Tomorrow — Wednesday, March 1 — at the Roxy Theater in Missoula, from 6 to 8 p.m., adventurer Jonathan Waterman will talk and present his photographs from his “Journey Down the Colorado: Changes in Western Rivers.”  Sponsors include New Belgium Brewing and Climate Smart Missoula.

Waterman is the author of several award-winning books. He spent five months and traveled 1,450 miles paddling from the Colorado’s source to the sea. He will talk about how drying rivers are caused by climate change and population growth and what we can expect in the future.

Admission is free, and you get a free New Belgium beer! Contact sebovard@gmail.com if you have questions.

On another subject, I was struck recently by an interactive map put out by Yale University that compares different parts of the United States and their opinions on climate change. I thought to myself, in spite of all the bad news, we’re finally getting somewhere. The map includes a county-by-county look at Montana attitudes and is really quite reinforcing:

http://climatecommunication.yale.edu/visualizations-data/ycom-us-2016/

Also, you may have heard that last Friday a committee in the Montana House of Representatives failed to pass (on an 8-to-8 tie) HB 504, the bill that would have greatly expanded solar energy development in Montana. One of the bill’s sponsors, Republican Adam Rosendale, actually voted against his own bill in committee. Missoula Republican Adam Hertz deserves a high five for voting for the bill. We failed, but I wanted to share with you what happened in Illinois when a large coalition of environmentalists, labor supporters, and social justice organizers worked together on a Future Energy Jobs Package:

https://ourfuture.org/20161202/clean-energy-victory-in-il-shows-we-can-still-win-in-the-age-of-trump

I hope we put together that kind of winning formula in Montana soon.

Finally, since we’re talking about winning formulas, I wanted to share the Labor Network for Sustainability’s article about what happens when we reject those who want to divide Americans and work together:

http://www.labor4sustainability.org/uncategorized/how-labor-and-climate-united-can-trump-trump/

This is an article doesn’t pull any punches and, I believe, establishes a winning combination. We can move Montana’s legislature beyond failure and into policies that work. I hope you give it a read.

Jeff Smith, co-chair, 350 Montana