Dear Grant Seekers,

In 2005, I was an Assistant Professor at Louisiana State University in the Environmental Sciences and Management graduate program when Hurricane Katrina made landfall; forever changing the lives of my family, students, neighbors, and community. Many of us have experienced extreme climate events firsthand.

Hurricanes, tornados, heatwaves, wildfire, droughts, freezing, extreme rain and flooding are becoming more frequent, may be of higher intensity or longevity, and are occurring in new areas. I now teach at UC Santa Barbara, in a community where we have experienced several extreme fire and debris flow events. Lives and hundreds of homes have been lost, and friends and neighbors are currently having their home insurance policies canceled, leaving us all to wonder about our security.

At UCSB, I’ve taught Environmental Sciences 14 times(!); every 6 months I update my lectures, and have been increasingly dismayed by the increases in temperature, CO2, and extreme weather events. When I first started teaching, many students didn’t believe global climate change (GCC) existed; a few years passed before all students believed in GCC and understood that it’s caused by greenhouse gas emissions. These days, we take care for our students emotional health while teaching because they are so distraught about GCC and are worried about what’s in store for their futures. Many feel hopeless and others are committed to create change.

Meanwhile, on the home front, my daughters and many of their friends are basing their family planning choices on the wisdom as to whether they should bring a child or children into the uncertain future caused by global climate change and extreme weather events. Because of these experiences, as a soon to be retiree, I plan on using my decades of knowledge to help us to guide our path toward lowering CO2 in the atmosphere and preparing communities for extreme weather.

I assume that you are on this website for similar reasons and you are a motivated, future-forward thinker who perhaps will pioneer solutions that address the source of the extreme climate events or that lessen their impacts. You’re in the right place! At the CO2 Foundation, we support evidence-based, innovative ideas that mitigate excess atmospheric CO2, expand awareness of societal risks of excess atmospheric CO2, and prepare communities for the resultant extreme climate events. We welcome you to submit a letter of inquiry to our Executive Director, Karen Wolfgang, via our portal.

Stephanie Moret, PhD, PG, LEG
Trustee, CO2 Foundation