Sunday Speaker: Earth: A Planet of Resilience Facing Change (Brigitte Bavousett)

Sunday Speaker Topic: A Planet of Resilience Facing Change

A local-to-global look at (scary!) challenges and (inspiring solutions!) for our planet's populations (of both human and wildlife habitats!).

When you imagine this world twenty years from now, are you optimistic or are you worried? While this talk covers a lot of disconcerting situations (pollution, climate change, food insecurities, etc.), it also covers existing solutions and those in development to help ease some fears. Rapid population increases have stressed resources we have taken for granted, and our global future is connected. Each of us is empowered to make daily decisions for a collective difference towards a better future. With real-world local-to-global examples and stories, Brigitte takes us on a rollercoaster ride of the best and the worst of modern-day societies. Sea-level rise is affecting populations, and food crops all over the world. You’ll hear about current situations from Miami, Florida, to the coastline of Vietnam. It is eye-opening to see how marginalized social groups are forced to cope with the plastic and electronic waste sent to them from the ‘developed’ countries. We hear about climate change in the news every day, but this guest-speaker talk includes the personal and immediate effects of climate change that may be affecting you in ways you are not familiar with... Can you imagine living in a world without coffee and/or chocolate? Brigitte gives personal experiences of touring coffee and chocolate farms with her study-abroad students in Cuba, Costa Rica, and Belize. Solutions are being developed by people of all ages, all different walks of experience. Cities around the world, including Phoenix, Mesa, Chandler, Tempe, and Scottsdale, now have a Circular Economy commitment to reduce waste and environmental impacts. Biomimicry is an amazing field of practice wherein we can design products by copying nature, e.g., learning from humpback whales how to create more efficient wind energy, and designing bullet trains based upon the beak of kingfisher birds. These changes for the better accelerate when we demonstrate the benefits to the economy, the environment, and the populations of both people and wildlife!

Bio:
Brigitte Bavousett is the "First-Ever" graduate in the U.S. with an accredited degree in Sustainability. She enjoyed 1 minute and 45 seconds of fame when her graduation photo was featured on the main Times Square display for 7 intervals of 15 seconds each on December 12th, 2008. Since 2010, she has taught Sustainability courses at Arizona State University and Mesa Community College. Brigitte built and led seven study abroad courses at ASU, with a focus on Sustainable Development Goals, to Cuba (2017, 2018), Costa Rica (2019, 2022), Singapore (2022), Belize (March 2023) and Ecuador (May 2023). Brigitte loves to work with students, non-profit organizations, cities and corporations to move us towards a more-sustainable future.

Please Note:
Doors open at 9:00 am for optional buffet breakfast ($5 donation) and socializing. Speaker program begins at 10:00 am.

Important: $5 breakfast fee waived for awesome humans bringing in food to share!

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A Children's Program is available during the Speaker Meeting. Please go to the Meetup listing to RSVP for your kids HERE.

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The Humanist Society of Greater Phoenix presents its Sunday Speaker meetings twice a month on Sunday mornings. Meetings are free and open to the public.

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