Photo: http://www.petsadviser.com

It’s Thanksgiving.  What I am most thankful?  Starting two climate change groups, one in St. Louis, Missouri and the other in southern Oregon.  Even more, I am even more grateful for the leaders of these groups. Without Larry Lazar or Susan Bizeau, the truth is that I would have started ZERO climate change groups. The credit really goes to them for all their hard work.  I was just extremely lucky to be at the right place and right time when they said YES.

LARRY LAZAR
Now I have blogged about Larry before in January 2012, as one of MY 12 CLIMATE CHANGE HEROES.  Nothing has changed since then. To recap:

Brian Ettling and Larry Lazar

I first met Larry at a St. Louis Science Center lecture in April, 2011.  We both attended a lecture by Jim Kramper, Warning Coordination Meteorologist with National Weather Service, on “Climate Change – What We Really Know.”  We both knew we wanted to take some kind of action on climate change as soon as we met, but we were not sure what it should be.

We immediately stayed in contact on Facebook that summer when I returned to my seasonal ranger job at Crater Lake National Park, Oregon.  That October, we started meeting regularly at Starbucks for breakfast to try to brainstorm ideas.  I knew Larry was active in participating in meet up groups, such as Skeptical Society and The Issues You Don’t Talk About Cafe.

Climate Reality-St. Louis Meet Up

One morning at Starbucks, Larry announces to me “Brian, I am thinking about creating a climate change meet up group.  Would you be interested in joining me?”

Unbeknownst to Larry, it was a huge dream of mine to establish a climate change group in St. Louis.  I just had no idea how to do it.  Thus, when Larry mentioned this, it was total music to my ears.  I jumped at the idea.  Larry immediately had me go to the www.meetup.com  to get my own account and become the first member of the St. Louis Climate Reality Meet Up group.  He let me get a sneak preview of the our meetup page.  With climate change as my deep life passion but unsure how to create my own climate change group, Larry made me feel like a kid on Christmas morning opening up a big gift.

Photo by Bart Pola, July 2012 meeting of Climate Reality-St. Louis Meet Up

On the spot, Larry designated me as the “Co-Founder” of the group.  This is a huge honor that I boast aboutto this day.  However, I will gladly take any title Larry will give me.  The truth is that I give Larry 95% of the credit for creating the title, meetup page, setting up the first meeting location, the corresponding facebook page, etc.  I just happened to be at the right place at the right time.

In sense I think of Larry as the “mama” of the group and I am the “papa” of the group.  Larry gave birth to the group, had to go through all the labor pains, child raising, etc.  Like most men with unplanned or planned pregnancies, I just showed up at the right place and the right time.  I think you get the idea.  

Anyway, I have been blown away by the success of this group.   Our group tries to meet once a month with a designated speaker for us to learn more about climate change.  Because of my seasonal job at Crater Lake National Park, Oregon, I am gone six months of the year.  Larry has done amazing job in my absence of holding the group together.

How has Larry kept the group together?  He has scheduled some of the top climate scientists and communicators in America to speak to our group due to the modern miracle of Skype.  As I like to joke, we can get the top speakers in the country chatting with us at home at their computer, even in their pajamas if they feel comfortable.

Scott Mandia, first guest speaker for the Climate Reality-St. Louis Meet Up, with Brian Ettling

Due to Larry’s persistence and great networking skills on Facebook, we have had national climate speakers such as Scott Mandia professor of physical sciences at Suffolk County Community College in New York and founder of the Climate Science Rapid Response Team, Penn State climate scientist and originator of the famous hockey stick graph Dr. Michael Mann, John Cook creator of the renowned website Skepticalscience, Peter Sinclair creator Climate Denial Crock of the Week, science comedian Brian Malow, Paul Beckwith who is an Arctic expert and climate researcher at the University of Ottawa, Ontario, etc.

On top of this, Larry and I invited local St. Louis environmental activists to speak to our group such as Climate Reality Project Leader Brian Bozak, Ed Smith Energy Director for Missouri Coalition for the Environment, Jill Miller an organizer with Renew Missouri, Arielle Klagsbrun an organizer with MORE (Missourians Organizing for Reform and Empowerment), Sara Edgar an organizer with Sierra Club’s Beyond Coal Campaign, and Carol Braford the St. Louis group leader with Citizens Climate Lobby.

Brian Ettling & Tanya

As a side note, I met my girlfriend Tanya through our meet up as she was attending our meetings from January 2012.  Hence, I also have Larry to thank for being an accidental matchmaker.  Even more, my advice now for single people looking for to date: start a meet up group!    

Citizens Climate Lobby

Carol Braford

Of all the organizers, Carol Braford was the most persistent with me that I should come to a monthly Citizens Climate Lobby conference call.  I even blogged about Carol last January, Want to change the world? Be Persistent! 

When I finally came to Carol and Tom Braford’s house in April, 2012 for a Citizens Climate Lobby (CCL) monthly conference call, I was extremely impressed CCL as soon the conference call started.  I love their mission to empower individuals to effectively lobby their Congress to pass a carbon fee and dividend.  My first thought was ‘CCL where have you been my entire life?’

All these groups from North America were calling into the conference call: Atlanta, New York, Chicago, San Diego, San Francisco, Toronto, Phoenix, Minneapolis, Albuquerque, Madison, Seattle, and new groups in Portland and Eugene, Oregon.  STOP RIGHT THERE!  I immediately thought: Why isn’t southern Oregon represented?  There are so many environmental activists in Ashland, Oregon and the surrounding Rogue Valley.  At the close of the meeting, I boldly told Carol that I was going to establish a CCL group in southern Oregon.

