Conversations from the Climate Highway

by Feb 7, 2020

We’re on our way! Packing up Pearl the van and heading out to listen to what you have to say about climate and community. 

We’ll start in Sheridan, Wyoming and then head to the Denver area. From there we’ll make our way to Texas with stops in Dallas, Denton, Austin, Kerrville, Hunt and El Paso. The itenerary is a living thing, so we’ll know more as we drive into Arizona and make it up the Pacific Coast with stops in lots of California, Oregon and Washington. We’ll be in libraries, community centers, bookstores, college classrooms and churches. We’ll also likely find ourselves in plenty of conversations in roadside coffee shops.

 

Needless to say, we’re jazzed – so ready to hear what everyday people are seeing, thinking, and doing to support our climate. We’ve just completed the Full Ecology book and sent it off to Heyday in Berkeley.  That means we’re thinking a lot about the creative guidance to be found in the natural world. 

Very often, and now with growing frequency, people we meet are feeling stuck – baffled and overwhelmed with the intensifying realities and stress of climate change. No one has missed the horrors faced by the people of Paradise, California or any of the communities seared by megafires; or the destruction still plaguing the river communities and agricultural lands just now emerging from the floods of last year. Naturally, there’s plenty of unrest and anxiety as we watch the slow recovery and, at the same time, keep getting updates on the challenges coming our way.

 

 

As we take to the highways, we’ve got new approaches to share from Full Ecology. Real things any of us can do right now to make a difference. We’ve learned from the conversations we’ve been up to now, that all of you know and see things we don’t.

Just yesterday a group of students at Montana State University spoke of their frustration. Tiga and Ben echoed the best climate science of the day saying how we have what we need to repair and restore the climate, but that we don’t have a lot of time. Sam pointed to the primary problem – lack of universal buy in. “Too many people still act like there’s no problem.” Emily described ways she keeps working for climate health even in the face of ridicule and disbelief. These students are thinking. They’re vital to the tasks before us.

As we left the meeting they urged us to make sure to find ways for talking with middle and high schoolers. “They know more than they think they do,” said Maddie, “and they also aren’t getting much chance to talk about all of this in school.” Alex added, “They’re paying attention. It’s their future, too. And we need their ideas.”  

Over and over we hear good options when we listen to everyday people. Practical and innovative alternatives to panic. Ideas that are far more thoughtful and sustainable than reactive lone heroics or paralysis in worry.

So, come talk with us!!

We’ll keep an updated schedule on our Upcoming Events  page. And we always like hearing from you by email – connect@fullecology.com.

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