San Diego Humane Society and Project Wildlife invited the Climate Science Alliance to speak at this month’s “Wake Up With Wildlife” lecture on Saturday, July 7th. Alliance staff presented our Climate Kids program, how climate change is impacting our region’s ecosystems, and how we can all take actions to give wildlife a break. This free lecture was unique in that it was geared towards an audience of any age, opening up the conversation of climate change to children and adults alike.
Regional climate change impacts were taken from the Alliance’s recent assessment, “San Diego County Ecosystems: The Ecological Impacts of Climate Change on a Biodiversity Hotspot”, which will be a part of California’s Fourth Climate Change Assessment. This Project Wildlife Lecture was the first time the Alliance has presented the assessment findings outside the scope of land managers and scientists, and it was a huge success. The adults and children in attendance had great questions and were actively engaged in solutions.
After the presentation, we featured activities from Climate Kids’ Pollinators and Carnivores Traveling Trunks. Climate Kids Ambassador, Gretchen, led a “Zine” activity in which participants made their own nature journal out of old magazines, scrap paper, and cardboard paper rolls to tell the climate story. Attendees were also able to interact with multiple animal ambassadors including our Bessbugs and Project Wildlife’s Rosy boa and Pocket gopher.
Thank you to Carly Padilla of Project Wildlife and San Diego Humane Society for hosting us!
Stay tuned for a “Pocket Guide” of the San Diego County Ecosystems Assessment, which will present assessment findings and ways to give wildlife a break in a condensed version for the public.