“Laughter is the shortest distance between two people,” according to comedian Victor Borge.  Humor writer Erma Bombeck remarked“When humor goes, there goes civilization.”

With this in mind, for over four years now, my life’s passion is communicating about climate changeeffectively.  For me, one of my ingredients for communicating about climate change effectively is using humor.  Humor is a big part of my climate change ranger evening talk that I present during the summer at Crater Lake National Park.  I firmly believe that if people are laughing with me, they are more likely to be open to like listen to a controversial subject like climate change.

Two years ago, The Yale Forum for Climate Change and the Media published my firsthand account of Communicating Climate change in a National Park.

In this report, I offered five techniques have worked for me in presenting a climate change-themed presentation in a national park:
1. BE LIKABLE.
2. BE ENTHUSIASTIC.
3. BE CREDIBLE.
4. USE HUMOR.
5. BE HOPEFUL.

For #4 USE HUMOR, I wrote:

“Find some way to naturally incorporate humor into your presentation. As science fiction writer Isaac Asimov once remarked, “Jokes of the proper kind, properly told, can do more to enlighten questions of politics, philosophy, and literature than any number of dull arguments.” If you can find a natural humorous way to share funny stories, images, or analogies, your audience will more likely stick with you on what they perceive is a heavy subject like climate change.”

It is one thing to write this, however, this is science.  Thus, I must show that I use humor effectively during ranger evening program.  Thus, I had friends video tape my ranger talk in front a live group of park visitors on September 22, 2012.  I then posted this ranger talk, The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly, on YouTube for the rest of the world to enjoy, laugh, learn, and hopefully be inspired to take action on climate change.

Receiving Praise from a total stranger

Amazing, November 17, 2013, I received a Facebook message from a total stranger, Eric Knackmuhs, an Associate Instructor and Ph.D. Student at Indiana University.  He wrote:

Hi Brian,
I wanted to reach out to you because I have read about your success interpreting climate change at Crater Lake. I’ve been an interpreter for about 10 years and now am back in grad school. I gave a presentation at the NAI National Workshop in Reno last week about using in humor in interpretive programs and I show some clips from your evening program. Just wanted you to know I have been singing your praises. Keep up the good work! I hope you are well. Thanks for the inspiration.
Eric

This e-mail blew me away that someone I never met or had seen one of my climate change talks in person was “singing my praises.”  I had to immediately write back to him to see exactly what am I doing right.  Most of us are our own toughest critics, especially me, I certainly need to know where my strengths are, so I will keep doing that successfully.

A seminar on sharing my funny techniques with other rangers

Eric and I finally got to chat by phone on January 10th.  This is the story he shared with me about how I am using humor effectively to communicate climate change.

In 2013, Eric wanted to give a presentation to other rangers, Using Humor to Introduce Controversial Topics, at the National Association of Interpreters Annual Convention in Reno, Nevada in November, 2013.

Surprisingly, Eric had to defend humor as an appropriate interpretive technique.  Eric told me, many rangers do not like using humor.  They feel like the jokes can fail and put them in an uncomfortable position with their audience.  Eric’s response: ‘Asking your audience questions is also an interpretive technique.  Asking questions can fail also, so that means you should never ask your audience questions?’

When Eric started researching humor, he stumbled across my Yale article and my YouTube video.  In the Yale article, my five techniques that I listed above struck a very positive nerve with him.

In my video, he could hear the audience laughing heartily at some of my jokes.  In Eric’s words it shows that ‘just because an audience is laughing does not mean it is not a serious topic.’

Yes, in my evening program I give sobering and unpleasant information that climate change is impacting the pristine Crater Lake, one of the purest bodies of water in the world.  I show that pikas, small mammals closely related to rabbits, are losing their mountainous range and warming temperatures is a stress for them.  I show that mountain pine beetles, surviving warmer winters in greater numbers, are devastating our white bark pine trees.  Finally, I show that reduced snowpack at Crater Lake and the surrounding Cascade mountains is a huge concerned for the water supply for Oregon cities downstream from the park.  At the same time, I am using humor throughout this talk to make the audience feel more comfortable hearing very uncomfortable information.

Picture of Brian Ettling taken November 3, 1992

As far as using humor, Eric showed the beginning of my talk where I introduced myself with a picture when I first started working at Crater Lake in 1992.

I always joke to the audience with this picture, “I have not changed a bit.  Have I?”  I then show them a recent picture of me and add, “Actually, I think I have gotten better looking over the years.”

People can always relate the universal humor of vanity, over confidence, self deprecation, so these jokes have always worked for me.

Then, I show the title of my talk, The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly.  I have an image of an original movie poster with Clint Eastwood and I even play part of the theme song.  It always seems like there are audience members whistling along to the music.  I am excited and having fun playing the music and showing the movie image, so it always seems like the audience is ready to have fun with me.  With this interaction, I basically set the tone that this is not a serious lecture.  My talk is more like a Hollywood popcorn movie or a bad 1960s ‘Spaghetti Western’ that laugh along while watching.

I then go into my serious theme where I tell the audience, “My talk tonight is about the Good, the Bad, and the Ugly.  I am going to talk about how changes with local temperature, pikas, whitebark park pines, and snowpack, may be an indication global climate change is impacting Crater Lake.”

How is my humor on climate change effective? 
 
This is where Eric then shut off the video to ask the audience what was effective about my introduction.  The response from the audience was:

1. My humor ‘softens the blow’ of the serious subject.

2. It endears myself to the audience and does make me more likable.

3. It introduces a theme in a more accessible way.

In a second clip that Eric shows, I compare the Mountain Pine Beetles to the bad guys in the movie The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly.  Just like if they were at a sporting event, I encourage my audience to boo and hiss at an image of the beetle.  I even have the image of the beetle in the middle of an old fashion western Wanted Dead or Alive poster.  The audience loves this opportunity to participate in my program and the universal feeling of rooting against a bad guy in a story.

Later on in another clip shows, I compare the mountain pine beetle to the very cheesy 1977 disaster movie, The Monster of Crater Lake, about a large dinosaur that attacks a lovely lakeside community.  I joke how awful the movie is, how my co-workers enjoy watching  it even

Image Source: imageevent.com

though I think it is so bad, I beg them not to order the DVD and watch it themselves, etc.  The audience then roars with laughter at my strong dislike of this bad movie.

Eric feels like that use of humor connect with the audience for many reasons.  First, it is very memorable. Second, it is a very effective metaphor how the mountain pine beetles are attacking Crater Lake’s white bark pine trees like monsters.  Eric thinks they will remember this if they go out hiking the next day and see a mountain pine beetle.  They may even say, “Hey, there is one of those monsters!” and recall the information from my evening program.

