A personal journey about Climate Change

In 1975 I was in an Earth Science class at the University of Arizona.

The lecture of the day was Climate Change, Global Warming. The class went through the causes, all well known today.

I cringed at the prospects, but being a Cold War baby, the end of the world was just one more item on our bucket list.

As a good Scout, I did what I could. Recycling, reducing my carbon footprint as much as I could. Rode my bicycle to College.

Latter day hippies extorted living a cleaner, healthier life.

Back to the Land was popular. Mother Earth News showed us how. Intentional Communities sprouted up.

1977, Exxon knew about what was happening, how it was caused. Per InsideClimateNews. And proceeded to provide misdirection and denial.

1978 - I was a docent for a traveling Solar Energy exhibit, trying to educate people on the issue and alternatives. I bought a 5 watt solar panel ($200) and used it on my small trailer house to power lights and a small black and white television.

1989 - James Burke produced the television show After the Warming. Detailing the future based on what was projected then on how the world would look in 2050 if climate change was not mitigated.  Perhaps the biggest take away was that faced with this known issue, the governments of the world continually did nothing. The show is based in the future so supposedly mankind survives, for better or worse. The message; it will be bad, but odds are we will survive, colors my outlook to this day. The show mostly holds up well. Look for it on the internet.

I hoped my generation got the message, we could turn things around.

Then it all started falling apart. We were moving into the ME generation. Money was the goal.

As Smashmouth wrote in Walkin on the Sun, Hippie chicks, all hypocrites because fashion is smashin.

There were still people like me, but the mass movement had disintegrated.

The century turns. The Cold War fades. We survive Y2K. Solar energy is becoming a viable option and you can see places installing panels all over.

It is an optimistic time with politicians talking about going green, solving the Climate problem.

Then 9/11 came and dashed any of those optimistic thoughts.

2008 saw an attempt to change people's minds. There was even a cable network, Planet Green, with lots of programs. It would morf into a travel network four years later.

The denial campaigns with industries that would have to change if people fully understood employed a lot of methods to  control the narrative. Mainly bankrolling politicians. The politicians then amplified the denial. Every time there was a freak snowstorm they would all shout that there is the proof that the globe wasn't warming. It was cold!  Those of us who knew that with the climate change the weather would become more unpredictable and extreme were shouting into the wind.

Global Warming was out, Climate Change was in.

It was becoming more obvious that something was wrong.

Massive prolonged droughts.

Wildfires that became monsters, destroying lives and property all over the world.

Extreme storms that became more frequent and more powerful. Snow storms, flooding, tornados, hurricanes.

Each time I poked my head up to see if people finally had hit the "AHA" moment and would finally take action. Not enough were ready yet.

Finally, finally, people are starting to understand. Wildfires, severe heat waves, floods and rain have affected enough people that we are getting traction. Too bad it takes so long and has to affect so many people, but a lot of people won't believe it until it happens to them. There will always be deniers, but we are moving to a point where there are enough people to make the politicians concerned about their jobs.

Now, do we have enough time to mitigate as much as possible?

We as a planet are starting to reach the tipping point where enough people understand what is happening and can cause the pressure to make changes that may mitigate the worse climate change may assault us with. We are also facing a number of tipping points our inaction has caused. 

This website hopefully will provide education and information to allow people to make informed decisions on how to survive the changes we are just now really starting to experience.