Eric Sauder believes Lancaster County has the potential to make significant progress in reducing its carbon footprint, becoming "a national hub for climate action and innovation" and demonstrating what's possible at the regional level.
On Sunday, he and other speakers will outline that vision for a sustainable future at a "TEDx Countdown" event.
It will run from 6 to 9 p.m. at Tellus360, 24 E. King St., Lancaster. Admission is free but registration is required. Attendees must provide proof of vaccination and wear masks.
Scheduled speakers include city Chief of Staff and former Democratic Congressional candidate Jess King; Alice Yoder, director of community health at Penn Medicine Lancaster General Health; Phil Wenger, president and CEO of the Lancaster Conservancy; and Kevin Ressler, President and CEO of United Way of Lancaster County.
For more information, including the full list of speakers, and to register, click here.
Sauder is the founder of RegenAll (pronounced "regional"), a nonprofit that aims to create climate plans tailored to individual organizations and communities. Sunday's event will double as RegenAll's public launch.
He was inspired by "Drawdown," an anthology of solutions to reverse global warming. A grassroots, community-based approach to implementing Drawdown's ideas has real potential, he said.
He sees it as a middle way between relying on individual consumer choice — which won't yield the scale of change that is needed — and agitating for top-down solutions from governments and the international community.
While decisive national and international action would be welcome, the track record shows that waiting for a political miracle on climate change is likely to lead to disappointment, Sauder said.
We need more examples from places like Lancaster, he said, "that show what truly bipartisan climate response can look like."
RegenAll will help local governments, businesses and households develop plans to reduce their greenhouse gas emissions. It also plans to launch a Community Climate Investment Fund to help finance local solar energy projects, household retrofits and regenerative farming.
"Understanding the capacity for climate solutions to simultaneously deliver positive
environmental impact while creating jobs and strengthening local economies is the first step to
building local resilience," Sauder said.
Lancaster County has "natural advantages" in tackling climate, RegenAll contends, including a high density of "B Corps," for-profit companies with social missions; and a robust agricultural sector where the right policies could cut the county's total emissions by as much as 30%.
The TEDx Countdown series is an offshoot of the TED media organization focused on climate change. In October, Sauder presented a talk at TEDx Lancaster titled "We're Trying to Solve the Climate Crisis at the Wrong Scale"; Sunday's event will expand on those ideas, he said.
