"Climate change is your generation's existential crisis."
- Peter Kareiva, director of UCLA's Institute of the Environment and Sustainability, at the GRID Summer Screening
GRID Alternatives Greater Los Angeles' community came together last night for an amazing evening of GRID Summer Screening fun. Against the outdoor backdrop of our local Los Angeles State Historic Park, the Summer Screening featured one of the most buzzed-about documentaries making the rounds in 2017: The Age of Consequences. Brought to audiences by producer Kelly Nyks and executive producer Sophie Robinson, AoC combines a thought-provoking script about the role of climate change in global instability with powerful national security interviews, directed by coproducer Jared P. Scott. Thursday night's attendees not only saw the film, they heard a special conversation between Nyks and three great co-panelists: Army vet Nick Boateng of GRID GLA Outreach, who works as our Veteran Liaison; Seth Stodder, former Assistant Secretery of Homeland Security for Border, Immigration & Trade Policy and a DHS Climate Change Board member in the Obama Administration; and Peter Kareiva, director, Institute of the Environment and Sustainability at the University of California, Los Angeles. Jaime Carlson, COO at Cypress Creek Renewables, was moderator.
We'd like to give warm appreciation to the Truman National Security Project, whose Los Angeles Chapter partnered with our Development office on this unique event—and whose chapter head Jaime was a fantastic leader for the panel. Our friends at Truman know that without concerned Americans across all sectors, we don't have a shot at moving the needle on irreversible climate change. Thanks for giving so many attendees the chance to see an eye-opening documentary with a great discussion! We'd also like to thank Lagunitas and Firestone Walker Brewing Company, who graciously provided in-kind donations, and the Papa Fritz Belgian waffle truck that brought delicious food to so many guests at the event. All three organizations were generous enough to help us raise money for Troops to Solar, a great cause to celebrate on a night where Angelenos thought so seriously about current and emerging threats to peace.
If you watched the film with our community on Thursday night, contributed to the conversation by using the #GRIDSummerScreening hashtag, or just want to be part of the movement shaping our global future to be smart about climate crisis, then we hope you'll encourage people to become involved in local movements like ours that are providing innovative energy solutions. You can find out about the process of getting GRID systems at gridsolar.org, read up on how we train industry job-seekers here, or learn about supporting us here. Check out The Age of Consequences website for more about their pivotal movie.
