Every day we are more aware that our planet needs our help. Periodically we see in the media how our world expresses with abnormal weather episodes that climate change is already a reality, difficult to hide or dissimulate by the most skeptical. Even so, the Earth needs a greater degree of involvement on the part of all of us to achieve greater levels of sensitivity and knowledge about how human activity affects the environment.

Currently, we know that greenhouse gases are one of the main reasons for climate change, which is why the possibility of regulating -at a global level- the emission of these gases has been addressed with great attention. Among them, methane, considered one of the sources causing the climatological mess that our environment suffers.

La Vanguardia, committed to giving visibility and projection to the tasks of the scientific community, aims to contribute to achieving collective awareness by giving a voice to personalities such as Ilissa Ocko, scientific manager of the Environmental Defense Foundation (EDF). With it, the newspaper will focus the ninth edition of the SOS-sustainability conference series that will be offered on May 26 at 4:30 p.m. through the lavanguardia.com website

Our readers and those interested in Dr. Ocko's knowledge may have the privilege of listening to this scientist's analyzes regarding the climate impacts of the different types of greenhouse gases that surround us. As well as finding out the specific strategies that Ocko, together with an extensive team of economists, lawyers and policy experts, develop for climate change mitigation.

Dr. Ilissa Ocko maintains that all is not lost. This atmospheric scientist believes that combining methane reduction with forceful actions to cut carbon dioxide could prevent temperatures from rising to levels that trigger a complete loss of Arctic summer sea ice, as she explains in the her presentations. It so happens that the current economic model is a great generator of methane, a gas that is very present in energy production, waste management, and agriculture and livestock.

Dr. Ocko, who leads the climate science team, holds a BS in Earth System Science and Engineering from the University of Michigan and an MS and Ph.D. in Atmospheric and Oceanic Sciences from Princeton University. With a resume like this, she has become a great science communicator in recent years since she won a science communication contest organized by NASA in 2016.

On May 26, Encuentros en La Vanguardia will offer the talk SOS_Aire by Dr. Ilissa Ocko, within the cycle of SOS-sustainability conferences. Those interested in following his speech online should register at Encuentroslv@lavanguardia.com.

The cycle of conferences that concerns us was inaugurated in 2020 with the aim of making known some of the leaders in environmental activism, with whom we have delved into the risks that our planet runs. Now we know that, as a Society, we have a great challenge ahead of us and that the solution requires everyone's commitment.