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Climate action leader to give talk at SOU Monday Feb 27, 2017 at 11:52 AM KC Golden, a longtime leader in the U.S. climate action movement, will visit Southern Oregon University on Thursday, March 9, for a talk that explores the need to turn a corner on the climate crisis and focus on solutions. His free presentation, “Climate Solutions: We Have Met the Hero, and it is Us,” will be from 6:30 to 7:30 p.m. in Room 151 of the SOU Science Building. The talk comes as the city of Ashland works on its Climate and Energy Action Plan, and just a few weeks after SOU was one of six U.S. colleges and universities recognized with Climate Leadership Awards at the Presidential Climate Leadership Summit. Golden is the current board chair of 350.org, a worldwide organization that seeks collaboration among activist groups to focus attention on climate change issues. The organization’s name is derived from the goal of reducing carbon dioxide in the atmosphere from the current level of more than 400 parts per million to fewer than 350 parts per million. He also helped Seattle City Light become the country’s first major, carbon-free electric utility in the late 1990s. He was named one of the “Power 25” most influential people by Seattle Magazine, and was the magazine’s “Eco-Hero.” Golden has served as the Seattle mayor’s special assistant for clean energy and climate protection initiatives and directed Washington’s Energy Policy Office as an assistant director in the state's Department of Community, Trade and Economic Development. He was the executive director of the Northwest Energy Coalition, an alliance working for clean, affordable energy, from 1989 to 1994.