Eric then told me,
“When people laugh they are more likely to remember and share that experience.  Laughter is also a social experience.  It forms a strong emotional connection.”

The Importance of teaching humor as an interpretive tool

Eric had given this presentation at least twice.  The first time was for the Regional NAI conference in Oakland, CA last April for about 25 people.  The second time was in Reno last November for the NAI National Conference for about 60 people.

In some ways, he felt like his presentations were like “preaching to the choir” for rangers who already successfully use humor in their talks.  Like anything else, people who hate this topic tend not to come.  On the other hand, Eric still feels like humor is an underutilized technique.  He thinks people make the mistake of separating arts and entertainment from science.

In my experience using humor to explain climate change, Eric is totally correct.  People are more open to learn science when they are being entertained and they are on the edge of their seat anticipating humor.  Both of us feel using humor is vital in communicating about climate change.

Eric believes, “People don’t come to ranger talks just to learn.  They come for a fun social experience.”
Ultimately, Eric feels like my climate change ranger talk at Crater Lake is effective, especially with my use of humor, because:

1. It is a local example of climate change.

Studies have shown that polar bears have not been an effective image for inspiring people to take action on climate change.   They live too far away in a remote, cold place that they will probably never visit.
The dramatic scenery at Crater Lake creates a sense of wonder and need for protection for the visitors.    
They are visiting this national park, so it becomes the local environment to them.

2. It is tangible.
They are experiencing Crater Lake with their senses before and after my program.  Many hike down to touch the water of the lake during their visit.  They see the huge forest of pine trees.

3. It is immediate experience for the visitors.

Hopefully, I gave the audience something they will never forget by attending my talk.  Whenever I give a climate change talk as a ranger or private citizen, my aim is always to educate, entertain, and inspire my audience.  I call it ‘The 3 E’ of successful presentations, even if, I know, one of them does not start with an E.
  
My wish is that by doing all this some members of audience will be motivated to take action to reduce the threat of climate change for my nieces and nephews.

Thank you Eric Knackmuhs!  You just showed me that I am effectively educating people about climate change and I am inspiring my audience with my use of use of humor.

‘Comedy is not pretty,’ according to the 1979 album

cover  for comedian Steve Martin.

I would add that describing climate change is not pretty either.  The science can be very complicated and hard to explain.  As a science that transcends across geology, physics, chemistry, meteorology, and so many other science fields, it can be very a daunting to attempt to communicate.

Climate change does not readily tend itself to sound bites, simple analogies, and metaphors.  This can make it down right frustrating scientists and advocates to communicate the seriousness of the issue especially when it is being attacked.

Donald A. Brown Associate Professor of Environmental Ethics, Science, and Law at Penn State University attempted to describe the problem this way on his blog:

“Words fail us about how to characterize the magnitude of the harm that is being done in the name of ideology. It is too absurd on its face to think that any reasonable observer can seriously conclude that climate change science is a hoax or that the consensus view that humans are causing climate change has been debunked.  In fact we are looking for the right metaphors to simply describe the sheer harmfulness of what has been happening. We would appreciate ideas on this issue. Only poets can approach this task until we come up with the right metaphor.”

Even this quote about the frustration of adequately describing and defending the science of climate change

does not tend itself to a soundbite or simple metaphor.  I really like this quote, but I have not found a way to make a soundbite out of it.  I even create and collect metaphors & soundbites for the website, Climatebites.org.

It is not just climate change that is a struggle to communicate.  All of science can be perplexing to communicate.  David Roberts, when he was a staff writer at Grist, described the problem this way in 2011:

“The language of science is notoriously poor, not only at generating urgency and action but even at generating understanding. It’s just not a language most people speak or understand. It’s a specialized way of talking.”

Unfortunately for scientists, the general public best understand messages communicated by soundbites and simple metaphors.

With this in mind, the late climate scientist Dr. Stephen Schneider advised scientists “First, have your soundbite. Have it based on metaphors that convey both urgency and uncertainty.”

Dr. Stephen Schneider. Image source: climatesight.org

However, since science in its nature is complicated, Dr. Schneider then suggested,

“Second, have a hierarchy of backup products.. So you have an oped. You write for Scientific American, Atlantic Monthly or Seed – that’s getting better; that’s 20 minutes, it’s a little bit of depth. Then you can have full length websites or books, where you can do your due diligence of telling the whole story…..

The trouble is, this pyramid is upside down. Up here, you get on the evening news, you get 10 million [listeners] Down here, you get an op-ed, maybe 1 million Then you write a Scientifc American article, you get 100,000. Then you write your books and websites, you get 10,000…

You want everybody to know the detailed story you find so compelling and important…. [But] if you don’t put yourself in the soundbite world, even fewer people are going to read your book.”

I am not a scientist just a communicator, but I can certainly understand how this maddening situation for scientists.  It’s like the famous movie line in the 1967 Paul Newman movie, Cool Hand Luke:

“What we have got here is a failure to communicate.”

Over the past year, I wrote 10 opinion editorials (oped) that were published in the St. Louis Post Dispatch and newspapers across the state of Oregon.  Whenever I write an oped, I must limit my word count to the word limit of each newspaper to get published.  It can range from 750 word limit in the Medford Tribune to 500 words in the Salem Statesman Journal.

It is really hard to boil down all I know about climate change down to a 750 or even a 500 word limit.

My latest oped, Carbon tax an act to stem climate change, was published in the Salem Statesman Journal on December 13, 2013.

Like all climate change opeds, there are always at least one responding letter to the editor (LTE) attacking my acceptance of the science and solutions for taking action now.

On December 22nd, the Statesman Journal published a very dismissive LTE by Mr. Ray Woodworth of Salem, Oregon,  Climate change consensus is not scientific proof.

In his letter Woodworth very critically argues: “What makes these scientists so sure that human beings are responsible now? Can they scientifically prove it? So far, they have not.”

With my all knowledge of climate change, I was eager to show that Ray was totally mistaken.  Since he also sent a similar message to my personal e-mail, I felt I had to respond privately and publicly with my own LTE.

However, the hard part for me was how was I going to whittle down the evidence of climate change into an LTE with a 200 word limit imposed by the Statesman Journal.

It took me a few hours yesterday, but I did it.  I am pleased with the result.  I even submitted it today to the Salem Statesman Journal to see if they will published it.  Even more, I even called Nancy Harrington, Editorial Assistant at the Salem Statesman Journal to see if they would publish it.  Nancy replied that she passed it along to the managing editor for him to make the final decision.

Here it is: Explaining climate change in 200 words or less:

In his Dec. 22nd letter, Ray Woodworth demanded “proof” for human caused climate change.

First, The Goal of science is NOT to prove but EXPLAIN aspects of the natural world.

