So many of us live in cities, and are so removed from nature. I grew up in Athens, Ohio, surrounded by woods. Behind our house were three forested ridges separated by streams; my entire childhood was spent playing in those woods and on those hills. I called the middle one the “lizard’s back” because it started up from the creek bed, like a tail. It grew into a long winding ridge, and ended in what, to my brother and me, looked like the head of a lizard.

My relationship to the natural world was formed playing in those hills, but I was equally influenced in those years by the emergence of the environmental movements that shaped how governments created protections for cleaner air and water, and for endangered species. Growing up, I was extremely aware of how the actions of one species, mankind, was having such a damaging effect on the environment. These sentiments and concerns I still carry with me, but with climate change threatening the planet and us, it has become a more and more urgent issue for me.

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