One of my good friends, Bill Barron, has dedicated his life to climate activism. I’ve done a few projects with Bill over the years. Well, a lot of projects, if you take into account drinking IPAs. My time with Bill is tinged with a kind of discomfort. I dabble. He is committed. And his commitment is daunting.
Bill is a Vermonter. He was a full-time patroller at Alta for four years and patrolled there part-time for two additional decades. He had a stint as the Alta town Sheriff too. He is a quiet guy, uncomfortable with public speaking or, frankly, conversational speaking. Which makes his activism all the more heroic. He speaks to groups, individuals, and politicians, many of whom are very much opposed to his perspective, and doing so draws him way outside his comfort zone. He ran for Congress three times. As a “Network Director,” Bill is pretty high up at the Citizens’ Climate Lobby, where he has volunteered and worked since 2010. The Citizens’ Climate Lobby is exactly what it sounds like—citizens lobbying our political systems on climate change solutions. His job is all about communication and relationship building. A few years back, he and I took a trip around rural Utah to talk and mostly to listen to folks in rural communities about how they see and experience the changing climate. It did get uncomfortable. Sometimes I could hardly stand it. Bill rode his bike from town to town.
