When Todd Klawinski heard from a friend that The Climate Project - a nonprofit movement led by former Vice President Al Gore to increase awareness of global warming - was seeking volunteers, he applied online without a second thought.
"I felt a sense of calling," said the 34-year-old teacher and environmental enthusiast.
Klawinski was selected as one of 1,000 citizens to be trained to educate and move the public to action through slideshows based on Gore's 2006 Oscar-winning documentary, An Inconvenient Truth.
Klawinski gave his third - and most significant, he said - presentation last night at the University of the Sciences in Philadelphia.
"It's an opportunity to contribute beyond myself," he said. "This conversation has to get out there, . not even to bring up debate, but to get people discussing."
Christine Flanagan, a professor at USP, teaches with Klawinski at the New Jersey Governor's School on the Environment and said she has always been inspired by her colleague.
"When I heard he completed the training, I knew we had to have him here," she said.
Klawinski began his multimedia presentation with a picture of Earth from space. "This represents the first perspective of our place in the universe," he said. "There's only one of these."
In the hour-long talk, Klawinski discussed the scientific basis of the greenhouse effect, carbon dioxide emissions and rising temperatures, with a focus on how they impact areas such as extinction and poverty.
"Global warming has many other conversations in it," he said.
For example, he explained that warmer ocean temperatures cause floods and droughts where they have not historically occurred, leading to increased disease and death.
He also compared worldwide carbon emissions, noting that America releases more carbon dioxide than any other country.
Tiffany Tung, a second-year student at USP, said the figures impressed her. "It made me more aware of how much carbon the U.S. uses," she said. "I'll be more conscious of it now."
But Klakinski reminded audience members to stay positive about reversing the trend. He showed the Chinese character for "crisis," which is made of two characters: danger and opportunity.
"For every choice we make, whether it be the car we buy or the construction we build, we have the opportunity to chose whether to be part of the crisis or part of the solution," he said.
Klakinski encouraged audience members to adopt "low-carbon diets," and used a chart to calculate how specific actions - from reducing shower time to five minutes to purchasing fuel-efficient cars -can reduce carbon footprints.
Second-year USP student John Truong said that he was familiar with the generalities of global warming, but that Klakinski's presentation made him more conscious of how he could help.
"You can do small stuff at home, like a five-minute shower," he said. "I think I could do it."
