Local Action for a Sustainable Tomorrow

Solutions to global warming in keynote talk

The keynote speaker for this year’s Earth Day Weekend Celebration is Rhys Roth, Director of Clean Energy Programs for the Olympia-based, non-profit known as Climate Solutions. His talk on “Practical and Profitable Solutions to Global Warming”, sponsored by Power Trip Energy, will be presented Friday, April 18, at 7:30 p.m. at the USO Building in Fort Worden.
Climate Solutions is the Northwest’s leading advocacy group on the issue of global warming and has played a major role in Washington State’s becoming a hotbed of climate protection activity. They led the successful campaign in this year’s Washington State Legislature to adopt the groundbreaking Climate Action and Green Jobs bill. They helped Seattle Mayor Greg Nickels launch the US Mayors Climate Protection Agreement in February, 2005. They helped catalyze the West Coast Governors Global Warming Initiative in 2003 and the Western Climate Initiative in 2007, bringing one of the world’s largest and most dynamic economies into the global campaign for solutions.
Climate Solutions was co-founded in 1998 by Rhys Roth, a graduate of the Environmental Studies Master’s program at Evergreen State College. From the outset, Climate Solutions has worked to forge innovative partnerships with rural communities, organized labor, high-tech businesses, energy activists, and elected officials: to galvanize leadership, grow investment, and bridge divides in developing solutions for global warming. Now, ten years later, they have 13 employees, offices in Seattle and Olympia, and a $1.6 million annual budget supported by foundation grants, donations, and service contracts.

Rhys Roth has shepherded a number of ground-breaking programs for Climate Solutions in the business arena. Harvesting Clean Energy is the Northwest’s premiere annual conference bringing together the agriculture and energy worlds. The Our Wind Co-op has placed small-scale wind turbines on farms, ranches, and other facilities. The collaborative study, “Poised for Profit - How clean energy can power the next job surge,” was undertaken for WA, OR, and BC in 2000. It was the first study to frame clean energy as an economic opportunity, proving there is a global market for seven clean energy technologies. This report helped galvanize regional economic development leaders and top elected officials to pursue clean energy companies with notable successes including Vestas, the world’s leading manufacturer of wind turbines, locating their U.S. headquarters in Portland, OR, and Solar Grade Silicon citing their manufacturing plant (and 170 jobs) in Moses Lake, WA.
In addition to the keynote presentation at 7:30pm, Rhys Roth will participate in two workshops on Friday, April 18 focusing on practical and economically attractive strategies to participate in the clean energy revolution. From 10 am to noon, "Green Economic Development Strategies" will be sponsored by Team Jefferson for people interested in investing in clean energy and green jobs. From 3-4:30 pm, “Developing an Action Plan" will be sponsored by the Climate Protection Campaign for people interested in helping local government decrease energy usage and greenhouse gas emissions.
All three events on April 18, the two workshops and the keynote address, will be held in the USO Building (across from the McCurdy Pavilion) at Fort Worden. These events are open to all and no pre-registration is required, although donations are requested. For more information, contact Joanna Loehr, 385-6579 or joannal@olympus.net.