DACOR’S distinct Salon Dinner conversations will return on February 22 from 6:30 to 9:00 pm at DACOR-Bacon House on the theme, “Existential Threats – Focus: Global Climate Change.” In the Salon tradition of informal and face-to-face discussion, one or two tables of DACOR members and guests will raise questions like: what counts as an existential threat? What attention do they get or should they get? And, what can be done at different levels -- diplomacy, national policy, civil society, and direct action -- to deal with them? A linguist writing in the Atlantic Monthly counted some 1 million hits for the term “existential threat” on Google in 2015; some 20.3 million, in 2019. Nuclear attack, climate change, an end to democracy, and many more types of crises have been called “existential.”
After socializing with participants at the start of the evening, Lawrence MacDonald, our guest expert, will circle with participants to offer a “big picture” view of climate change and challenging questions for cross-talk through dinner. All will regroup at the end of the discussion for take-aways and remaining reflection.
Lawrence MacDonald, Author and Climate Activist. Lawrence began his career as a reporter in Asia, where he saw first-hand how U.S policies affected poor people in the developing world. He became an expert in public policy communications with a focus on poverty redaction and the environment, working at the World Bank, and serving as Vice President of the Center for Global Development and the World Resources Institute, a global environmental think tank. He is the author of Am I Too Old to Save the Planet? A Boomer's Guide to Climate Action, a Financial Times "notable new book" on climate and the environment.