In 2006, shortly after the release of his groundbreaking documentary An Inconvenient Truth, former Vice President Al Gore invited 50 would-be climate activists to his Tennessee barn for a training session on how to raise awareness about the threat fossil fuel emissions pose to the planetary systems and weather conditions humans can withstand.

The Climate Reality Project, Gores advocate-training nonprofit, has spent the intermediate 18 years mustering what chief executive Phyllis Cuttino called an army. The organization has 100 chapters in 40 U.S. states and 11 countries.

Each of the training sessions so far has been distinct, with teaching materials tailored to the region. Recent events in the U.S., for example, have focused on the benefits of the Inflation Reduction Act, the landmark climate law President Joe Biden passed in 2022. The most recent training took place in Accra, Ghana, this past November, and trainees joined virtually from Nigeria as part of the organizations biggest push in oil-rich, fast-growing and already brutally hot West Africa.

Next month, the Climate Reality Project will put on its 55th training event and make its New York City debut. Applications to join are due by March 24.

In her only media interview ahead of the event, HuffPost spoke to Cuttino about Republicans acceptance of climate change, Bidens legacy, and the terrible reality that could be waiting for us after this years election. The following interview has been edited for length and clarity.

Is climate denialism still the primary obstacle to decarbonization? If not, when did that change?

Certainly climate denial still happens. We always study misinformation and disinformation about climate that is focused on encouraging climate denial. But I think we all recognize the problem were facing is delay, rather than denial. So how do we speed up the deployment we need and the acceptance we need?

Our trainings really focus more so on how to overcome delays. We have a lot of breakout sessions where attendees learn not only the skills to do different things, whether its communications or advocacy or education, which was obviously how this was originally conceived. Its also a chance for folks to get together and really network, make connections that make their climate advocacy more powerful. Thats something were always trying to create, whether its a large- or medium-size training on how to get people into community. Obviously we rely heavily on our partners in each location who are local in that area, and we encourage folks who attend these trainings to, of course, join in our efforts but also join with other organizations that are our partners on the ground. Thats very important to us, that people find a role in advocacy to overcome that delay.