Priscilla Berrios

"I believe that as long as there are people who still want to listen, learn, and take action, hope is real."

Solutions

CLIMATE REALITY LEADER Trained: Online, 2020

Priscilla Berrios

After hearing former Vice President Gore’s iconic climate talk in 2020, Priscilla Berrios knew more people had to hear its message of urgency and hope – and she knew what she had to do. She began giving climate presentations to anyone she could talk to, constantly evaluating and refining her approach. It was the start of a journey that’s seen her give over 100 climate presentations and turn her passion for climate action into a way of life.

Was there a specific moment when climate became personal?

My journey taught me that unexpected paths can lead us back to our true purpose, and that meaningful change begins when we trust ourselves and take action.

After completing my engineering degree in Chile, I moved to the United States (for love), where I began working in medical research through a combination of circumstances and my daughter’s illness. After 11 years living in the United States, my family and I returned to Chile.

After that experience, I decided to change direction and began working in academia at a public university. There, I met wonderful people and created a voluntary initiative to establish a “Green Academy,” with the goal of sharing environmental knowledge and raising awareness to all.

At that point, my husband told me about The Climate Reality Project, which he believed would be an excellent opportunity for me to return to the environmental field and, more specifically, to focus on what I had decided to learn more about: climate change.

When people in positions of power began to feel uncomfortable with what I was doing, I realized that my work was having a meaningful impact.

Tell me about how you started giving presentations.

One presentation became a network of connections and opportunities for climate action. Presentations that become network to discover climate solutions.

My husband and I decided to complete the Climate Reality training in 2020, in the first version online open abroad to everyone. While participating I became deeply convinced that I needed to share the information and the message presented by Mr. Al Gore with as many people as possible, and with a sense of urgency.

I started with my family and then began reaching out to anyone I knew or met who was willing to listen.

For the past six years, I have given the presentation whenever and wherever there was an opportunity, reaching audiences ranging from one person to groups of up to 80 people. In total, I have delivered more than 100 presentations.

One of my very big discoveries was that there are many educated people that do not really understand what climate change is nor all the terminology related to it. I realized that the language needed to be as simple as possible.

During this time, I started to make friends with people that I was giving the presentation to and having one-on-one meetings. Then I reached a point where I realized I needed to bring together the people I had met and become a bridge between them. That was when I understood the power of networking and how essential it could be in creating change. Every time I gave a presentation, someone would connect me with another person or organization that might benefit from hearing the message. In this way, one presentation often led to another, and my network continued to grow organically: Environmental solutions started to appear in front of me.

This journey has taught me that resilience is not about being untouched by adversity, but about continuing to move forward, finding new meaning, and choosing to believe that our actions can still make a difference.

Tell me how it started.

Climate Reality transformed my passion into action, giving me a path to create solutions and inspire hope.

After attending Mr. Al Gore’s training and his presentation, and becoming a Climate Reality Leader, I began to study the information more deeply and with extreme dedication.

I worked to create environmental webinars during the pandemic. Then I helped to establish an environmental unit at a university. Today, I am the executive director of the Center for Climate Action at a different university, where I also teach an elective climate change course in a master’s program in environmental engineering.

Looking back, I realize that what began as a desire to share one presentation opened the door to a new professional path, connected me with people who shared the same vision, and ultimately gave me the opportunity to turn my passion for climate action into meaningful work.

I believe that as long as there are people who still want to listen, learn, and take action, hope is real. I feel fortunate to be living in this moment – to witness the transition and the meaningful changes that people can create.

When did you realize your efforts were making a difference?

Being challenged only made me stronger.

It may sound strange to say this, but when people in positions of power began to feel uncomfortable with what I was doing, I realized that my work was having a meaningful impact. There have been people who have told me to stop, that do not understand this sense of “you are in love with climate change.” However, rather than discouraging me, those moments have given me even more strength and reinforced my determination to continue.

What was the hardest or scariest part?

