It’s with a mixture of emotions I write my final Letter from the Executive Director. Anyone who knows me knows I wear my heart on my sleeve, which means there is no shortage of tears and smiles as I look back at a truly great ride here at Climate Generation with all of you.
What I know in my core is how deeply I am going to miss connecting with our partners, staff, Board and Advisory Board, and most importantly our circle of supporters—YOU—who have been our “fuel”; electric, of course, knowing many of you have been here for the entire time I have been running Climate Generation! While I don’t know what is next professionally, I do know I am going to relish this time I have with my seven-month-old daughter; I am so thankful to have become a mother last year, a dream that took awhile to fulfill and brings me so much joy.
I also know that the climate crisis is the issue of our lives and I am committed to continuing this work in new ways wherever I land next. You can read my reflections on this moment in the climate movement here.
Meanwhile, the work at Climate Generation continues: our Teach Climate Network continues to meet teachers’ needs with speakers on current themes in education each month; our recently developed supplemental discussion guides for the film After Antarctica are available for free download; our YEA! program is preparing for its annual Youth Climate Justice Summit in February; and our staff and Board are preparing for change and leadership transitions with contract support, including an Interim Executive Director who will join the organization in February. Going forward you will hear from our Senior Directors, Denise and Kristen, who will provide updates on what is happening in the organization.
As our founder Will Steger shared in his recent blog, there is still work to do in this urgent decade. I hope to see some of you—masks on, doors open—at our Open House in our Minneapolis office on Monday, January 31, between 11am–2pm; stop by and wish Will and I well as we say goodbye to Climate Generation.
In gratitude and (as Will always says) onward,
Nicole Rom, Executive Director