by TNC staff
The voices of the youth movement are rising, calling on grown-ups to act now for our best shot at protecting the future we all face.
Our staff shared how their professional and personal lives merge when it comes to a safe and healthy future for the kids in our lives. Read on to learn how our sons and daughters, nephews and nieces challenge us, surprise us—and most of all inspire us.
I feel blessed with good health and the opportunities and beauty of the region I call home. I want my kids and grandkids to have those same privileges. Our inaction is robbing our kids of their future.
Think of the sacrifices we make so our children can prosper – the time, resources, effort we put into feeding, educating, keeping them safe. Why wouldn’t give just as much to ensure the direct and indirect impacts of climate change don’t undermine their prosperity?
- Bob Carey, strategic partnerships director
The smoky skies in Seattle scared me – will this be a normal summer sky when my daughter is my age? Our kids don’t deserve to inherit a dangerous planet. As her mom, my first job is to keep Hazel safe. I will fight with all I have to do that.
- Deborah Kidd, marketing manager
As a teen with Downs Syndrome, Chloe faces tough challenges every day for things we often take for granted, and yet she has the biggest heart and is constantly smiling. She doesn’t let anything stop her and inspires me to not give up when we face roadblock after roadblock – we have to continue to work on climate until the crisis is solved. I want her to keep smiling. She and Maddox deserve a bright future.
- Stephanie Williams, climate program specialist
Climate change is our collective responsibility across generations, and we can no longer act solely in our own interests and put the costs of dealing with the consequences on those who come after us.
Mats and Tessa and the generations to come deserve better, they deserve our action on climate change.
- Sandra Schuman, deputy director of philanthropy
Everyday, I see evidence of how my words and actions are modeled in the decision-making of my children, and I see how I have undertaken the crucial responsibility of serving as their first frame of reference on how much they should prioritize justice over peace, compassion over greed, and responsible stewardship over selfishness.
Climate action is important to me as a parent, because I want Theo and Juliet to be inspired and motivated for all their lives by a robust, human-centered, social response to an unprecedented crisis – and I am afraid of the society they’ll inherit if we don’t act.
- Justin Allegro, external affairs advisor
Climate action is how we teach our kids to be adaptive and resilient in all kinds of environments. Amalia and Joseph will have a very different planetary climate compared to me when they are adults, and I want them to be able to enjoy the same basic elements of life—like rain, snow, fire, wind, sunshine, soil and water.
- Stephanie Burgart, contracts and operations specialist
Years ago, when Evan was in kindergarten, we took a trip to the Olympic peninsula to visit the rainforest. We passed so much clear-cut land that he was worried we were too late; that the rainforest was already gone. It wasn’t. We hiked in an incredibly beautiful forest near Sol Duc. From then on, we have both committed to protecting our lands and waters for future generations.
- Cinthia Smith, major gifts manager
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