Over 50 percent of Americans believe they won’t be personally affected by climate change. In reality, climate change influences an increasing number of extreme weather events around the world. Most every person has experienced at least one event in their lives that was exacerbated by climate change, and the Thomas Fire was the first time I really felt the sting of climate change in my life.

It is crucial for the general public to understand that climate science is not a distant and mysterious subject, but something that directly impacts their lives.

Transitioning from one career path to going back to graduate school and then trying to re-establish myself in another industry was terrifying. I felt enormous pressure to make the most of my internship.

Growing up, I never knew what mangroves were. In fact, whenever someone mentioned them, I thought they were talking about mangos. But of course they’re not tropical fruit. They’re coastal plants that live in the transition zone between the ocean and land and offer a wealth of services for both people and the environment. They are crucial in the fight against climate change.

Learning about what makes it so that a flash flood of equal magnitude in Brooklyn only inconvenienced some people, and yet similar floods in Nairobi, Kenya last month led to property damage and loss of life is vital to understanding what coping mechanisms are effective.