The other day I was talking to my daughter on the phone when I noticed a subtle change in her reaction to the pandemic. I believe this also applies to the climate crisis. She said she’d just gotten back from a run to Target with her youngest daughter and [...]
We Need to Pivot to Our Own. I am giving testimony to an administrative law judge on the impact of climate change on Minnesota crops, and why we shouldn’t allow a dirty tar sands pipeline to be built in our state. There are three hundred people in the room. [...]
I am heading west. The land is brushed with a thousand shades of khaki and rust. As I rise up out of the Missouri breaks, the sun slides under a reef of clouds and lights the horizon for a thousand miles. Hawks stand witness as they sit on fence [...]
Black Lives Matter! I can't breathe. George Floyd. No justice/no peace. Defund the police. Protestors. Looters. Riots. Law and order. Activism is not terrorism. Movements and causes rise and fall based on the language they use. Not only the current events, but the climate and environmental movements as well. [...]
I am captivated by maps. They possess some magical pull on my imagination. Names take on a mystical significance with the rhythm of their syllables; the Serengeti, Ngorongoro, Kyoto and the Cauca. This could just be a romantic reflection, but I am curious about our human attraction to horizons. [...]
As climate communicators, we are all struggling with three main questions during the pandemic. The first is when is an appropriate time to restart our messaging. The second is what messages work best during these times. The third is which audience targets yield the biggest benefits. A number of [...]
Remember when some kid told you that tennis balls had poison gas in them, and if you cut them open you would die? This became a widespread belief, or credo among my childhood friends. A credo may have some elements of truth, or sound true, or it can be [...]
Anytime there is a disruption to society, there is also an opportunity to change the status quo. The disruption caused by the COVID-19 pandemic is terrible and deadly. Many of my clients in environmental and climate organizations are now changing focus on how to immediately help our fellow citizens. [...]
When your hair is on fire, what should you do? Run around and keep yelling, “My hair is on fire?” Or perhaps ask people for help? After all, they can see your hair is on fire. The same thing applies to the climate crisis. Our house is on fire. [...]
I have a friend who grew up in rural Minnesota. His favorite expression is, “You can’t put a duck bill on a beaver and call it a platypus.” This aphorism pretty much sums up urban thinking about rural America. We try to make it something it isn’t, and then [...]
