Al Gore's Climate Reality Project began training leaders with 50 people in a Tennessee barn in 2006 and counted nearly 50,000 worldwide by 2024
Dr. Raven Baxter completed The Climate Reality Project's 55th Climate Reality Leadership Corps training, held April 12 to 14, 2024, at the Javits Center in New York City. Finishing the three-day program made her a Climate Reality Leader.
It was the first Leadership Corps training ever held in New York City. The program focused on climate impacts across the Northeast and Mid-Atlantic, from Maine to Washington, DC. Climate Reality's February announcement said the training would focus on financial reforms for a just and fair shift from fossil fuels to clean energy. It also listed climate justice, resilient communities and green jobs, and misinformation from the fossil fuel industry.
The published lineup included Gavin Schmidt, director of NASA's Goddard Institute for Space Studies, along with Rosina Bierbaum, journalists Amy Westervelt and Yessenia Funes, and Sheila Foster of the New York City Panel on Climate Change. New York State Senator Pete Harckham and BlocPower's Donnel Baird were also listed.
The training opened during a run of record heat. In April, the Copernicus Climate Change Service reported that March 2024 was the warmest March on record and the tenth record month in a row. On April 15, the day after the training ended, NOAA confirmed the fourth global coral bleaching event, the second in 10 years.
In the February announcement, Al Gore, who founded Climate Reality, tied the New York training to the region's own year. "After a year that saw the hottest temperatures in recorded history, wildfire smoke that choked cities throughout the Northeast and Mid-Atlantic, and multiple massive rainfall events that flooded communities throughout the region, we urgently need to work together to drive real climate action," he said.
Communication is part of the program. Climate Reality said attendees would leave "understanding the importance of effectively communicating the realities of the climate crisis."
The Leadership Corps began in 2006. After An Inconvenient Truth, Gore invited 50 people to his Tennessee barn to learn about the climate crisis, and they became the first Climate Reality Leaders. By early 2024, Climate Reality put its network at "nearly 50,000 climate advocates around the world."
The training adds to Baxter's record in climate education. In 2021 she wrote and starred in #TeachClimate videos for the National Center for Science Education. That year she also gave the opening keynote at Climate Generation's Summer Institute for Climate Change Education and partnered with Gates Notes on a Twitter campaign for Bill Gates's climate book.
A molecular biologist by training, Baxter earned her Ph.D. at the University at Buffalo with a dissertation on communicating science through hip-hop.
Climate Reality posted a recap video of the New York training. More on the Climate Reality Leadership Corps is on Climate Reality's website.
Dr. Raven Baxter reports from the launch of the Planetary Health Check 2026 at Climate Week NYC, where she interviewed climate scientist Johan Rockström and former Unilever chief executive Paul Polman.
Dr. Raven Baxter reports from the 81st UN General Assembly in New York, from the SDG Media Zone at UN Headquarters and the Unstoppable Africa business forum.
Dr. Raven Baxter launched The Science of Life, her newsletter on Substack, on Sept. 2, 2026, with a post answering thousands of comments on a crocodile's virgin birth.