British Physicist, John Tyndall discovered around 1850 carbon dioxide trap heat in our atmosphere which enables us to live on earth.

Carbon dioxide increased in our atmosphere over 40% since the Industrial Revolution around 1850.

As a result, Earth’s average temperature increased 1.5 degrees Fahrenheit or .8 Celsius since 1880.

The increase of CO2 is from humans because of the isotope signature of the carbon dioxide.

Multiple lines of evidence show this global temperature rise: sea level rise, warming oceans, declining Arctic Ice Sheet, worldwide glacier retreat, ocean acidification, more extreme weather events, etc

All this evidence enables 97 percent of climate scientists and the Catholic Church to agree climate change is real, human caused, it’s bad, and we must limit it.

Yes, Earth’s history shows natural periods of accelerated climate change.  However, what alarms scientists is the current extreme rapid rate of change in the earth’s biosphere due to climate change.

This is why I support Citizens Climate Lobby’s proposed carbon fee and dividend.

Brian Ettling

Crater Lake

Comedy is not pretty.  Communicating climate change is not always pretty.  However, I think my Explaining climate change in 200 words or less is very pretty, if I may say so myself.

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 carbonpollutioninput@epa.gov

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

Below is the text of my speech presented at the April 17, 2013 St. Louis South County Toastmasters meeting:

There is something troubling that keeps me up late at night.  At times, I feel like I got the weight of the world on my shoulders.  Recently, I learned about a threat to Bee Tree Park and all of us living in the St. Louis area.  This is a huge concern for me .

Since I was a young child, I have enjoyed hiking the trails at Bee Tree, and admiring the view of the mighty Mississippi River.  Here is a picture of me at the age of 17 at Bee Tree.  I have so many memories from Bee Tree of family gatherings, church picnics; my high school band’s annual awards picnic, and even one of my first dates.  I find Bee Tree to be so beautiful that it inspired me to be a seasonal national park ranger at Crater Lake National Park in Oregon for the past 21 years.
  

Crater Lake is amazing because it is deepest lake in the United States, almost 2,000 feet deep.  Because there is no cities or industry close by, Crater Lake has some of the cleanest air in the United States.  The rangers, such as me, encourage visitors to take a deep breath while they visit our park because the air is so clean.
  
Unfortunately, the air at Bee Tree and the surrounding St. Louis area is not clean at all.  Right next door to Bee Tree Park is the Meramec Coal Power plant.
  

The Meramec coal power plant was built in 1953, sixty years ago.  It operates to this day without no modern pollution controls.  What I especially find scary is all the sulfur dioxide emitted from the smokestacks of this power plant.  In 2012, Wingra Engineering, an independent engineering firm hired by the Missouri Sierra Club, released this model showing the range of sulfur dioxide pollution from the Meramec Power plant.

My friends, you can see that we do not live in a safe area.
  

According to the Environmental Protection Agency, the safe limit for SO2 pollution is less than 196 micrograms per cubic meter.  The deep red areas show where sulfur dioxide concentrations  are over five times the safe limit.  I lived 37 years in Oakville, Missouri in the deep orange section of the map which is over three times the safe limit. Met Life Building, where we have this Toastmasters meeting is over twice the safe limit.

Most of the St. Louis metro area, which includes Busch Stadium and Six Flags, exceeds the safe limit for sulfur dioxide pollution from the Meramec Coal Power Plant.  So what, Brian?  Why should I care?

This sulfur dioxide plume from the Meramec coal power plant is a dangerous health threat to you and your family.  The June 2012 Environmental Integrity Project report concluded, “sulfur dioxide pollution – which causes asthma attacks, severe respiratory problems, lung disease and heart complications – travels farther than previously estimated from the Meramec coal plant.”

Even worse, this report states that “the Meramec Power plant causes 1,000 asthma attacks and 57 to 100 premature deaths each year.”  Folks, this is not just statistics.  This is about your life and your family.  

Here is a picture of my family: my parents, sister, brothers-in-law, nieces and nephews.  Now think of your own family for a moment.  Folks, who here wants their family living in a healthy and safe area?  Then the pollution from the Meramec Coal plant is simply unacceptable. 
   
Both of my parents are survivors of cancer.  On March 2nd, my dad had surgery to remove a six inch cancerous tumor below his kidney.  The doctor asked my dad if he was a smoker because my dad’s cancer was typical of a smoker.  However, my dad has been a non-smoker his entire life.  I am worried that living in Oakville for 36 contributed to their cancer.

From May to October, I live in a very healthy environment at Crater Lake.  Yes, I do live in paradise.  However, this is what keeps me up at night: the health threat that my parents and all of you face living next to the Meramec Power Plant.
  
It will help me sleep better at night at Crater Lake and get the weight of the world off my shoulders if I can persuade you to do two things: 

First, please fill out these green cards drafted by the St. Louis Sierra Club.  They are addressed to the St. Louis County Council.  We are asking County Executive, Charlie Dooley and entire the St. Louis County Council to request the Missouri Department of Natural Resources (DNR) to require Ameren, the local electric utility which operates Meramec Plant, to lower its sulfur dioxide emissions to levels that are safe for our families according to the Clean Air Act.

Second, I need you, my fellow Toastmasters, to speak out against the pollution from the Meramec power plant.  I cannot clean up our air alone, especially while I will be living over 2,000 miles away for the next five months.
    

Let’s do everything we can for health of my parents, nieces & nephews, your family and Bee Tree Park to help me sleep better at night this summer at Crater Lake.  If we can reduce and eliminate the unhealthy pollution coming from Meramec power plant, I think someday my nephew Andrew Hunt and my niece Rachel Hunt, who are St. Louis area residents, will thank us for saving their home.
  
In closing, have a wonderful summer in St. Louis.   I will see you again in  October.

William Jewell College, Liberty Missouri

Bill McKibben speaking at Washington University in St. Louis photo by Brian Ettling

November 1, 2012, I saw climate activist Bill McKibben speak at Washington University in St. Louis.  He had so many insightful and inspiring words for me in others in the audience about the problem of climate change and the actions we must take to reduce the threat.

Brian Ettling meeting Bill McKibben

One specific item, he asked his audience to do was to ask their college or university as a student, professor, alumni to divest its financial endowment fund from fossil fuel companies.  He even challenged college faculty, especially those with tenure, to even get arrested as a best way to protest that action must take place now on climate change.  He assured them that, “getting arrested is not the end of the world.  The end of the world is the end of the world.”

When he asked the students at Washington University in St. Louis to petition the board of trustees to divest from fossil fuels, I marveled how Wash U students, such as Rachel Goldstein and Adam Hasz and former student, Arielle Klagsbrun, immediately wanted to take up the challenge.

