Sr. Real continues climate talks; will attend summit next month

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Sr. Cathleen Real

By Barb Arland-Fye

Sister Cathleen Real of Davenport has made presentations on global climate change to more than 500 people over the last five months in Iowa and Illinois. That number will grow because she has presentations booked through October.

Next month, she’ll travel to Nashville, Tenn., for a North American Summit of presenters like herself who have received training about the climate crisis through The Climate Project and former Vice President Al Gore.

“The purpose of (the summit) is to develop some grassroots advocacy for policy makers to introduce significant climate legislation this year,” said Sr. Real, a member of the Davenport-based Congregation of the Humility of Mary.

About 400 people are planning to attend the summit from throughout the United States and Canada, she added.

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Gore, who won the Nobel Peace Prize for his environmental work, will update presenters whom he helped train at previous Climate Project training sessions. Sr. Real, along with 134 other members of faith communities, received her training with Gore last fall. As part of their training, each agreed to give at least 15 presentations on the climate crisis over a six-month period.

Sr. Real has surpassed her commitment and has eight more presentations on her schedule over the next six months. She’s spoken to diocesan staff, parishes, environmental groups and social service agencies, among others. She’d be happy to add additional presentations to the schedule she said. The presentations are based on the Academy Award-winning documentary “An Inconvenient Truth,” which examines Gore’s crusade to halt the deadly progress of global warming and to expose the myths and misconceptions surrounding it.

The next step — a focus of the summit — is to “move us into the advocacy arena,” she said. “The educational phase is being addressed and now we’re looking more closely at the actions needed to address the problem.”

To ask Sr. Real about presenting for your parish, school or organization, contact her at (563) 391-0567 or ccreal@msn.com.


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