In 2014, I came to the realization that climate change was a real threat, and that I personally had to do something about it. Like many Americans at the time, I had been lulled into complacency by the deliberate misinformation campaigns fostered by the fossil fuel industry and its allies.
I have always had an abiding interest in general science. I started noticing articles in the science magazines that were telling a different story. A story based on facts derived from research and climate modeling that hinted at a looming disaster of immense proportions attributed to a warming planet. Research was beginning to make it clear that the nature of the warming was anthropogenic – a human caused increase of CO2 in the atmosphere.
Still, it seemed like a rather remote threat and I didn’t see how I could do anything about it. That changed when Zach, my first grandson was born. That distant disaster is now his future and I have to take it more seriously.
I’m still just one person, and it’s going to take a lot of effort to solve this, but I owe it to my now three grandchildren to do everything I can to be part of the solution.
John Krieger, March 2020
John Krieger is a volunteer and President of the Board of Directors for Stratford Ecological Center, a much treasured and loved place in Delaware County. The Stratford Ecological Center is a private non-profit organization dedicated to the education of children and adults in understanding the relationships between living things and their environment, thereby fostering an appreciation of the land and all life that depends on it.