In a reception to meet Bill McKibben, these brave activists enthusiastically talked about how they wanted to petition the board of Trustees at Washington University in St. Louis.  They all acknowledged it would be a very steep uphill fight. In particular, Gregory H. Boyce, Chairman and CEO of Peabody Energy, the world’s largest private-sector coal company, sits on the board.  Without a doubt, Gregory Boyce would fight hard against any attempt by Wash U to divest its endowment from fossil fuels.

After hearing and seeing how committed these students and former students were to taking action, I decided I must do the same.  I decided to approach my alma mater, William Jewell College.  My goal to plant seeds among students, faculty, and the administration to start a campaign to petition Jewell’s Board of Trustees to divest from fossil fuels.  December 2012, I contacted Facebook friend, Dr. Gina Lane, who is a professor of communications at William Jewell College.  She responded immediately my idea “that it is a really good one.”

Dr. David L. Sallee, President of William Jewell College Photo: jewellalumni.com

Dr. Lane encourage me to contact student Tyler White, who is a senior and Student Senator, and Dr. Andrew Pratt, Vice President for Social Responsibility and Engagement.  Dr. Pratt is also Director of William Jewell’s Center for Justice and Sustainability.  Dr. Pratt then advised me to send a letter to the President of William Jewell, Dr. David L. Sallee.

This past Thursday, I composed the letter.  On Friday, I mailed the letter.  Under no circumstance am I under the illusion that writing a letter to Dr. Sallee will magically make William Jewell College immediately decide to divest fossil fuels from its endowment.  My objective is to get the students, faculty, alumni, and administration thinking about it.

Photo: plantwhateverbringsyoujoy.com

My focus is long term.  It will be similar to the analogy of “water wearing away the stone” that I first read about in environment activist, Julia Butterfly Hill’s book, The Legacy of Luna, which was released in the year 2000.  On page 210 in the book, Julia talked about her direct ongoing negotiations with John Campbell, President of Pacific Lumber to save the Redwood Tree, Luna.  In the months of conversations with Campbell, Hill described her interaction with him like this,

“I was like water wearing away the stone.  Water acts differently than a hammer and chisel, which chip away at something.  I was just a constant presence that sooner or later would be heard.  Not because I pound the message, but because I am always there.”

For William Jewell, this movement is coming there way.  Or, if it was a movie ad campaign, you could say the 350.org Fossil Free Divestment campaign is “The following is a PREVIEW of political movement coming soon to a college campus near you.”  In December 4, 2012 New York Times article, half of the Harvard University Student body voted 72% to support the demand that their school trustees divest its endowment from fossil fuels.  In 2013, three US colleges have now pledged to divest its endowment from the two hundred fossil fuel companies.

Photo of Brian Ettling surfing in Hawaii, 2008

The tide is coming.  My alma mater will have to decide whether it wants to be front of, behind, or riding the crest of the wave.  When I was a student there in the late 1980s, William Jewell did the right thing by divesting from companies supporting South Africa’s apartheid.  Now it it must act to divest from fossil fuel companies that are wrecking havoc on our global climate.

Below is the letter that I mailed to President Sallee at William Jewell College yesterday.

February 8, 2013
Dr. David L. Sallee, President
William Jewell College
500 College Hill
Liberty, Missouri 64068

Dear. Dr. Sallee:

My name is Brian Ettling.  I am a 1992 William Jewell graduate.  I majored in Business Administration.  Since graduating from Jewell, I have worked as a park ranger in the national parks, Crater Lake National Park, Oregon, and Everglades National Park, Florida.  While working in the national parks, I developed a deep passion about climate change.  As a result, for the past several winters, I am a climate change communicator and organizer in St. Louis.

Last November, I got to see climate activist, Bill McKibben speak at Washington University in St. Louis.  McKibben’s remarks inspired me to get involved with his 350.org “Do the Math” campaign.   This campaign petitions colleges and universities across the U.S. to divest their portfolios and endowment holdings from large fossil fuel companies.

I am sending this letter to you for my alma mater, William Jewell, to do the same.  I am a very proud William Jewell graduate.  I would not be where I am at today as a Climate Change Communicator without the incredible education I received at William Jewell.  My communications classes from Jewell were so helpful for me to provide techniques for giving presentations as a national park ranger, public speaker, and organizer in St. Louis.

Over the past two months, I contacted communications Professor Dr. Gina Lane, student Tyler White who a senior and Student Senator, and Dr. Andrew Pratt, Vice President for Social Responsibility and Engagement.  I approached each of them for advice how to start a campaign for William Jewell to divest from fossil fuel companies.  Dr. Pratt suggested that I contact you.

During my time at Jewell, the Board of Trustees decided to divest from South Africa. At the time, I was very openly critical of this action.  I now know that I could not have been more wrong.  My William Jewell education helped me to see the true evil of South African apartheid and the importance of voting with your money to disavow such a total injustice. Only two years after I graduated from Jewell, I worked with South African citizens at Death Valley National Park.  I asked them about apartheid. They told me that it was wrong and it had to end. Even more, they told me the divestment campaign started in US colleges and universities did convince their countries leaders that apartheid had to end.

Climate change is the biggest threat to our future and even bigger threat to future generations, such as all the students attending William Jewell.  In 2012, we had a record heat wave and drought in the Mid West, Hurricane Sandy devastating coastal New Jersey and New York, the Arctic Ice is melting at an unprecedented rate, etc.

I was on the wrong side of history with apartheid while I attended William Jewell. This time, I want to be on the right side of history.  I want to be on the record to persuade the students, alumni, William Jewell’s college leaders and trustees, and you to take leadership to divest from fossil fuels to save us from dangerous climate change consequences.

Sterling College in Vermont recently announced it is proud to be the third college in the United States that will soon divest its endowment from the two hundred fossil fuel companies. The Board of Trustees voted unanimously at its February 2, 2013 meeting to instruct the investment team to take this action and to move swiftly to divest.

Sterling College President Matthew Derr said, “Sterling College is an incubator for those who care about Vermont, care about the natural world in which we all live, and who want to promote healthy and just food systems, and as such, it makes no sense for us to invest in companies that are wreaking havoc on our climate.”

Thanks for allowing me to share all these thoughts with you. I am including article from December 4, 2012 New York Times talking about how college campuses are organizing campaigns to insist that the college leadership divest from fossil fuels.

Hope to hear back from you soon.

