Meet Lift09 speaker Natalie Jeremijenko

I received a link to an IHT article on Natalie Jeremijenko, explaining her activity in a way that should make you want not to miss her Lift09 talk (or video if you can't attend).

Jeremijenko, an Australian artist, designer and engineer, invites members of the public [...] to discuss personal environmental concerns like air and water quality. Sitting at the consultation desk, she offers concrete remedies or "prescriptions" for change, much as a medical clinic might offer prescriptions for drugs.

"It's a widely familiar script," said Jeremijenko, [...] "People know how to ring up and make an appointment at their health clinic. But they don't really know what to do about toxins in the air and global warming, right? So the whole thing is how do we translate the tremendous amount of anxiety and interest in addressing major environmental issues into something concrete that people can do whose effect is measurable and significant?"

"People are frustrated by their inability to cope with environmental problems in their apartments and their neighborhoods," said George Thurston, a professor of environmental medicine at New York University School of Medicine. "Jeremijenko provides a service that's needed, educating people about what they're up against and showing them that they can do something themselves while waiting for larger societal solutions."

Link (thx Michèle)

Educating people while we wait for "a larger societal solution", is that a metaphor for "Obama" ;) ?