Briefing Notes
Sixth IPCC Assessment Report: Implications and Responses
Objective
To provide an overview of the implications of the IPCC Sixth Assessment Report and actions that the Green Technology Education Centre proposes in response.
About GTEC
The Green Technology Education Centre of Greater Vancouver Society is a registered non-profit society in BC with CRA charitable tax status. It was established by a group of concerned community leaders with extensive experience in education, community development and green technology enterprise. GTEC’s educational mission is to inform, activate and support communities in responding to the climate crisis via education.
GTEC To Date
GTEC has offered community based environmental education programs and established itself as a ‘thought leader’ in proposing solutions to the climate crisis – Re-Building BC
The Sixth IPCC Assessment Report
The Sixth IPCC Assessment Report states unequivocally that the planet will soon reach and likely exceed a 1.5 C increase. The report points out numerous changes to our environment that are already underway and will accelerate as carbon emissions continue to increase. For example, we can expect more frequent extreme weather events, such as the heat dome we recently experienced in BC and the flooding that took place in both Europe and China this summer; continued melting of Artic ice resulting in rising sea levels; and decreasing viability of land for agricultural production. The report suggests that it is still possible to mitigate some of these effects, but not to forestall them altogether.
What the report does not spell out is the political, social and economic consequences of these changes. Clearly, environmental changes of the magnitude outlined in the IPCC report will have far reaching impacts at all levels of society. Every organization, community and nation will face unprecedented adaptive challenges beginning in the short and medium terms.
The GTEC Response
GTEC sees an immediate need to prepare leaders in the corporate, community and government sectors for the accelerating change, increasing complexity and rapid adaptation we now face with the climate crisis. We propose to partner with organizations in designing training and education that strengthens leaders’ capacity to go beyond reacting and become transformational, solution oriented leaders playing key roles in reversing or mitigating the climate crisis. The focus is to support individuals to activate their strengths and develop innovative initiatives that contribute to the level of change we need for the well-being of life on the planet.
Design Process
GTEC proposes to convene leaders from the corporate, community and government sectors in a design process that:
- Provides a forum in which leaders can share their perceptions, feelings and thoughts about the climate crisis and identify their climate crisis related training and education needs.
- Delivers a design process that in itself is engaging, energizing and educational, as well as fostering community among participating leaders.
- Translates the expressed training and educational needs of leaders into relevant and accessible programs and courses. This may include designing educational experiences that do not fit the usual format of programs and courses.
- Invites the feedback of participants about the programs, courses and educational experiences that are developed.
- Finalizes, markets and delivers a continuum of programs, courses and educational experiences.
- Implement a developmental evaluation process that operates and reports out concurrently with the design and development process.
Our Plea – The climate crisis is humanity’s greatest challenge requiring unprecedented social and economic changes to ensure the survival of future generations and the civilizations people around the world have evolved over many generations.
Education has a critical role to play in preparing transformational leaders and developing the new ideas and practices that that will guide us into a sustainable future. We hope you will become our partner in the evolution of GTEC’s educational programs.
Read articles on climate change, sustainability, education, and more from GTEC’s Communication & Media (formally GTEC Blog)!
GTEC is at the forefront of solutions to the social and environmental challenges of our time. Our Climate Response Centre will be Canada’s first centre that combines a source of relevant and accessible educational and community development programming, and a centre of evolving community-based expertise about responding to climate change.