Environmentalists talk about climate change at a post-election Shared Mission event

General Wesley Clark flew into Santa Barbara to speak at an event called, “Shared Mission:A call to action to solve our climate emergency.”

Moderator Laura Capps said the event, held at the Granada Theatre in Santa Barbara on Monday night, was organized in just 11 days.

Former Vice President Al Gore recorded a welcome.

Organizer and LoaTree founder David Fortson said,” In light of the presidential election and the promise by the new president to rip up the Paris accords and roll back environmental regulations, a group of us got together and said we have got to jump into action.”

“We pulled together 100 people from around the country and around the region to come together and to figure out what’s next. How do we deal with climate change? How are we going to deal with the roll back of these critical regulations that protect our air, our water, our soils? So this is the start of that. We are going to be moving,” said Fortson.

Michael and Amar Smith helped underwrite the event at the Granada.

During a reception guests, at the private event, had a chance to try Google Earth Virtual Reality technology.

Inside the threatre, the artist Valentine used tilt brush art to re-imagine Carl Sagan’s Pale Blue Dot.

He ended his performance by writing in giant letters, “We are all tomorrow”.

Clark called this is the time in history when people concerned about the air, the earth, and power plants need to make their voices heard in Sacramento and Washington, D.C.

He said people who deny the human influence on climate change should look at the detailed facts on www.whitehouse.gov/the-record/climate.

Clark said California could set the example for the world.