The Urgent Need to Stop Burning Gas: Electrify our Economy with Clean Power Now!

with Bruce Nilles, Executive Director, Climate Imperative

Bruce will describe his experience working on climate change issues at the Sierra Club, the Rocky Mountain Institute and now Energy Innovation. He will focus on how we can and must move away not only from coal but also from burning gas in our homes, businesses and power plants. His talk will address the urgency of the climate threat we face and the consequences of not moving quickly to electrify our economy with clean, renewable power.

Bruce Nilles, is the Executive Director of Climate Imperative, an Energy Innovation project to cut carbon emissions at the speed and scale needed to avoid the worst impacts of climate change. For the two years prior to joining Climate Imperative, Bruce was Managing Director at Rocky Mountain Institute (RMI) where he designed and launched the Building Electrification Campaign, which aims to eliminate fossil fuels from 70 million buildings. In that role he supported the City of Berkeley when it enacted the first ban on natural gas in new buildings, which rapidly spread to 26 other cities across California.

Before joining RMI, Bruce spent 15 years building and leading the Sierra Club’s Beyond Coal Campaign a nationwide effort to replace coal plants with clean energy. Over a seven-year period the campaign stopped construction on nearly 90 percent of proposed new coal plants and played a leading role in retiring half of all existing coal plants. During that time, he also raised $250 million to fund the campaign, and provided strategic guidance to European allies to help develop and launch a Europe Beyond Coal Campaign in 2017. When he worked at the Sierra Club in Madison, Bruce was active on Governor Doyle’s Global Warming Task Force.

Bruce is the recipient of numerous awards including the 2018 Packard Foundation Climate Breakthrough Award, and was recognized by Politico in 2015 as “one of the thinkers, doers, and visionaries transforming American politics.” He holds undergraduate and law degrees from the University of Wisconsin in Madison.

To register for this program please use the teal registration button above. Registration is required to receive the Zoom meeting link. This program is free and open to the public.

This program is a part of the Climate Change Coalition of Door County's 2021: A Season of Action Speaker Series. Please visit the Upcoming Events page to learn more about the Season of Action educational virtual programs and in person events.