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I went to hear Dr. David Titley speak
Oct. 22nd, 2016 10:12 amThis is the first time I've heard an actual Important Guy speak about climate change. Yesterday Dr. David Titley spoke at Central Michigan University in Mt. Pleasant, an hour's drive away.
As he's a military guy, his presentation had me looking at things that I usually don't read much about. I mean, I come from a military family and Mike is a 20-year man, so it's not all new, but I got a few slides that I don't usually see. And he talked about the senate hearing with Ted Cruz, and that was fun.
Mostly, like these things usually are, it was "Hey, this is a real and serious problem. We've got to get together on this." -- so it was all head-noddy stuff.
At the end he took questions, and my question was the last one: "My husband and I are in our mid-50's, I'm a nurse and he's a truck driver. We're just average people with a bucket of kids and three buckets at grandkids. About ten years ago, we started talking about climate change and how it was going to effect us. My question is: do you have kids, grandkids? What do you think of when you think of them?" Surprising to me, my voice broke at the end. "What do you think when you're staring at the ceiling in the middle of the night?"
His answer was that no, he doesn't have any kids. And his advice was that we educate our kids and make sure that they vote. Which is a fair enough answer, but not what I was looking for. I wanted to know his gut.
Then folks started picking up their coats and moving into the isles. Mike and I sat for a bit, and he patted my knee.
And they started coming, from this direction and that, a stream of older women -- pressing my hand and patting me on the shoulder and even giving me little hugs.
"Yes," they said, and "Are you okay?" and "Well, honey" and little murmurs and of this and that. It was wonderful and a little overwhelming. A woman of about my age, but in much nicer clothes *g*, slipped her card into my hand, Elizabeth Dell, Great Lakes Regional Coordinator of the Citizen's Climate Lobby.
You'd think that I'd already be involved with the Citizen's Climate Lobby, but no. I just ... I didn't think I'd have the resolve to keep pecking away at something that I don't think will change. Perhaps hearing Titley, knowing that there are some very big players in the government who are concerned about this, makes me more willing to spend time and energy in adding my small voice.
As he's a military guy, his presentation had me looking at things that I usually don't read much about. I mean, I come from a military family and Mike is a 20-year man, so it's not all new, but I got a few slides that I don't usually see. And he talked about the senate hearing with Ted Cruz, and that was fun.
Mostly, like these things usually are, it was "Hey, this is a real and serious problem. We've got to get together on this." -- so it was all head-noddy stuff.
At the end he took questions, and my question was the last one: "My husband and I are in our mid-50's, I'm a nurse and he's a truck driver. We're just average people with a bucket of kids and three buckets at grandkids. About ten years ago, we started talking about climate change and how it was going to effect us. My question is: do you have kids, grandkids? What do you think of when you think of them?" Surprising to me, my voice broke at the end. "What do you think when you're staring at the ceiling in the middle of the night?"
His answer was that no, he doesn't have any kids. And his advice was that we educate our kids and make sure that they vote. Which is a fair enough answer, but not what I was looking for. I wanted to know his gut.
Then folks started picking up their coats and moving into the isles. Mike and I sat for a bit, and he patted my knee.
And they started coming, from this direction and that, a stream of older women -- pressing my hand and patting me on the shoulder and even giving me little hugs.
"Yes," they said, and "Are you okay?" and "Well, honey" and little murmurs and of this and that. It was wonderful and a little overwhelming. A woman of about my age, but in much nicer clothes *g*, slipped her card into my hand, Elizabeth Dell, Great Lakes Regional Coordinator of the Citizen's Climate Lobby.
You'd think that I'd already be involved with the Citizen's Climate Lobby, but no. I just ... I didn't think I'd have the resolve to keep pecking away at something that I don't think will change. Perhaps hearing Titley, knowing that there are some very big players in the government who are concerned about this, makes me more willing to spend time and energy in adding my small voice.