| When I first started stressing about climate change, it was Al Gore that got me with his Inconvenient Truth. For the past 7 years, almost everybody I tried to talk to about climate change -- friends, family -- didn't care too too much. I know its gotta suck a lot worse for Al Gore, but still. |  |
| My family & friends weren't denying climate change is real, but they didn't seem super concerned either. I'm not sure a single person has asked me why I am worried. Over the years, I tried some things. Like buying wind energy, using biodiesel, joining the Sierra Club, writing to Congress, voting for candidates like Obama who promised to fight climate change. Years rolled on, but I didn't feel any better. I was actually feeling a lot worse because the problem was getting worse. I still hadn't gotten any of my friends or family to have a serious conversation with me about what we should be doing to fix this. And I think my family and friends are smart, good people. I honestly started thinking I was going insane. Why was I worried & nobody else I knew was? I read & re-read a couple big reports a few times each. I bought all the books I could find to see if several different sources agreed about the facts. I had to prove to myself that I really understood what scientists were saying. Then, some things started to change -- including me. One of the cool things that happened recently was that I joined a non-profit group that works to change national policies on climate change (Citizens Climate Lobby). Of course, I had no clue what to expect when I went to the first meeting at a local community center. It was just about 10 people with name tags sitting in a circle in folding chairs in an empty room. We started off going around the circle introducing ourselves. Know who was sitting in those chairs? A lot of them were scientists & engineers from NASA. For the first time in a long time, I was so relieved. I finally met some people in real life willing to believe science, hear whats happening & try to fix it. Gotta say I think scientists at NASA are probably really smart & that helped me doubt myself a lot less. If nothing else, I was happy not to feel crazy for at least one day. |
