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Celebrating inspiring women: Katharine Hayhoe

We love sharing the inspiring stories of women from all walks of life, who are changing the world for the better everyday.

Today we’re celebrating Katharine Hayhoe

“The choices we make today and over the next decade will have a radical impact on the path we travel in the future.”

Katharine Hayhoe is an atmospheric scientist who studies climate change, one of the most pressing issues facing the planet.

Don Cheadle in a recent article called his friend Katharine Hayhoe a “smart person who defies stereotype.

Hayhoe is a Texas Tech climatologist and an evangelical Christian. A very fascinating combination indeed.

Cheadle got to know Katharine working on on Showtime’s climate documentary Years of Living Dangerously . Since then, she has been named to the Time100 list of the most influential people in the world. Now, around the globe people are getting to know her, and benefitting from her work.

1 Million Women were lucky to become familiar with Hayhoe’s work at the International Women’s Earth and Climate Summit back in September last year where she gave a keynote video talk.

“I don’t accept global warming on faith” Katharine says,” I crunch the data”.

The data tells us our planet is warming, science makes it clear that humans are responsible and “our future is in our hands” says Hayhoe. There are basically three choices for us: mitigation, adaptation, and suffering.

“We’re going to do some of each. The question is what the mix is going to be. The more mitigation we do, the less adaptation will be required, and the less suffering there will be.”

As a climate change evangelist, Katharine believes her religious faith obligates her to spread the word about climate change. That’s why her and her husband have authored the defining book for the planet-loving believer, A Climate for Change: Global Warming Facts for Faith-Based Decisions. Christiana Figueres is another climate change advocate calling on the religious institutions of the world to lead action on climate change as a moral undertaking .

So while climate change may not be such good news right now, at the same time it is good news to know we have choices says Hayhoe, and “by making wise and responsible choices now, we can ensure we protect the things we love most on our planet for the benefit of those we know personally and those that we don’t”.

What does a climate change evangelist mean?

Find out in this video from Katharine Hayhoe

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