Change requires passion, patience, and collaboration. Sometimes, when you push too hard and too quickly for change, you may be pushed aside because others are not ready yet for it. I have experienced difficult moments when my proactive environmental approach and passionate personality ultimately led to me being pushed out.

I have learned that creating meaningful change requires not only passion and determination, but also patience, empathy, and the ability to bring others along on the journey. Usually that happens through inspiration.

What has surprised you most?

True change begins within us and endures through resilience.

I am convinced that strong leadership and a genuine commitment to the environment are essential to creating meaningful change. I truly believe that change starts with us, with the way we see the world and the way we choose to live our lives.

I am convinced that science continues to show us how deeply interconnected all life on Earth is, and that understanding this connection should inspire us to protect our planet and one another.

Looking back, I am amazed to realize how much strength I have found along the way — sometimes precisely when I thought I had none left. This journey has taught me that resilience is not about being untouched by adversity, but about continuing to move forward, finding new meaning, and choosing to believe that our actions can still make a difference.

Tell me about a relationship that changed because of this work.

I do not need to convince others. Perhaps some will simply connect with what I feel and believe.

Through this work, I have learned that I do not need to convince others to share my point of view. Instead, I can share what I believe is essential: Reconnecting with the spaces where life emerges, where there are no instructions or guides, and where simplicity exists in abundance.

It is about imagining a world in which we accept and care for one another without causing harm, and in which we recognize the value of every living being simply because it is alive. I have learned that when I share this vision openly, I naturally connect with people who feel the same way. From those connections, relationships grow, and together we can create, transform, and inspire change.

This work has taught me that meaningful relationships and transformation are not always built by trying to convince others, but by creating spaces where people can connect through shared values, curiosity, and a common desire to make a difference: feeling nature and recognizing us as part of it. I started to see us humans in another way.

Was there a moment when someone else got involved because of your work?

I became part of the journey of a woman who was already creating climate solutions before completing the Climate Reality training: Manuela Nanetti, a Chilean lawyer and the founder of Reforest Running.

I gave Manuela a Climate Reality presentation in 2020, and four years later, she still remembered it and invited me to become part of her foundation. Reforest Running is built around a simple but powerful idea: Run to plant a tree. The initiative began with the belief that people who practice sports are deeply connected to nature and can turn that connection into positive environmental action.

Being part of her journey has also made me think about all the people who are changing the world simply because they believe in something and are driven by passion. Manuela is one of those people. I am sure she will continue to inspire others – and that, in her own way, she will change the world.

What gives you hope?

When we remember that we are part of nature and choose to live, love, and collaborate as one, we can move together toward a more joyful and harmonious world.

My hope is nature: Our sacred home, the one that has all the answers, the most powerful natural remedy we have.

My reminder is that when human beings come together and act in harmony and in coherence, something changes. We can act as we are one and maybe mobilize more.

Think back to the version of you before you got involved. What would you say to yourself?

I didn’t have an answer, but I had a compass: and that made me feel expansive.

Pay attention to what makes you feel expansive.

Before I was trained at Climate Reality, I worked in medical research, and I truly loved it. Yet, somewhere within me, I felt that something was still unfinished.

I chose to return to my original profession without knowing what that return would demand of me. I did not wait for certainty, because certainty was not coming. I simply stepped back into the unknown and allowed the experience itself to teach me what I needed to know. Perhaps some paths are not meant to be understood before we walk them; they become visible only through our willingness to take the first step.

I have also learned that having the entire journey planned does not necessarily make the journey better. I have become more spontaneous, and that has taught me to experience life differently. Today, I try to live more in the present, embracing uncertainty and enjoying the privilege of being part of a world that is constantly transitioning into something greater.

When I look at the people who truly make a difference, I notice something they often share: They seem to doubt less and trust their own path more. They are able to listen to perspectives different from their own without judgment, and they take responsibility for the reality they help create rather than seeing themselves as victims of circumstance.

Perhaps that is what meaningful change requires: The courage to trust, the humility to listen, and the willingness to keep moving – even when we cannot see what the path really means.

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