Tackling Climate Change

Berkshire students and faculty were invited to the event by Jeffrey Wexler ‘06, chief operating officer of the Global Climate Action Summit.

TACKLING CLIMATE CHANGE

Jeffrey Wexler ’06 invites Berkshire students to join the cause.

BY MICHAEL HAYES

Last September, thousands of concerned citizens, environmental activists, scientists, and leaders from state and local governments descended on San Francisco, Calif., to attend the Global Climate Action Summit, hosted by California Governor Jerry Brown. Together, they heralded major achievements in climate action, and they outlined plans to nudge countries and companies to take climate change seriously.

Also in attendance: four Berkshire students, thanks to an invitation from Jeffrey Wexler ’06, who serves as the Summit’s chief operating officer. Wexler says young people play a critical role in solving the problems related to climate change.

“Berkshire School has long served as a leader in educating students about environmental stewardship, sustainability, and how individuals and institutions can effect change in their communities,” Wexler says.

Wexler, who lives in Washington, D.C., has extensive experience helping to run large non-profit organizations. Prior to joining the Summit, he worked for the Democratic National Convention Committee and the U.S. Small Business Administration.

“Every position that I’ve had has been in either politics or government,” he says. “When you work in those realms, you have a lot of different experiences, and they always come together in unique ways that you don’t always expect.”

Climate action is possibly Wexler’s most important endeavor to date. “Climate change is obviously the

Berkshire students and faculty were invited to the event by Jeffrey Wexler ‘06, chief operating officer of the Global Climate Action Summit.

largest existential threat that we face right now,” he says. “Unfortunately, none of the work that gets done now, or very little of it, has immediate or instant gratification. You have to do really hard, really good work now, to see results in 15, 20, or even 50 years.”

Max Beadling ’20, who attended the Summit, understands that the stakes are high in tackling climate change. “It’s a super crucial moment if we’re going to try to turn things around. I feel like there’s a lot of hope.”

Wexler, too, is “cautiously optimistic.” “Emissions will peak in 2020 if countries adhere to the commitments made as part of the Paris climate accords, but we are not on track to do this,” he says. “If we’re exceptionally aggressive, the hope is

that we could peak emissions by the late 2020s or 2030. There is a lot of good work being done, but ambition needs to increase across the board.”

In the meantime, Wexler is working closely with the Secretary General’s Office at the United Nations to prepare for the UN 2019 Climate Summit, an event next September that will bring together world leaders to advance climate action.

“This isn’t something that’s solved in one generation, or even in my lifetime,” he says. “It’s important we inform everyone about the work that needs to be done.”