Nicole Harris
My lightbulb moment
I was Paris bound. I had saved up for it for years. I was finally going to fulfill my dream of living in the city of lights — hopefully for good this time, not just for a summer. Finally going to reach fluency. Finally going to write that memoir. I would find myself a Frenchman and never look back.
But then the talks began, talks about two degrees, talks about losing island nations to rising seas, talks that laid bare a cold calculus to save the wealthy of this earth and to sacrifice the rest.
I had always thought, climate change? I’m doing my part. I’m a vegan, I recycle. I’ll leave the rest up to the experts. My real passion was languages and my deepest social concern was our broken criminal justice system and the racial injustice at its core. But in early December 2015, my interest piqued by the Paris climate talks, I picked up This Changes Everything by Naomi Klein. And quite literally it changed everything.
Klein cited IEA chief economist Fatih Birol’s 2011 warning: “The door to reach two degrees is about to close. In 2017 it will be closed forever.” I couldn’t possibly go to Paris. The world was burning.
About me
When I allowed the reality of the climate crisis to really sink in, I knew I had to drop what I was doing and rearrange my life so I could work on it. I’m a lawyer by training (and in New York!) and nonprofit consultant with more than a decade of experience across sectors. I work on projects that bring about transformative change. Right now, I’m thrilled to be working as a project launch manager with ClimateChangesEverything.org!
Find me at LinkedIn, Facebook, Instagram, and GaiaLives.com
Organizations, projects, and companies I work with & support
Sustainable Economies Law Center
Oakland Climate Action Coalition
People I read & follow
Kali Akuno, co-founder and co-director of Cooperation Jackson
Yolanda Batts, co-founder and co-pastor of Celebration Spiritual Center in Brooklyn, New York
Tara Brach, guiding teacher and founder of the Insight Meditation Community of Washington, D.C.
Michael Dowd, evolutionary theologian, bestselling author, and evangelist for Big History and an honorable relationship to the future
Kara Loewentheil, JD, Certified Master Coach who’s on a mission to help women get patriarchy out of their brains
George Monbiot, Guardian climate and environmental columnist
Carlos Saavedra, immigrants rights organizer, founder of Ayni Institute, which provides training, coaching and incubation of new projects towards social change
Greg Stamper, Jr., co-founder and co-pastor of Celebration Spiritual Center in Brooklyn, New York
Rick Hanson, psychologist, Senior Fellow of the Greater Good Science Center at UC Berkeley, and New York Times best-selling author of books on positive neuroplasticity