Greetings from a Recovering Climate Pessimist
Dear fellow friends of Oregon,
My name is Sam Pape. Nice to meet you! I’m the new Communications and Marketing Coordinator at OEC. I started in an interim role back in February, and was thrilled to recently accept a permanent, full-time position. In other words: I’m here to stay!
I’ve called Oregon my home my whole life. Growing up, I spent my summers camping around the state with family and friends, getting to know the boundless beauty of the beaches, mountains, and sky.
After high school, I skipped out on the traditional college experience to travel the U.S. playing music. I spent the better part of my twenties doing just that, exploring the country from coast to coast, covering thousands of miles at a time. But 48 states and a decade later, nothing’s ever compared to Oregon.
During our many tours in 2010’s, we got a rare, sometimes frighteningly front-row glimpse of how the American landscape was changing: massive wildfires forced us to reroute; beloved swim spots dried up in drought; and the heat became harder and harder to bear (our van’s perpetually finicky AC didn’t help, to be fair).
The crisp, drizzly air and temperate temperatures of the PNW used to always bring a sense of deep relief after months on the road. But then the extremes arrived in our own backyard. The air thickened with smoke. The temperatures soared. Our once taken-for-granted oasis away from what was happening “everywhere else” was suddenly a microcosm of the problem itself. This — coupled with countless horrifying, heartbreaking scenes of disaster across the globe — led me to a place I’m not proud to admit…
I became a climate pessimist.
Many (maybe most) of us are familiar with The Dread. It’s hard to avoid from time to time, given the gravity of the situation. But I wallowed in it. I let it consume me. The enormity felt too insurmountable, and the stakes too high, for me to believe there was anything I could do to help. It was easier to go through life pointing the finger elsewhere, feeling sorry for humanity and just trying to. Not. Think. About. It.
But that all changed when my son was born 22 months ago.
Watching him wonder at the everyday marvels of life for the first time — a muddy puddle’s splash, a budding bush, a bumblebee’s buzz, a cloud gliding by — has been the ultimate reminder of all that’s at stake. Every time his eyes light up at the natural world, it reignites in me not only a sense of urgency to do something to save it, but also a much needed wave of optimism: optimism from the fact that the planet, in all its majesty and mundanity, exists at all, and that we exist to experience it. That’s reason enough to have hope.
I want Yves to be able to experience Oregon the way I did growing up. I want him to look toward his future with a sense of opportunity, not uncertainty. I want him to one day witness the same sense of wonder in his own children that I see in him now.
And so: here I am, a born-again climate optimist at OEC! I couldn’t be prouder of the work that we do. Helping make a difference for not only my child, but for everyone else whose futures depend on the decisions we make today, is the best job I could ask for. There’s nowhere I’d rather be.
Thank you so much for being a part of our mission. To all our children —
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