OLLI101757 - Climate Change: What It Is, Social Barriers to Effective Action, and Grounds for Hope
Course Description
Climate Change: What It Is, Social Barriers to Effective Action, and Grounds for Hope
Instructor: Alan Windle
Days of the Week: Wednesday
Date: June 10 – July 15 (6 sessions)
Time: 1:30 p.m. – 3:00 p.m.
Location: Hybrid at TUCC
This course begins with an overview of the scientific consensus on climate change—“it’s real, it’s us, it’s bad”—using materials from The Climate Reality Project. The course then briefly reviews the history of climate science and its development as a public policy issue. Participants examine U.S. public opinion, drawing on research from the Yale Program on Climate Change Communication and other sources. Discussions address social and psychological barriers to action, emotional responses to climate change, and social justice questions. The course concludes with reasons for hope, practical steps for personal action, and suggestions for further reading.
Maximum: 60
Instructor Bio: Alan Windle graduated magna cum laude from Franklin & Marshall College in 1976 with an honors degree in philosophy and membership in Phi Beta Kappa. He later earned a master’s degree in software engineering from Villanova University. Windle worked in several industries over a 40-plus-year career in software engineering, most recently contributing to the development of large-scale industrial process control systems for Honeywell in Fort Washington, PA.
Alan has been advocating for meaningful climate action since 2012 through teaching, letter-writing, lifestyle changes, lobbying and never avoiding the topic in conversations with friends and acquaintances. He lives in Center City, Philadelphia and is a parishioner at St. Mark's Episcopal Church.