Speakers

Herb Simmens is a climate researcher, activist and author of A Climate Vocabulary of the Future. He played an instrumental role in getting Montgomery Co Maryland to declare the first climate emergency in the United States in 2017.

He served as Executive Director of the New Jersey State Planning Commission for 10 years and as County Administrator of Atlantic County, New Jersey for five years.

He is a graduate of the University of Pennsylvania and the School of Public and International Affairs at Princeton University. He lives in Silver Spring.

 

 

 

My talk will be:

Reversing climate change through the Climate Triad

There is a way to reverse climate change. But it’s not what is happening now.

Only by implementing the Climate Triad - a carefully coordinated plan to integrate emission reductions, large scale greenhouse gas removal and direct cooling of the climate can we avoid the collapse of civilization in the coming decades.

Greenhouse gas removal can be accomplished through a variety of natural and engineered approaches including regenerative agriculture, large scale creation of forests and machines that can remove CO2. The direct cooling of the climate may be able to be accomplished through the use of the spraying of salt particles into clouds covering the ocean, releasing sulfur particles to reflect some of the sunlight back in space and/or at least a dozen other approaches that work to reflect additional heat back into space.

Using a combination of these techniques there’s a good chance that governments will be able to reverse the increase in average temperatures from the 1.2° C where they are now to well under 1° C saving lives and reducing suffering through reversing the heating of the planet.

I will discuss what needs to happen to make this reversal of climate change a reality.

Jordan will present on the importance of saving one’s personal history and family stories in a world in which that tradition is quickly fading, plus strategies, advice, and things to avoid when writing your own life story or family history. Jordan owns a company called Legacy Biography, where he offers a done-for-you writing service that helps people write their memoirs/autobiographies. Jordan holds a degree in Creative Writing from Georgia Southern University and currently live in southeast Georgia.

Doing Well by Doing Good: can sustainable investing help with retirement planning?

Investors are increasingly interested in incorporating sustainable and impact (ESG) investing into their financial planning.  Driven by interest from retail investors, sustainable investing is the cutting-edge new concept in investing. In addition to this overview on sustainable investing, William will offer insights on the turbulent current market environment that all investors can benefit from. 

William Bruno 

William B. Bruno is VP for Sustainable Investing and Financial Planning at Sandbox Financial Partners, an independent investment advisory firm in Bethesda. Will has worked as a financial advisor for over 15 years and has developed a deep understanding of sustainable (ESG) investing and retirement planning. Will has served on the Episcopal Diocese of Washington's Committee on Socially Responsible Investing and been on the Investment Committee of the Fairfax, County Bar Association in Virginia.   In addition, he has published articles on investing and is a contributor to Kiplinger.  Will and his two sons live in Bethesda, MD.