We are kicking off this year’s Catalyst Kōrero on February 15 with a visual tour of the science of climate change led by UK-based Kiwi John Lang, co-founder and lead of the international project Net Zero Tracker.
Also the founder of Kiwis in Climate, a 300-strong group of global Kiwis in climate and sustainability-related fields, John will cover topics from what “good net zero” looks like, to what companies and individuals can and should be doing to bend the emissions curve downwards.
One of John’s specialities is ‘explainer infographics’ designed to make the intricacies and jargon of climate change understandable. We featured one of them, about COP28, on our Catalyst Facebook page on November 29 last year.
John is with the London-based Energy and Climate Intelligence Unit, holds a Master of Laws in environmental law and policy from UCL, and runs Consult Climate and ‘the e-nvironmentalist’, a climate communication blog.
As a teaser, here is his IPCC explainer (impacts, adaptation and vulnerability) from earlier 2023: https://eciu.net/analysis/infographics/ipcc-explainer-impacts-adaptation-vulnerability-2 .
And here is a story Stuff wrote on John in 2020, after he had been tasked by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change to convert their jargon-heavy special report on impacts of global warming above 1.5° into a “pick a path” graphic the average person might read.
The take-home message of which is that we can claw the world back from overheating, “even if we do cross 1.5 C, which is obviously very very likely, extremely likely… we can return.”
But, he adds, “the burden of doing so is going to fall on future generations.”
Thursday, February 15, 6 -7.30pm at The Rees Hotel Queenstown’s conference room. Registration required here, as seats are limited. Please bring cash for your koha, which will be given to Sustainable Queenstown.