Last summer, I travelled the country with a $5,000 grant to expose myself not only to the problem of climate change, but the problems within the solution required to stop it.

On these trips, oftentimes the result of cold emails to federal agencies, authors, grant recipients, and coalition leaders, I didn’t say “climate change” a single time. Because, as it turns out, there is a lot of value in the energy transition beyond it being a response to a global problem.

I talked to veterans in Oregon, kids in Tennessee, seventh generation coal miners in West Virginia, and conservative legislators in Texas. The commonality: They are all the biggest advocates for clean energy she’s ever met, and for completely different reasons. There are thousands of stories like theirs. They are just not loud yet. 

I met Nick at the Conservative Energy Network’s conference in Houston. We text each other nearly every day. I diss his pro-Trump Instagram stories but find that we agree a lot about America’s current pain points. One thing we both agree fully on is the fact that the energy transition can heal these pain points and heal our Earth at the same time.

Meeting Nick was the best thing that could have happened as a result of my summer. Our constant political disagreement, but ultimate respect for each other and for this cause, embodies all of these sentiments from the summer in one single friendship

Some notes from visiting subjects last summer