Brian Ettling

In his 2007 autobiography, Born Standing Up, comedian Steve Martin makes this observation:

Photo: bronzeagebabies.blogspot.com

“There is a belief (in the 1960s to 1980s) that one appearance on The Tonight Show with Johnny Carson made you a star.  But here are the facts.  The first time you do the show, nothing.  The second time you do the show, nothing.  The sixth time you do the show, someone might come up to you and say, ‘Hi, I think we met at Harvey’s Christmas Party.’  The tenth time you do the show, you could conceivably be remembered as being seen somewhere on television.  The twelfth time do you the show, you might hear, “Oh, I know you. You’re that guy.”

This is great example that having persistence is the way you become famous or change the world.  From his appearances on The Tonight Show and other TV shows in the late 1960s and early 70s, Steve Martin went on to become one of the most successful stand-up comedians of all time.  There is a good chance you probably do not want to be famous.  If you want to be famous, all you have to see is a 10 second video of the paparazzi chasing movie stars.  This will cure any urge real fast.

Chances are you are not satisfied with the world around you.  Maybe all the pollution bothers you.  Maybe America falling behind in manufacturing to the Chinese bothers you.  Maybe high gas prices bothers you.  Maybe our dependence on foreign oil bothers you.  Maybe increasing utility bills bothers you.  Maybe the continuing the heat wave of 2012 and continuing drought bothers you.  Maybe the recent mild winters bothers you.  Maybe the gridlock in Congress bothers you.  Maybe the tidal surges of Superstorm Sandy bothers you.  Maybe the floods of Hurricane still Katrina bothers you.  Maybe the collective inaction of society and our government on climate change really bothers you.

If any of this is bothers you, then I have good news for you.  This past May, 2012, I discovered a group that can make a huge difference on all these issues: CITIZENS CLIMATE LOBBY.

However, it took many months of pestering by one person to get me to attend at Citizens Climate Lobby meeting.  Her name is Carol Braford.

Just like Steve Martin tenaciously doing the Tonight Show over a dozen times before he started to become famous, Carol Braford invited me to Citizen Climate Lobby meetings multiple times before I finally acted.

Carol Bradford

How did Carol Braford find me?  In November, 2011, Larry Lazar started the Climate Reality Meet Up group in St. Louis.  We had our first meeting at Cafe Ventana on December 11, 2011.  Larry organized the meeting around all of us getting to know each other and our concerns about climate change.  We had about 16 people attend the meeting, including Tom and Carol Braford.

I first met Tom and Carol in January 2011, at the St. Louis University Green Sustainability Conference.  They had a table to promote their green eco village, which is their life’s passion to create.  When you meet Carol and Tom, they had such an inviting sweetness to them.  They are so friendly and welcoming that you almost want to ask them on the spot if they will adopt you as parents or grand parents.

Soon after you are taken in by their genuine charm, you meet Carol’s PERSISTENCE.  She has such a  welcoming persistence that you want to say YES! to any social function that she invites you to attend.  She had me sign up my contact info to learn more about the Eco Village.  Soon afterward, I received e-mails from Carol pertaining to functions promoting the eco village.

However, I soon forgot about the eco village as I got involved with Toastmasters and working at the temporary Climate Change exhibit at the St. Louis Science.  Even more, I returned to Crater Lake from June to September, 2011. October 2011, I attended the National Park Service & NASA: Earth to Sky Communicating Climate Change Conference in Shepardstown, West Virginia.  Around that time, I traveled to see friends in Ohio, Pennsylvania, and Washington, D.C.

Carol & Tom Braford

By the time Larry Lazar and I launched our kick off Climate Reality St. Louis Meet Up meeting, I  completely forgott Carol and Tom Braford.  Larry did a great job making our initial Meet Up meeting a success.  After the meeting, I will never forget Carol personally inviting me to attend a Citizens Climate Lobby (CCL) conference call meeting.

She had an enticing way to describe the group.   She mentioned conference calls on the first Saturday of each month listening to national experts on climate change. Then the group plans actions to lobby Congress to pass effective laws to protect us from climate change.  I was interested.  One big problem: I just took a job a the St. Louis Science Center where I agreed I would be working weekends.  Thus, it would be really hard for me to attend these meetings.

Over last winter, Larry Lazar and I kept leading our Climate Reality Meet Up meeting on the third Sunday of each month.  Up to 20 people were attending our meetings, including Tom & Carol Braford.  Carol kept mentioning CCL.  I felt in a bind because attending their meetings intrigued me, but my job schedule made it really hard.

Finally, the timing was right when my winter seasonal job ended at the Science Center at the end of April.  I had a free Saturday, May 5th.  I arrived at Tom & Carol’s house around 11:30 am.  She had a lot of delicious and healthy snacks for us to eat, especially wonderful cheese, crackers, fruit, and amazing homemade bread.  There was 5 of us in attendance.  Then Carol connected us to the the conference call and I was blown away.

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.

Major General Anthony Jackson Photo from www.citizensclimatelobby.org

Even more, the main speaker on the conference call really impressed me.  Retired Major Gen. Anthony L. Jackson of the US Marine Corp talked about the Defense Department initiatives to use more energy from clean, renewable sources and less from fossil fuels.  I was deeply amazed by all that the Defense Department actions and plans to reduce their carbon footprint and be fossil free within the coming decades.  If our military is doing all it can to combat climate change, surely I can do more, especially if I can work with CCL.

When I returned to Crater Lake National Park, Oregon, in mid May, 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 sourthern 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.

Just like overlooking Carol Braford the previous year because of work and returning to Crater Lake, I forgot about my contacts in Southern Oregon because of my busy winter schedule in St. Louis.  My plate for the past few months has been full with working at the St. Louis Science Center, my involvement with Toastmasters, teaching a class on climate change with St. Louis Community College, NASA invited me to speak in Hampton, Virginia in November at the National Interpreter Association Convention, speaking opportunities in St. Louis, etc.

Brian Ettling and Amy Hoyt Bennett, Public Affairs Liaison for Citizens Climate Lobby

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.

I immediately forwarded this e-mail to Carol Braford, with a note: “thanks to you persistently inviting me to CCL meetings last winter, a CCL group is going to happen in Southern Oregon.  After coming to your house last May and experiencing a CCL monthly conference call, I left thinking southern Oregon needs to have a CCL chapter also.  I made it my mission last summer at Crater Lake.  Now, Amy Bennett just e-mailed me to say she is headed to Medford, Oregon in January, 14th for a group start workshop.  I was so excited to hear this.  I really felt like I had made a small impact on the world when I read this e-mail.  However, the real credit goes to you for inspiring me to get involved with CCL.”

Brian Ettling and Carol Braford

Needless to say, Carol was very happy to read this.  Carol’s persistence with me reminded me of Steve Martin’s story.   He showed such determination and persistence to appear on the Tonight Show with Johnny Carson over a dozen times to make it big show business.  Carol’s persistence and determination over many months to get me to attend a CCL meeting did paid off.  I now really love being involved with CCL.  I look forward to the monthly conference calls and participating in the group action plans.

