Our Island Home on an Unruly Planet
The 2023 Bainbridge Environmental Conference took place on March 25, 2023 at Bainbridge High School. Our keynote speaker was Madeline Ostrander, author of At Home on an Unruly Planet from which the conference name took its inspiration. Madeline shared stories of individuals who are pursuing solutions to the climate crisis and affecting real change in their communities. It was an inspiring and hopeful message that we all have the ability to contribute to solutions for navigating how to live on an increasingly unruly planet.
We also recognized Dr. Lara Hansen with the Jerry and Elane Hellmuth Environmentalist of the Year award, a conference tradition. Dr. Hansen was recognized for her local, national and international work on climate adaptation to help communities, governments and organizations figure out how to prepare for and adapt to climate change impacts. Lara is also a board member of Sustainable Bainbridge and the author of the forthcoming book we can’t wait to read, Cats Against Climate Change.
Climate change is affecting not only our planet and our region, but our home of Bainbridge Island. We need to understand what that means for us as a community and individuals, and what we can do to make a positive difference for now and the future. The 2023 Environmental Conference explored dsome of the drivers of impact for our community.
During the breakout session, we collaboratively explored how climate change is affecting our community, what it means for the things (activities, livelihoods, ecosystem/environment) we love and live in, and what tangible actions we can take to help Bainbridge Island weather the climate storm.
COMING SOON: a brief synopsis of the seven breakout groups that took place during the conference and some of the tangible outcomes of those groups’ work in terms of recommendations for how we can adapt in our Island home to the climate changes we are likely to see.