KU grad works to make Earth a better place / LJWorld.com

Archive for Saturday, April 28, 2007

By Erin Castaneda - ecastaneda@ljworld.com

April 28, 2007

In May 2006, Anne Tempel graduated from Kansas University with a music degree, unsure what to do next.

Then she watched former Vice President Al Gore's Academy Award-winning global warming documentary "An Inconvenient Truth" and began a personal mission to fight global warming.

"After I saw the movie I became really manic," Tempel said. "I couldn't sleep at night because I was worried about what was going on and how fast there needed to be solutions."

She watched the film when it was released in August and a month later moved to New York City to work for GreenApple Corps, an AmeriCorps program with the city's Parks and Recreation Department. Soon after, she joined Gore's organization, The Climate Project, which trains individuals to deliver Gore's climate change slideshow, the basis of his documentary. The Lawrence Sustainability Network invited Tempel back to Lawrence on Friday night to give the presentation at Ecumenical Christian Ministries.

With the GreenApple Corps, Tempel received training and job experience in several environmental areas. She cuts invasive vines in parks. In March, she was certified as a New York City Master Composter and teaches apartment dwellers how to minimize their waste. She also teaches youths in the Bronx about the environment.

Then Tempel discovered another opportunity. She was chosen out of about 5,000 applicants to join Gore's training program that he developed last fall to teach people how to present his slideshow. For two weeks in Nashville, Tenn., she received training from Gore.

"The way Al Gore conveyed his message in the movie and during the training session is a good example of how I want to convey the message to people, very inspirational, solid and knowledgeable," Tempel said.

Tempel's former music professor, Paul Laird, said he was surprised she left music but expects she'll be back to it somehow. "She's very passionate," he said. "I suspect if she ever lands in one area and takes all her considerable passion and intelligence to it she'll make a big splash."

- Journal-World intern Erin Castaneda can be reached at 832-7261.