In sum, want to change the world and reduce the threat climate change? Then keep persistently inviting your friends to join you over and over again.  Never give up.  Carol Braford never did with me.

Thank you Carol!

As a side note…

Brian Ettling, Carol & Tom Brafor, Steve Valk, & Lucas Sabalka

It has been a thrill to be involved with the St. Louis CCL group when they made a huge accomplishment this winter.  Steve Valk, Director of Communications of CCL Regional Manager Southeastern U.S in Atlanta, came to visit our group in early December.  While he was here, Carol Braford managed for our group to have a meeting with Kevin Horrigan, the Managing Editor of the St. Louis Post Dispatch newspaper.

St. Louis Post Dispatch

We were able to persuade Kevin for the Post to write a supportive editorial about the danger of climate change. Even more, the Post strongly affirmed need for Congress to pass a carbon fee and dividend, which is the priority of Citizens Climate Lobby.  The Post published the editorial on December 27, 2012.  This editorial excited and impressed climate activists all across the country.  It was another example of Carol Braford and CCL showing me what can be accomplished on climate change when one is determined to make a difference.

Thanks again, Steve Valk, Carol & Tom Braford, and Lucas Salbalka for allowing me to “tag along” in the very productive meeting with the Post Dispatch.

All of you are inspiring me to do more for our planet.

Steve Valk, Communications Director for Citizens Climate Lobby and  Brian Ettling.

      For more information on Citizens Climate Lobby and to find a group near you, go to
www.citizensclimatelobby.org.

Below is the text of my speech presented at the January 30, 2013 St. Louis South County Toastmasters meeting.

Johnny Nash

Anyone remember this 1972 song by American pop singer, Johnny Nash, I Can See Clearly Now ?
  
Here the beginning lyrics:
I can see clearly now the rain is gone
you can see all obstacles in your way.

Tonight,  I want to help you to see clearly.  Like the Johnny Nash song, I want to help you see clearly past a big obstacle that is in your way.

The obstacle is this: many people are confused about the difference between climate vs. weather.  Who here is confused about the difference between weather vs. climate?  My friends, you are going to learn the difference right now:

According to NASA:

Weather is the atmospheric conditions at a certain place at a certain point in time.  Weather is short term.  It is observed in minutes, hours, days, or weeks.  Weather is determining if it is going to be raining tomorrow when you drive to work in St. Louis.

Climate is the average conditions expected at a specific place at a given time.  Climate is long term.  It is determined over months, years, decades, or longer.  Climate is more than likely it is going to be snowing if you visit Mt. Rainer between the months of September to June.

Think of weather vs. climate like this: “Climate is percentage of long underwear vs. shorts in your closest. Weather is deciding to wear long underwear or shorts today.”

Or, “You pick your vacation destination based on the climate but pack your suitcase based on the weather.”

As Mark Twain once said, “Climate is what you expect. Weather is what you get.”

Understanding the difference between weather vs. climate is vital because so many people are confused.  Unlike, Johnny Nash, they cannot see clearly now.  They have the wool pulled over their eyes.

Too many people make the mistake of saying this time of year, “It is snowing today, therefore climate change cannot be real.”

I heard this crazy statement too frequently when I worked at the temporary Climate Change exhibit at the St. Louis Science Center.  One day in March, I was stationed just outside the exhibit to invite people inside.  It was snowing by the window, so people kept teasing me saying, “Here’s climate change!”  I was very polite, but I wanted to yell back, “No, it’s the weather!”

I even heard my fellow Toastmasters say, “How can scientists predict climate change when they cannot even predict the weather.”

Here is the answer, my friends.  Think of weather as the roll of the dice.  Is it going to be sunny, snowing or raining tomorrow?  Climate is determining which casino gives you the best chance to win when you play with their dice.

Weather is determined by real-time measurements of temperature, wind speed and direction, humidity, rain fall amount, could cover, etc.
Climate is determined by compiled weather statistics over a 30 year period.

The weather today has nothing to do climate change.  Or does it?

Over 97% of climate scientists, the Weather Channel, the American Meteorological Society, and the National Weather service clearly think climate change is impacting our weather right now.  Even more, every major scientific institution in the world affirms that climate change is real, caused by humans, and it’s impacting or weather right NOW.

When we start our cars or turn on our lights, we are burning oil, gas, and coal.  When we burn these fuels, we are releasing carbon dioxide, which is stinking up our planet.  Currently, carbon dioxide emissions are roughly 36.7 billion, with a B, metric tons a year or 90 million metric tons a day.

Carbon dioxide traps the earth’s heat like a blanket.  Since the beginning of the industrial revolution, humans have increased the amount of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere by over 30%.  As a result, since 1880 the average temperature of the planet has gone up about 1.5 degrees Fahrenheit or .8 degrees Celsius.

A global increase 1.5 Fahrenheit over the past 130 years sounds laughable when the temperatures in St. Louis can vary over 20 degrees in one day.  However, 1.5 degree rise in body temperature from 98.6 degrees to 100 degrees, you would feel very sick.

When casinos or individual gamblers tamper with dice so it will favor certain numbers, it is called ‘loading the dice.’  With climate change, scientists think we are ‘loading the climate dice.’  By adding lots of carbon dioxide into the atmosphere, we are causing the climate to favor certain weather patterns.

Here are some pie charts illustrating this.  What it shows is that our record low and high temperatures in the 1950s were equal.  However, there has been a shift that by 2009, record high temperatures were outnumbered record low temperatures 56% to 44%.  In 2010, the ratio was 70% record highs, 30% record lows.  2011, 73% record highs to 27% record lows.  2012, the worst yet: 90% record highs to 10% record lows.

Dr. James Hansen, climate scientist from NASA, explains it with these climate dice.  In a normal climate, if you were rolling the weather dice, you could expect two sides to produce colder than normal weather, two sides to produce normal weather, and two sides to produce hotter than normal weather.  What we have done with climate change is to ‘load the dice’ so that now we have just one side with cooler than normal weather and one side with normal weather.  Alarmingly, we now have three sides with warmer than normal and one side that is extremely hot.

Yes, it will still snow with climate change, but the evidence is that we are seeing less cold weather with climate change.  As comedian Bill Maher would say, saying it is snowing, therefore climate change is not real, as about as silly as saying, ‘It got dark last night, therefore the sun is not real.’

Or as a friend of mine, Tom Smerling joked, “I hate flu shots.  Therefore, the flu cannot be real.”

Hopefully, I helped you see more clearly today. First, you now know difference between weather and climate.  Weather is what is happening right now.  Climate is the average weather over a period of at least 30 years.  Climate is where you pick your vacation (Florida vs. Colorado).  Second, if it is snowing outside that is the weather not climate change.  Finally, climate change is actually making it less likely to cold and snow today.

