“Wisdom consists of the anticipation of consequences.”
—Norman Cousins

I have about an hour before everyone starts to board for the flight to San Francisco. After five and a half hours in the air, I still get to land in the morning, Pacific Time. Registration is early afternoon, and the training begins in earnest at 3 p.m.

Looking at the agenda for today, we still manage to fit in a full day despite the late start. We start with a welcome from Maggie Fox, the President and CEO of the Climate Reality Project. This is followed by a session in social leadership in the digital age, learning how we can best use the tools available to us in the 21st century, the various online platforms we have at our disposal, and how we can use those to inspire change in others.

The next session addresses how we can represent our cause in everyday life, engaging in productive conversations about climate change to help get the message out beyond formal speaking sessions.

This is followed by a session led by Grammy Award winner Kathy Mattea. She will talk about her experiences with the Climate Reality Project, showing us how music can help bring about both social and environmental change, and how the language we use can lead to the changes we seek.

After dinner, the Canadians break out into a Climate Reality Canada training session for the rest of the evening, taking us to 10 p.m.—which means 1 a.m. back home. Given today’s 4 a.m. wake-up call, I hope they’ll be serving Red Bull!

Our Canadian sessions will provide us an overview of how the Canadian organization came to be, as well as introduce us to its staff members, mentors, and Board members. But there will still be practical training as part of this session, including discussions about how to approach business audiences and youth groups.

I’ve been told by people who’ve already been through this experience that my training over the next three days will be jam-packed, life-changing, and very inspiring because we’re surrounded by people who share in this same passion. In fact, I think the adrenaline alone will suffice to keep me up without needing the wings that Red Bull can give me.

I’ll keep you posted on how things are going when I get the chance, most likely first thing in the morning and last thing at night.

Talk to you next from San Fran!