#climateweek

Today I have my first event for Climate Week! I've been getting psyched up for representing my company, Unified Ground, at Climate Week for weeks. This year feels different than other years - a lot different. I feel much more connected to my environmental justice community and community of people of color in energy and justice than I have before. Conferences and climate week in particular can feel so overwhelming. Honestly a lot of coporate things that don't feel like they have anything to do with change. This year, I'm connected to so people and projects so all the events feel natural for me to be a part of. Here's what I wrote on LinkedIn today:

NYC Climate Week is Here! 🎉 It’s going to be a full exciting week of events starting with opening night of the Climate Film Festival tonight!! I’m feeling really connected to my environmental justice community and I’m looking forward to seeing so many people in person.  If you want to know all the places I’ll be, send me a message and I can send you the full schedule. Here are the key events you can find me at: 

Climate Film Festival: I’m Moderating the panel "SHORTS: Power Shift: Defying Fossil Fuels" on Sunday, September 21st at 12:30 PM at DCTV.  I’ll also be attending films and the closing ceremony on Sunday. (https://climatefilmfest.eventive.org/schedule/shorts-power-shift-defying-fossil-fuels-66bc11ef3bea91005c3b6dd8 )

Make It in Brooklyn Climate Tech Pitch Contest: Pitching Unified Ground’s business in front of industry judges on Tuesday, September 23rd at 6 PM at Hana House. (https://lu.ma/ghfgy25v) 

New Climate Futures @Newlab: We have a small display as part of the Founder’s Fellowship program and I’ll be at the conference on Thursday, September 26th from 10 AM to 6 PM at Newlab. (https://www.newlab.com/new-climate-futures )

Climate Karaoke 🎤: If you know me well you know my love of Karaoke so no way I was going to pass up this event at one of my favorite spots Planet Rose Thursday, September 26th at 8 PM. (https://lu.ma/climatekaraoke )

Climate Justice Lives Here! Festival - Finishing the week in Brooklyn where Climate Justice Lives!!  Pier 4 Brooklyn Army Terminal, September 28th 2-7pm (https://www.uprose.org/event/save-the-date-climate-justice-action-in-september-2024/ )

Hope to see you! 🌱

#ClimateWeek #NYC #ClimateChange #Sustainability #Innovation #PanelDiscussion #PitchCompetition #Conference #Karaoke #climatejustice #environmentaljustice #ClimateJusticeLivesHere

Now I wouldn't be me if I didn't add some fun creative for Climate Justice and Climate Week. So Created some ClimateWeek songs and images!

Enjoy a chapter of ...

Running Out: In Search of Water on the High Plain

Lucas Bessire

Finalist for the National Book Award An intimate reckoning with aquifer depletion in America's heartland

I usually love it when I remember my dreams. Sometimes they are odd. Sometimes I turn them into AI images.  Sometimes I try to search for deeper meaning. What is my subconscious trying to tell me?

Not sure of what to make of last night’s dream but I won’t soon forget the moment I woke up. I was in a gigantic office tower. I get into an elevator to go down - I believe to go home. Instead the elevator takes us up - way up to the top. This happens sometimes, so me and the three people on the elevator are not too taken aback. I know the people on the elevator but not too well. They look like familiar faces from my past - maybe middle school. Then the elevators plummets - fast - we must be in free fall for 50 floors and then we stop with a crash. Part of the floor is dislodged in the crash. I have grabbed onto a part of the ceilingof the elevator and my feet are dangling above the abyss below. Somehow the four of us get on the floor that is remaining in the elevator. One of the people in the elevator pries open the elevator doors somehow. Luckily we are at a floor. Alarms are blaring. People are evacuating. Someone on the floor sees us and helps us out of the elevator . The building is clearly on fire. This is not a drill.

We are on the 145th floor and will need to walk the stairs. There is smoke evident. We know we must leave our belongings. If find a wet cloth to put ove my mouth for the long way down. I make my way down and out of the building.

I look up and see that the buidling is an out of control fire up top. I watch the fire burn and the smoke fill the sky. Too late like many around me I realize pieces of the building are raining down deadly debris. I search for cover. I ended up seeking shelter in a nearby subway station. The building is raining down deadly debris harder. I see people perish in front of me as the debris pierces the underground shelter - slicing through the ground like it's butter. I start to try to to go deeper ineo the station - somehow avoiding debris. Then I see that the weight of the debris is too much for the subway station structure. I see it bend and buckle - it's going to to give way and I will be crushed. I'm not going make it. I wake up...

It's 6:30 am and the rain drops falling on my parent's house sounds like hot debris.

Second year in a row doing climate karaoke. I love karaoke and the climate. I also just killed a lantern fly with my bare hands while everyone was afraid to do anything. I was at this same party a year ago and it makes me think of the simple but complex thought about where you a were a year ago. As you get older a year means less... but when the change is big a year is a lot. I am now as of one or two weeks ago in the transition out of my 10 year marriage and 20 year relationship. Sometimes we lose context of what a year means. Also as a dad of an 11 year old, i know a year to her is so different than a year to me.. ok... more to say on passage or time.... but karaoke is happening..

Tonight was out at networking at a climate week. I was talking to some of the people I knew well. I shared my story of being the white rabbit in white face and may have sung a few bars of the song "i'm late":

I'm late. I'm late. For a very important date. No time to say hello good bye I'm late, I'm late, I'm late. My fuzzy hair and whiskers took me too much time to shave. I run and then i hop hop. there's danger if i dare to stop. and here's the reason why. you see I am i'm overdue I'm in a rabbit stew I'm late, I'm late, I'm late.

Yes I had some wine but I do not need wine to remember the words to the song or sing in public.

I did buy the white clown pain to get into white face again....

But I digress.... or I had a different point...

I tend to be a little bit of oversharer in social situations. I have been told the dangers of sharing too much too quickly. I have lived the consequences but its just me. I don't ever want to change that part of me because connection is important.

I had a conversation tonight of reminded of how much its important to know you are not alone in the experiences in life.

One of most important selfcare things i do is group therapy with other dad's going through divorce. It's an amazingly supportive group of guys. All going through different but related and all who want to do best they can do for their kids. Sometimes when things go sideways you feel alone it's important to know that you are not alone. Divorce, job loss, family turmoil, financial turmoil, depression, physical health problems - whatever your dark days are - there is someone that can understand and you will be found. Cue for the song that I used to listen on my dark days.

As always, my feeling on AI is if you can create content that has a unique message that needs to be heard, well then I think you must use that power. So tonight I was at the nyc climate meetup and I felt the world needed more songs about heat pumps. So hear you go!!