At Georgia Conference, Grappling With How To Talk About Climate Change

In October 2016, a shoreline, affected by drought, is exposed by receding water levels on Lake Lanier in Buford. Georgia faces threats from climate change: from sea level rise, stronger storms, increasing heat and drought.

David Goldman / Associated Pres file

The second day of the second statewide Georgia Climate Conference began with a fired-up scene.

The Atlanta event, put on by a consortium of Georgia schools tackling climate change, known as the Georgia Climate Project, was focused on looming threats and emerging opportunities for Georgia. But speakers Friday morning highlighted some of the tensions around how Georgians talk about climate change, and who’s in the conversation.

“I love this choir. Because this is my climate change choir,” Mildred McClain, executive director of the Savannah environmental justice organization Harambee House, said to a couple hundred people gathered at Emory.