Over time, my blogs marked emotional moments in my journey: from frustration with our politicians’ insistence on maintaining the status quo to the death of my first climate mentor on unexpected thin Arctic ice and battles with media outlets who fanned the flames of climate denial. Through blogging, I had an outlet to write about climate change with emotion – a writing style that was repressed in me since I began my career as a scientist over two decades ago but I now realize is an essential way to create public engagement.
Through emotion, interest in my blog grew from less than 300 readers in the first month to over 2,500 readers per blog to date and I gained more resolve to “fight the good fight”. It’s been a privilege to participate in some small way to a growing movement of Irish climate activism that culminated with over 5,000 people marching in Dublin earlier this month and some even braving rough seas and official detainment to march in Paris last week.