Growing up in Minnesota, winter – for me – meant playing hockey. Walking to the local rink and skating with my friends on weeknights for maybe an hour or two. Saturdays and Sundays meant skating for four or five hours. All of this skating was done on outdoor ice in Cottage Grove. In 1972, we […]
Some miles past Logan’s Pass in Glacier National Park, I saw the most beautiful place I’ve ever witnessed. It was enchanting. Razor sharp peaks carved by the ice swooped down into deep U-shaped valleys. The trees blanketed the mountains and fought their way up the slopes, as high as they could, until they gave way […]
As shared at the 2017 National Adaptation Forum Opening Plenary It took me awhile to recognize that as a youth my voice is important and should contribute to mobilizing change. Even now I often struggle with that and find myself constantly frustrated with how youth voices are not being valued or involved in different spaces. […]
Be the Change My mother passed away from breast cancer when I was seven. She was in her mid-thirties and there were some speculations made about chemicals from the cornfield behind our house. My mother and father were very close with nature and took my sister and me canoeing and hiking throughout Indiana and beyond […]
I moved to Laramie, WY in 2003, to attend graduate school at the University of Wyoming. As a boy growing up in Wisconsin, I had fallen increasingly in love with the outdoors as I went through my college years. Eventually, I became fascinated by the prospect of moving out west for graduate school. So when […]
Those of us who grew up in the late fifties and early sixties remember many things that are no longer a part of our everyday lives: party telephone lines, addresses without ZIP codes, lessons in twirling batons, the static of transistor radios, and spending much of the summer barefoot. I remember all of these things […]
I love Snow and Ice. I love winter. I started cross country ski racing when I was 8 years old and have not stopped. I love the crisp frost on the tree limbs and the crunch of cold snow under my boots. To this day I kick an ice chunk in front of me whenever […]
I grew up on a farm on the border of Scott and Dakota County along with my three siblings, and went to Lakeville schools my whole life. My parents had 25 acres of land that we mainly used to board horses. Throughout my childhood we had many different animals including pigs, turkeys, chickens, homing pigeons, […]
Winters Past My name is Emma Hakanson, and I am 17 years old. To prepare my story, I was asked to remember the moment when I realized that the Earth’s climate is changing and that it is our responsibility to do something. But I could not think of one example because I have always known. […]
For as long as I can remember I’ve lived in a small, rural town in Vermont. Summers were dedicated to family canoe trips, hiking, camping, gardening, and enjoying the outdoors. Fall and spring were spent playing sports outside, as well as helping out around our yak farm and the local farmer’s market. Even during the […]