A few years ago I made a personal pledge to myself to get more involved in something. I wasn’t sure what it should be. But I wanted to give back.
Sure, I realize that sounds lame and super vague, but over multiple dialogs with people like Terry Kellogg from 1% For The Planet and Peter Metcalf from Black Diamond I was inspired. They did not shy away from big, audacious undertakings and were unintimidated by the scale or seeming futility of setting out and breaking a lonely trail uphill. I was also haunted by my personal concerns over climate change and the fact that one day one of my kids would ask me why we as a society didn’t do something about it when we knew what was happening.
Soon enough an opportunity came forward when Auden Schendler and Chris Davenport asked that I join the Board for Protect Our Winters (POW), a non-profit started by snowboarder Jeremy Jones focused on climate.
Here was the opportunity to work with a great group of people and try to move the needle on a big issue. Sure, I was inwardly skeptical if we could move public awareness or truly affect change. Yet I was also inspired by the mentality that people like Jeremy and Dav have whether planning to ski and ride huge intimidating faces, or in taking a public stance around education, activism and climate change.
Since joining POW, in various conversations with friends the most pressing question has been, “you don’t actually think you can make any headway, do you?” After a lobbying trip to DC last fall that fell during the government shut down, the skepticism seemed even more acutely counterbalanced against the vision. Skepticism. Futility. It’s easier to not not even try because the system is jacked, right?
Yet the groundswell continues. Porter Fox’s op-ed landed on the cover of the NY Times Sunday Travel Section. The POW Rider’s Alliance spawns an Olympic group of 105 international athletes focused on climate. The collective efforts of POW colleagues Chris Steinkamp, Matt McClain, Naomi Oreskes, Anne Nolin, Joni Lynch, Conrad Anker, Gretchen Bleiler, Winston Binch and Ryan Gellert continues to build the message forward.
This morning friends from the NRDC sent over a great email highlighting major coverage on climate impact covered by the AP, ABC, The Today Show, USA Today, Huffington Post, Boston Globe, Washington Post and more. Skepticism. Futility. Or maybe not?
This blog is not about POW. It is bigger than that. It is about the impacts of climate change on water supply, agriculture, forest and air quality. The wonkiness of radical climate change is everywhere and increasingly hard to ignore – massive flooding in England, expected increase in produce prices due to the ongoing drought in California and glaciers in Greenland shifting up to 150 feet per day. Yet to affect change takes activism, which means individuals getting involved even if you doubt you can make a difference. Activism is the enemy of apathy.
So, the question is are you apathetic or active?