Yale1969.org, is a self-described “recovering entrepreneur.”  Having led tech-based companies and advised others, he’s now focusing on citizens’ advocacy in support of a sustainable world.

YOU MAY ALSO BE INTERESTED…

• Yale Planetary Solutions Initiative: https://planetarysolutions.yale.edu/
• Yale School of Environment: https://environment.yale.edu/
• Yale Center for Business and the Environment: https://cbey.yale.edu/
• Yale Center for Environmental Law and Policy: https://envirocenter.yale.edu/
• Yale Center for Natural Carbon Capture: https://naturalcarboncapture.yale.edu/
• Yale Program on Climate Change Communication: https://climatecommunication.yale.edu/
• Yale Blue Green (alumni group, open to all Yale alumni): https://yalebluegreen.org/
• Yale Class of 1969 – 50^th reunion “Planet” discussion: https://www.yale1969.org/environment/
• Yale Class of 1969 – 55^th reunion “Planet” discussion: https://www.yale1969.org/climate/