Richard Littlemore, a regular writer for DeSmogBlog and contributor to the excellent book Climate Cover-Up, is touring across the Prairies – and I was able to attend one of his presentations!

If you have a chance to hear anyone from DeSmogBlog speak – I’m told that Jim Hoggan has a very similar presentation – you should definitely go. The presentation was very well put together, had some great opportunities for audience involvement (including a “pop quiz” on quotes from surprising people) and addressed many of the current attempts to discredit scientists. Richard was a great communicator, very relaxed and honest, who answered all of our questions and made all of us laugh.

If you’ve read Climate Cover-Up and follow DeSmogBlog, however, don’t expect anything new. The content of the presentation was a mix of the main narratives from Climate Cover-Up (like TASSC, ICE, and Frank Luntz) and recent significant posts on DeSmogBlog. That’s to be expected, though, for a public presentation.

During the question period, someone asked Richard how he thought we should address climate change politically. He described himself as a “die-hard capitalist” and proceeded to give the best quote of the night, which was, “If you don’t find a way for people to make money saving the world, the world’s not going to get saved.” I totally agreed with him, and it helped me better understand my own political leanings. I’ll save that for an upcoming post before I get too far off topic.

I chatted briefly with Richard after the presentation, which was nice. He apologized, on behalf of his generation, for leaving this massive problem to my generation. I really didn’t know what to say to that.