As Johnny Nash once sang, you can now see more clearly now, when the snow is falling around.  Hopefully, you can see all obstacles in your way.  Gone are the dark clouds that had you blind.  Because 
It’s gonna be a bright (bright), bright (bright)
Sun-Shiny day.

Love to learn about wild animals?  Then you should visit the Wildlife Rescue Special Exhibit at the St. Louis Science Center.  It is a temporary traveling exhibit that will be there until March 3, 2013.

I have worked at this exhibit since October 24, 2012, a few weeks after it debuted at the St. Louis Science Center.  This exhibit is designed to be fun, hands-on and educational all at the same time.  It is geared for all age groups, so please bring your kids to see this.

As you enter and leave the exhibit, you are greeted with a video of renowned wildlife advocate and one of my heroes, Dr. Jane Goodall.  She welcomes you with this message of hope and optimism:

“Today we here so many stories of doom and gloom, how animals are becoming extinct and how environments are becoming uninhabitable, and how the diversity of life is diminishing.  And, so it’s really important to understand that we can rescue wild animals.  We can restore their habitats and that we can work together to protect biodiversity.  That the amazing diversity of species that makes up life on planet Earth that makes up an ecosystem.  As you go through this exhibit, you will learn some amazing stories of animals being rescued from the brink of extinction, habitats restored, and the amazing people who have dedicated their lives to making this happen.”

The exhibit focuses on the success stories 30 animals, such as the Giant Panda, California Condor, Lake Sturgeon, Whooping Cranes, American Whooping Cranes, Panamanian Golden Frog, Black-Footed-Ferret, etc.

Kids and their parents love the hands on interaction of the exhibit, such as using an arcade game puppet to try to feed a mechanical California Condor chick, a device comparing your grip with an orangutan, a scale that compares your weight with a giant panda, etc.    Even more, you will enjoy the interactive quizzes testing your knowledge of elephant behavior and saving wildlife from oil spills, forest fires, and floods.

To learn about the rescue of whooping cranes, there is a full scale model of a “trike airplane” with a large screen in front it.  Trikes are ultra light planes that look and fly like hand gliders.  You sit inside the plane and feel like you are flying to teach immature Whooping Cranes how to migrate from Maryland to Florida in the autumn.   This video is narrated by Joe Duff, the lead pilot and co-founder of Operation Migration.  The pilot and the plane are disguised to look like a mammoth Whooping Crane in order to entice the juveniles to learn the eastern migration route.  I frequently watch the video with envy wanting to fly a trike, while teaching the majestic Whooping Cranes to migrate long distances.

The exhibit provides amazing statistics on the recovery of animals that came within a whisker of going extinct.  For instance, Whooping Cranes had only 15 individuals left in 1940.  Thanks to the efforts such as volunteers like Joe Duff, conservation groups, the Endangered Species Act, and the Fish & Wildlife Service, around 600 Whooping Cranes now exist.  Even more remarkable, The Chatham Island Black Robin had only one breeding female left named, Old Blue in 1980.  To save this species, the New Zealand government began to breed Old Blue with a male robin, Old Yellow.  This pair produced 11 chicks; more than 250 of their descendants now live in the New Zealand wild.

Photo by Brian Ettling. Two adult California Condors perched underneath the support struts of the Navajo Bridge, located in Glen Canyon, Arizona. They were sitting 470 feet about the Colorado River.

An exhibit animal that I have seen personally in the wild: The California Condor.  This species had only 25 birds left in the 1980s.  Fortunately, the last remaining birds were captured, raised in captivity, and now many released back into the wild.  Because of those efforts, around 350 birds can be seen in the wild.

I was fortunate to see California Condors when I traveled to the Grand Canyon in 2009 and 2010.  They are huge with their 10 wing span.  As a matter of fact, they have the largest wing span of any bird in North America.  They were easily to spot with the large identification research numbers clipped on their wings.  You can also readily see them by their massive size and the large white patches on the underside of their wings that are seen when they are in flight.

When I lived in Florida for 16 years, I also saw Whooping Cranes and Burrowing Owls, both of which have displays in the exhibit.

When you visit this exhibit, don’t skip the seven minute inspiring video, “Return to the Wild,” shown on a large screen theater inside the exhibit.  It talks about the fight for survival of the Orangutans of the rain forests of Borneo and the elephants of the African savannas.  Elephants struggle to survive with the poaching of their ivory tusks and humans encroaching into their habitat.  Clearing rain forests to create palm oil plantations are threatening the survival of orangutans.

Dr. Biruté Galdikas Photo: alkas.lt

Fortunately, both species have human champions who are fighting for their survival.  On the island of Borneo, Indonesia, Dr. Birute Galdikas runs The Orangutan International Care Center, which cares for around 330 orphaned orangutans.  Dame Daphne Sheldrick runs The David Sheldrick Elephant Orphanage at the edge of Nairobi, Kenya, which cares for dozens of orphaned elephants.

The video shares failures and success stories of raising these orphaned and often traumatized animals in captivity and releasing them back into the wild.

What really struck me was the ending statements of both of these heroes for our planet.

Dr. Biruté Galdikas:  “I hope people really carry away the understanding how funny, benign and great orangutans are, but, also the realization that they need to be saved from extinction and only we can do it.”

Dame Daphne Sheldrick Photo: friendsofafricaaz.org

Dame Daphne Sheldrick: “I think everyone really should be aware of the natural world and do everything they can to protect it.   You understand it is not just you in the world.  You are part of a much bigger thing.  It goes round and round and every single species contributes to the well being of the whole.  It is the only place we have and we have got to take care of it.”

Gandhi once said, “The greatness of a nation and its moral progress can be judged by the way its animals are treated.”

I have often heard that when we talk about saving the planet from climate change and pollution, we are really talking about saving us, humans.  I disagree.  If we just save us and not our fellow endangered wildlife, future generations will never forgive us.  Our fellow animals are so unique, sacred, fun, and awe inspiring that to not save them will leave future generations deeply impoverished and sad.  Yes, saving the planet also means saving the precious species that share the planet with us.

Even more, this exhibit shows you can have success bringing animals back from the edge of extinction.  It provides us hope and inspiration while challenging us to listen to our better angels.

