Mobilizing Minds and Spirits for Climate Action
Gary White is one of the most devoted climate activists and prolific public speakers in the San Francisco Bay Area. Since 2015, he has given more than 350 climate presentations to over 25,000 people, served as a longtime leader of the Climate Reality Bay Area Chapter, and led Citizens’ Climate Lobby San Mateo. So, what drives his tireless dedication? What motivates him to volunteer so much of his time?
Three seminal experiences created Gary White the climate activist. But it’s his involvement with the Congregational Church in San Mateo that has added a deep spiritual dimension to his work—giving it both staying power and renewed vigor.
Experienced the first Earth Day
Gary grew up in Queens, New York City. He was a junior at Brooklyn Technical High School when the first Earth Day was organized in 1970. New York became a major focal point for the national event. A group of Columbia University students heard Denis Hayes describe the plans and volunteered to coordinate New York’s activities, ultimately inspiring the mayor to shut down Fifth Avenue and open Central Park for the day. Their efforts paid off—100,000 people gathered in Times Square alone.
Gary attended the massive rally, giving him his first glimpse of what can happen when networks of people come together with a shared purpose.
Facilitated one of the first corporate green teams in Silicon Valley
Years later, Gary built a successful career in Human Resources in Silicon Valley at Apple, SGI, Intuit, Palm Computing, and elsewhere. In 1996, the concept of sustainability took hold at Intuit, rooted in the company’s value of “we care and give back.” Because of Gary’s effectiveness as an HR leader, he was asked to facilitate their newly formed “green team.”
This assignment set him on the path of learning everything he could about environmental impacts and solutions. “We mobilized employees to become volunteers to help convert the company’s operations to become more sustainable,” he said. After significant success, he went on to start green teams at two more companies.
Receiving an invitation from Al Gore
Gary retired from the corporate world in 2014, but because of his leadership with green teams, he received an invitation from former U.S. Vice President Al Gore to train as a Climate Reality Leader. The timing was perfect. With more availability and an urge to deepen his climate work, he joined about 500 activists in Toronto for the 3-day training.
The mission—educating and mobilizing the public—resonated immediately. Instead of mobilizing employees, he realized he could help mobilize the residents of San Mateo County (where he lives) as well as his networks around the world. He described the training as providing “all the tools and an immediate jolt,” which launched him straight into action. He began presenting to community groups, corporate teams, churches, schools—anyone who would host him—and he hasn’t stopped since. Beyond giving his own talks, he has helped organize and lead numerous workshops to train other presenters. In the fall of 2019, he orchestrated 120 presentations across the Bay Area in a single day for Climate Reality’s 24 Hours of Reality.
Over time, Gary found that he felt the deepest connection when speaking with students. He estimates that half of his presentations have been to middle schools, high schools, and colleges. “As I began speaking to classrooms and auditoriums full of kids, I realized the importance that this topic has for them, and that was the igniter. They are terribly interested and uniformly worried, but energized and want to do stuff!” He shared the example of Julia, a student activist he first met at age 12, who—with Gary’s ongoing encouragement and support–has built an impressive record of climate work, co-founded the Palo Alto Student Climate Coalition, and is now studying Environmental Systems Engineering at Stanford University.
Discovering “Creation Care”
On another front, Gary’s curiosity about religion emerged in the mid- to late 2000s. As a child, he was turned off by his father’s very conservative Lutheran views, but as an adult he found a more compelling spiritual being—his wife, Betty Till. “She has been spiritual throughout her life, and very open to exploring and learning from indigenous and earth-based traditions,” Gary said.
They joined the Congregational Church of San Mateo, where they were inspired by Senior Minister Penny Nixon. “Penny provided a little more Christian structure on why we are called to protect the environment (or creation),” Gary said.
From Penny’s teachings and his own involvement with the church’s green team, Gary embraced the concept of Creation Care—a theological response to the climate crisis. It emphasizes restoring our relationship with Earth and all life within it, seeking ecological understanding, action, and healing. Or as Gary described it, “to do no harm to the entire network of life.” He is a strong supporter of interfaith approaches to climate activism, including the work of GreenFaith.org, which envisions “a multi-faith movement… in which humanity in all its diversity has developed a shared reverence for life on Earth.” Reflecting on his deepening spiritual engagement, Gary added, “I’m going through a transition from being motivated entirely by facts to also being motivated from the heart.”
Since nearly 80% of the world identifies with a religious tradition, Gary sees enormous potential in engaging faith communities. In February 2020, he organized a half-day, multi-faith climate event at the Congregational Church of San Mateo, featuring Rev. Jim Antal, author of the groundbreaking book Climate Church, Climate World, and Sally Bingham, founder of Interfaith Power & Light. Two hundred people from across the Bay Area attended. Gary’s excitement was unmistakable—this new path, he said, is “opening up unbelievable possibilities” for climate mobilization.
Gary’s work starting and leading the Environmental Justice Ministry at the Congregational Church of San Mateo has not gone unnoticed. This past October (2025), he received a California Cool Climate Award from California Interfaith Power & Light—presented to him by philanthropist Tom Steyer at a ceremony attended by 200 people.
Gary has been at this for a long time, and it would be understandable if his energy were fading. But by knitting together his understanding of the facts with a growing spiritual dimension, he has found deeper purpose, renewed motivation, and an even stronger will to contribute all he can.
“I’m concerned about numerous tipping points and climate change getting out of control,” he said, “but when I lay in bed at night, I’m basically an optimistic person. I’ve seen what one person can do.” After speaking with Gary, it’s hard not to feel more optimistic too.
Resources & Links:
Climate Reality Project – Bay Area Chapter
GreenFaith.org – building a worldwide, multi-faith climate and environmental movement.
Book by Jim Antal: “Climate Church, Climate World”
Center for Earth Ethics – Gary moderated an online event with them
Congregational Church of San Mateo – Environmental Justice Ministry
The Ethos Project 
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