UPPER WEST SIDE — An Upper West Sider who was personally trained by environmental crusader and former vice president Al Gore will deliver a climate change talk aimed at kids and parents on Thursday night.
Paul Reale, who runs the environmental nonprofit Green Allowance, will present the 40-minute PowerPoint talk at an event called Choose Reality at 7 p.m. in the District 3 auditorium at 154 W. 93rd Street. A question and answer session will follow.
While kids learn about the water cycle and weather patterns in school, they're rarely exposed to the issue of climate change, said event organizer Emily Fano, an Upper West Side public school parent.
The Thursday night talk will "connect the dots" between the strange weather patterns New Yorkers have witnessed recently — including Hurricane Irene, the October snowstorm and the 2010 tornado — and human activity such as fossil fuel consumption, Fano said.
"In my opinion all kids should be learning about what's happening to the climate and what kind of changes that is going to bring about on the planet," said Fano.
"Agriculture is going to change, there's going to be mass migrations of people because of food and water shortages. It's definitely going to affect their world. They need to learn how to adapt to that."
Fano is a member of District 3's green schools group, a coalition of parent volunteers who set up eco-friendly programs in public schools, such as recycling initiatives and energy conservation drives.
"We're seeing these extreme weather patterns, and we really feel it's important for our kids to find out what's happening, because they're not learning it in our schools," Fano said.