Often visitors leaving the exhibit will rush past and ignore the final video by the exit.  They are eager to get to the Omnimax movie, Planetarium, or head home.   Resist this urge and stop to watch the video.  It contains one final video message from iconic Dr. Jane Goodall.  She states:

“Now that you have been through this exhibit, you’ve learned the importance of rescuing animals, restoring habitats, and protecting biodiversity.   I can’t overemphasize enough importance of each and every one of us getting involved to protect life on earth.  It’s just so important that we get together to do this now. ”

Photo: fws.gov

Yes, this is the mission for the rest of our lives.  Each and every one of us is called to save the planet from climate change, pollution, and habitat loss.  If we accomplish this mission (and we can!), the elephants, orangutans, Whooping Cranes, California Condors, black footed ferrets and so many other endangered animals will thank us.  Not with words, but their presence on this planet will continue to touch our hearts.

Two years ago, October 5, 2011, I had a lunch meeting that changed my life.  It was at the Indian Ocean, a small Indian Restaurant in northwestern Washington DC.  At the end of the meeting, my new friend and I both uttered these words:

I CANNOT THINK OF ANY BIGGER PRIORITY FOR MY LIFE THAN TO DO SOMETHING ABOUT CLIMATE CHANGE.“

At the time, I was in DC visiting a friend and sightseeing after I just attended the National Park Service & NASA Earth-to-Sky Communicating Climate Change conference in Shepardstown, West Virginia.

I left the NASA conference very jazzed about wanting to communicate more about climate change, but I was unsure what to do for the winter or my life.  I knew I was headed back to St. Louis, but I did not know where I would be working or what I do be doing.  

For five years now, I have been on a journey to be a climate change communicator.  August 24, 2011, I had put a message on Facebook about wanting to go to grad school to study climate change communications.  I was looking for advice for studying for the GRE.  

Two days later, my friend, Sundae Horn, sent me this message:

“Brian, I saw your post about going back to school, and although I don’t have any advice about the GRE, I want to pass on the website of our friend. His name is Tom Smerling — somehow I think we told you about him, or vice versa, but anyway, he’s a great guy and loves to talk climate change.”

I worked Sundae and her husband, Rob, in the Everglades for many years. They are very kind people.  If Sundae was recommending Tom, then he must be a great guy also.  I was very intrigued also when she mentioned he loves to talk about climate change.

www.climatebites.org

I immediately e-mailed Tom and we exchanged messages, promising to chat more at some point.  I looked at his website also, Climatebites.org.  The style and message of the website really amazed me.  The focus of the website is to provide metaphors, soundbites, quotes, humor, and stories for people who want to talk about climate change and wants their message to stick.  I immediately recommended the website to friends deeply interested in climate change.

I noticed Tom lived in the DC area.  I knew I would be visiting there in October.  When I arrived in DC, we exchanged e-mails and he suggested meeting for lunch at the Indian Ocean.

Tom Smerling & Brian Ettling

Upon meeting Tom, I immediately felt like I had made a friend for life.  It felt like I had met a kindred spirit.  We exchanged so many ideas about climate change.  We both agreed that humor is vital when communicating about climate change.  I showed him my website, Climatechangecomedian.com and my climate change evening program.  He showed me the humor section of Climatebites, which has a video link of his favorite stand-up economist, Yoram Bauman and comedian David Crowe’s hilarious Gasoholics Anonymous.  

He challenged me on the spot to contribute writings to Climatebites.  Gulp.  I had very limited experience with writing.  However, it did seem like it could be fun.

I will never forget the end of the meeting, we both said, “I CANNOT THINK OF ANY BIGGER PRIORITY FOR MY LIFE THAN TO DO SOMETHING ABOUT CLIMATE CHANGE.”

It took me a couple weeks, but I did post my first bite on Climatebites on October 14, 2011, Would you argue with your doctor over a heart condition?  I have steadily written bites ever since then.  I am now closing in on 90 bites.  Some of my Climatebites have now been re-posted on other websites, such as boomerwarrior.com, climatemama.com, and elephantjournal.com.  

Yale Form on Climate Change & the Media

Tom encouraged me to write my own blog again.  I created my blog on February 1, 2011, and I quickly wrote a second entry the next day.  However, my blog sat idle for nine months 10 months before Tom challenged me to write my own blog again.  My own blog led me to have an article published in the Yale Forum on Climate Change and the Media on April 26, 2012.  One of my blog posts was also re-posted on Harriet Shugarman’s Climatemama.com website.  This posting you are currently reading is now my 32nd blog entry.

Tom challenged me to attend the American Geophysical Union (AGU) Conference in San Francisco, California last December.  He enticed me to attend by promising I would meet so many of the top climate scientists and communicators.  Man, his sales pitch turned out to be an understatement.  At AGU, I got to meet climatesight.org author Kate Alexander, Scott Mandia, Michael Mann, Richard Alley, James Hansen, Naomi Oreskes, Richard Somerville, Ben Santer, Ed Maibach, Susan Hassol, John Cook, Peter Sinclair, Gavin Schmidt, Science comedian Brian Malow, and so many others.

Al Gore at the Climate Reality Training in San Francisco

While attending AGU, I was invited to attend a Union of Concerned Scientists cocktail party where I met Dr. +Peter Joseph.  I mentioned my interest in climate change to him and we struck up a good friendship.  Peter lobbied hard on my behalf with Al Gore’s organization, The Climate Reality Project, so I could attend the Climate Reality Training in San Francisco in August, 2012.  As a trained Climate Reality presenter, I presented along with local St. Louis Climate Reality Presenters, Larry Lazar and Lucas Sabalka, at the Ethical Society of St. Louis on December 6, 2012.

I am not sure what adventure 2013 has in store for me.  I know I will be speaking at the Piasa Palisades Sierra Club meeting in Alton, Illinois on February 11, 2013 about climate change.  I will be giving a Toastmasters speech on climate change on Wednesday, January 30th.  I will be teaching a continuing adult education class on Climate Change Communications for St. Louis Community College on February 23, 2013.  I am also now deeply involved with organizing for the Citizens Climate Lobby (CCL) with the St. Louis group.  I also started a CCL group in southern Oregon while I was working at Crater Lake National Park last summer.  

I also hope to return to Crater Lake, Oregon for the summer.  I work there as a naturalist ranger narrating the boat tours, trolley tours, guided hikes, geology talks, etc.  My evening campfire program for the past two summers has been on the impact of climate change on Crater Lake.

Beyond that, it is a mystery how I will be following my passion with climate change in 2013 and upcoming years.  However, I will still never forget all the encouragement and advice from Tom Smerling.  

Our mutual mantra from when we ended our lunch meeting at the Indian Ocean Restaurant in Washington, DC on October 5, 2011 is always bouncing around in my head.

I CANNOT THINK OF ANY BIGGER PRIORITY FOR MY LIFE THAN TO DO SOMETHING ABOUT CLIMATE CHANGE.”

Thank you Tom Smerling!  

Even more, Thank you Sundae Horn for introducing me to Tom Smerling.