When I returned to Crater Lake National Park, Oregon, in mid May 2012, I persistently started networking to see who I could find in southern Oregon who could help me create a local CCL group.  I mentioned this goal to a local friend in Ashland and she sent me a list of all her Facebook friends.  I kept sending out messages on Facebook.  After 50 messages, I lost track of how many I sent.

Finally, in late June, I discovered three people who seemed intrigued by Citizens Climate Lobby and they e-mailed back to me.  It felt like a breakthrough when I was exchanging messages with local southern Oregon residents Jim McGinnis, Alan Journet, and Susan Bizeau.

All four of us met at Susan’s house for the September Citizens Climate Lobby phone call.  All of them seemed somewhat interested in starting an ongoing relationship with CCL.  They wanted me to lead the group because of their hectic schedules and commitments.  Unfortunately, my season was over at Crater Lake in October.  I was already committed to returning to St. Louis for the winter.

Brian Ettling with Amy Hoyt Bennett

Then, in December I received an e-mail from Amy Hoyt Bennett, Director of Operations for Citizens Climate Lobby.  Amy and I met last August in San Francisco while we were attending the Climate Reality Project Training lead by Al Gore.  She wrote: “I wanted you to know we are headed to a CCL group start workshop in Medford, Oregon on Jan 14 !  I am planning this with Susan Bizeau and Alan Journet. YAY! Thanks for all your help.”

It was sublime to read this.  It was one of the few times in my life where I felt like I had genuinely made an impact on the world.  Here was a group of people meeting to possibly form a CCL group thousands of miles away from me because I was the first person to suggest this idea to them.

Brian Ettling with Susan Bizeau

The September meeting of the Southern Oregon Citizens Climate Lobby

Sherrill Rinehart, Susan Bizeau, Colby Marshall, and Dr. Julian Bell

“Leaders don’t create followers; they create more leaders.”  — Tom Peters, business-management writer.

Susan Bizeau, Brian Etting, Dr. Julian Bell, Sherill Rinhart, Paula Sohl, and an exchange student from South Africa meeting in the Medford, Oregon field office of US Senator, Jeff Merkey

Additional Update: Today, as I am getting ready to publish this blog, the St. Louis Post Dispatch published an opinion editorial about Climate Change by Larry Lazar.  I am so proud of Larry for writing this oped.

Something in the weather tells us climate change is real by Larry Lazar

This is definitely an additional item to be thankful for this Thanksgiving.

  

Monday November 4th, I joined over 100 Sierra Club volunteers and staff to give a 3 minute testimony at a EPA listening session in Lexena, KS.  The EPA held this listening session at their office in Lexena and 10 other locations across the United States EPA to seek input from the public about the best approaches to reducing carbon pollution from existing power plants.  Here is more information about these listening sessions: EPA Carbon Pollution Listening Session

For my testimony, I urged the EPA reduce carbon pollution from existing power plants to reduce the threatof climate change for my nieces and nephews.  I also focused on how living close to the Meramec Coal Power Plant in south St. Louis County could be having a negative impact on my dad’s health.

Here is what I said to the EPA and this is also the written comments I submitted to the EPA:

“My name is Brian Ettling.  I am a lifelong native resident of south St. Louis County, Missouri and a 1992 William Jewell College graduate, which is located in the Kansas City area.

Thank you for allowing me to express my support to you to reduce carbon pollution from existing power plants.  We appreciate this event to listen to our input.

Photo: Meramec Power Plant by Brian Ettling

Let me tell you what happens when we do not regulate power plant pollution.  My family lived less than 4 miles from the Meramec Coal Power Plant for the past 36 years in south St. Louis County.  Unfortunately, the air pollution released from the Meramec power plant is not scrubbed or regulated for carbon and other pollutants, such mercury or sulfur dioxide, a leading cause of respiratory illnesses.

So what, Brian? Why should I care?

This SO2 plume from the Meramec coal power plant is a dangerous health threat to you and your family.  In June 2012, an Environmental Integrity Project report concluded, “Sulfur dioxide pollution causes asthma attacks, severe respiratory problems, lung disease, and heart complications.”

Even worse, this report, authored by Boston University School of Public Health professor, Dr. Jonathan Levy, states that the Meramec power plant causes upwards of 1,000 asthma attacks and 57 to 110 premature deaths each year.

My dad, LeRoy Ettling

This past winter, my dad was diagnosed with cancer below his kidney. The doctor asked if my dad was a smoker.  My dad never smoked in his life.  Now my dad is going through cancer treatments with chemotherapy.   I deeply worry the air pollution emitted from the Meramec power plant contributed to his illness.

Even worse, I am worried for my nieces and nephews about the carbon pollution coming from the unregulated Meramec Coal Plant and all the other fossil fuel power plants in the United States.

Scientists have known for over 100 years that burning fossil fuels, especially from power plants, is warming our planet’s atmosphere and triggering a potentially dangerous climate change.

For the past 21 years, I worked as a park ranger in our national parks.  I have personally witnessed faster sea level rise in Everglades National Park, Florida and a decreasing snow pack in Crater Lake National Park, Oregon.

Photo of Brian Ettling with his nieces & nephews

With the evidence I have witnessed in the national parks, I am very worried what the future holds for my nieces and nephews with climate change.  Scientists warn us that we must act fast to reduce the threat of climate change.   Otherwise, our children could carry the burden of more severe droughts, floods, food shortages, mosquito borne diseases, runaway sea level rise, etc.

To stabilize our global climate for my nieces and nephews, we support you, EPA, to eliminate all the pollution coming from our power plants, especially carbon dioxide.

Thank you for hosting this event today so I can honor my dad.”

If you want to submit written comments to the EPA, you can contact do this at [email protected]

For your children, grandchildren, and family, I hope you will also submit comments to the EPA to show support for their upcoming efforts to regulate carbon pollution to reduce the threat of climate change.

Thank You!

Brian Ettling