Climate Courage

October's smoke-covered moon.  I don’t understand all the science behind our climate issues, but we’re definitely living it out. People my age will remember Perry Como singing, “The bluest skies you’ve ever seen in Seattle.” Not now. Wildfire smoke is just one of the realities that impact our health and the activities we enjoy in the Pacific Northwest. Indeed, my grandson’s final tennis match as a high school senior had just started, when it was cancelled due to unhealthy air quality.

The dry, drought conditions are tough on forests. Besides making the trees vulnerable to disease, they’re especially vulnerable to humans who deliberately set fires.

Our wheat crop in Eastern Washington plummeted due to another drought-induced crop failure. It isn’t just wheat crops either. Many farmers have diminished yields. Food will cost more because of less supply.

There’s a lot of confusion about climate change, and social media provides its own “meme” education—designed to ignite more controversy than understanding. 

A local farmer friend gave me this book to read: Ending the climate crisis in one generation. It explained why things happened and what can be done to make better choices. The book’s title isn’t farfetched. It’s about the small changes we can easily make. We can do this together.

I’ll close with two slogans from my childhood that have been firmly embedded in my mind: Smokey the Bear declaring, “Remember! Only you can prevent forest fires.” 

The other was an anti-littering campaign, Keep America Beautiful—Don’t be a litter bug. Those worked on an entire generation of Boomers. It wasn’t about doing big things, it was about all of us doing the small things together.

Let’s do it again. 

Great things are done by a series of small things brought together. Vincent Van Gogh.