LEWISTON – Ray Sirois didn’t always take the threat of global warming seriously. That was before he was forced to make changes to his personal lifestyle, like losing weight and watching cholesterol, and he realized that one person’s effort can make a drastic difference.

Not long ago, he began researching global warming and he reached similar conclusions – individuals can make a difference.

Now, Sirois is one of about 1,000 lecturers who are working to spread Al Gore’s warnings about climate change. He brought the former vice president’s message to Bates College Wednesday night in a talk at Carnegie Science Hall.

Sirois, who is an information technology manager for a Topsham engineering firm, delivered a detailed lecture based on training he undertook recently in Nashville by The Climate Project. The talk covered information in Gore’s Academy Award-winning documentary film, “An Inconvenient Truth.”

Global warming issues have evolved into concerns about climate change, Sirois said.

“Finally, its time has come,” he said, adding that Maine is a leader in addressing the issues.

The impact of carbon dioxide emissions from power plants was the focus of the presentation. Sirois noted that most of those emissions come from coal-burning plants, and most of them are in states outside of Maine.

The biggest contributor to carbon dioxide emission in Maine is transportation, he said.

An audience of about two dozen people, mostly students, heard Sirois’ lecture. It was a fast-moving program punctuated by attention-grabbing PowerPoint graphics.

Although it was heavy on charts, graphs and statistics, Sirois was adept at pinpointing the key data and its significance.

Current initiatives before the Maine Legislature also were covered by Sirois. He summarized details of the Regional Greenhouse Gas Initiative which, in two measures before the legislators, provides rewards and penalties to industry through a system of buying, selling, trading and auctioning rights to emit carbon dioxide.

Those provisions are in L.D. 1090, which Sirois called the “more aggressive” measure, and a soon-to-be-introduced governor’s bill.

As Sirois related scientific evidence of climate change and ocean temperature fluctuations, he emphasized that “this is an issue with teeth.”

He showed many examples of rising emissions and effects such as receding glaciers, sea-ice losses and land-based ice melt. Bringing that information down to local terms, he showed satellite photos of Wells Harbor with overlays of land losses with a possible ocean rise of 2 feet in this century.

Sirois also said there is evidence that Maine will see more events of heavy downpours in coming years.

Advice to increase the use of biofuel (burning wood) is sometimes questioned by people who think it adds carbon dioxide to the atmosphere, Sirois said.

He explained that biomass burning is “carbon-neutral,” and he said “it’s an OK thing.”

He concluded with a list of actions people can take that included switching to fluorescent light bulbs, eliminating electric water heaters in favor of tankless hot water, and using energy-efficient appliances.

“We all need to reduce our carbon footprint,” he said.

The Bates College lecture was sponsored by state Sen. Peggy Rotundo and state Rep. Richard Wagner, both of Lewiston, and by Environment Maine and the Natural Resources Council of Maine.