Finding My Footing: A CW Climate Activist’s Story (Part 3)

It was late April when I finally returned to Duluth. After finishing the 140-mile walk from Philadelphia to Washington, D.C., I decided to stay in the capital for several days to visit different environmental groups and also to introduce myself to the staff for the two U.S. senators from Minnesota. 

Upon settling back into the Dorothy Day House, signing up for house duties, and getting reacquainted with the men who lived at the house, I began reading various books about climate change; especially the book Earth: Making A Life On A Tough New Planet by Bill McKibben. I also discovered several of Greta Thunberg’s speeches on YouTube. It was McKibben and Thunberg who made a big impression on me about how much climate change had significantly impacted the world, and that things were probably going to get worse for the immediate future.

Cover art by Monica Welch: “Micah 6:8 with Desert Path.”

Along with the readings, I decided to do some research on regional and international climate groups. I wanted to explore any opportunities where I could volunteer my time or possibly make a donation. 

One of the first groups that caught my eye was Covering Climate Now. Based out of New York City, it’s an international network of journalists and reporters who cover climate change for major newspapers, magazines, news bureaus and other media outlets from around the world. Given that I had just started writing a series of columns on climate change for the Duluth News Tribune, I thought this would be a great resource and organization for me.

Upon contacting Covering Climate Now (CCN), I was informed that no one from Duluth was a member of their group. In fact, the closest members in CNN were some journalists in Minneapolis who worked for the StarTribune daily newspaper. Also, CCN was sponsoring a global news campaign about climate change on Monday, September 16th. 

So, I decided to fill out a membership application and then to put together a public forum in Duluth on September 16th about the importance of having the latest news and information about climate change for the citizens in our city. I looked at the calendar. There were only several days left in August. I had a lot of work ahead of me: I was on my own and there were only about 14 days til the event.

First, I needed a name for the event. I decided to use “Climate>Duluth.” Next, I had to quickly reserve a space for the forum. I was lucky to find a big room at the Powless Cultural Center in downtown Duluth. I scheduled the forum for 7:30 to 9:30pm to hopefully get more people to attend.

I began by sending out a number of emails to activists and organizers with various climate and environmental groups, and simply asked them to save the date. Then I decided to present a panel of speakers who could share their expertise and experiences. We ended up having 11 speakers from such groups as Duluth Climate Mobilization, Sierra Club, Honor The Earth, Minnesota Interfaith Power and Light, and the Duluth Climate and Energy Network. 

And then with about 7 days left before the event, we distributed flyers around the city and sent out a press release to city leaders and the media.

My next column for the Duluth News Tribune came out on the Friday before the forum. I wanted to use this piece to help promote the event. The title for that column was: “What happens in Vegas doesn’t stay in Vegas.” The focus of this column was to argue that whether it’s the melting ice in Greenland, deforestation in the Amazon or rising temperatures in northern Europe, all of these climate events will eventually have some impact on Duluth. And for that reason alone, we need to be informed citizens when it comes to climate change. 

I vividly remember that evening of the 16th. I showed up at 6pm to set up the tables for the panelists and rows of chairs for the audience. And while I was doing the manual labor, I began wondering if anyone would show up–including the speakers.

It was about 7:00 pm when some of the speakers started showing up, including the two college students who agreed to serve as hosts and introduce the speakers at the forum. And by 7:30pm, all 11 speakers had arrived and almost all the chairs had been filled. Also, we were fortunate enough to have two television stations there along with a reporter from the Duluth News Tribune. 

We had almost 100 people in the room. There were a lot of ideas and questions tossed around between the speakers and audience. And while I was personally surprised by the good turnout, I was also reassured that there were many people in Duluth who were as concerned about climate change as I was. 

About two weeks after the forum, I received an email from the staff at PACT-TV. They had heard about the climate change forum and wanted to know if I would be interested in hosting a show on their station. At our planning meeting, we decided to name the show “Climate>Duluth” and would begin scheduling interviews with local people who were working on various climate initiatives.

Looking back over my first two years in Duluth, all of my readings and activities addressing climate change only reinforced my growing concerns about our climate future, especially with regards to the future of our children and grandchildren.