As I write this article, it is the beginning of August 2021, and I have stopped guiding for the time being in the Plumas National Forest. This summer, we experienced multiple record heat waves in the Lost Sierra when weather phenomena known as heat domes parked themselves over the western United States. Two major wildfires, the Beckwourth Complex and the Dixie Fire, have wreaked havoc on the forest and the communities that lie within it. Water temperatures on the Middle Fork of the Feather began approaching dangerously warm levels for trout during June, the hottest on record. What is happening? And what can be done to mitigate these problems?
As a former electrical engineer, I believe in science. A USA Today article dated July 8, 2021, offers the headline, “The Heat Wave in the West ‘Virtually Impossible’ without Climate Change.” The article states that “leading scientists . . . said global warming made extreme temperatures at least 150 times more likely to occur.” Being an optimist, I believe there is always something positive we can do. All problems have a solution, including this one, if we are willing to strategize and act. My view is we must act as a society, and I must act as an individual.
Since 2015, I have researched ways to reduce my impact on the environment, especially as related to my work as an Orvis-endorsed fly-fishing guide in Northern California. At the Orvis Guide Rendezvous in Missoula, Montana, in 2016, I learned that one easy way to improve is to stop using plastic water bottles on guide dates, replacing them with reusable bottles. This was an easy, albeit modest first step in reducing my impact on the environment.
In February 2021, Brooks Scott from Emerger Strategies contacted me to see if I was interested in joining the Fly Fishing Climate Alliance (FFCA) to reduce my carbon footprint and achieve carbon neutrality. (A carbon footprint is the total amount of greenhouse gases emitted into the atmosphere directly and indirectly to support human activities, expressed as equivalent tons of carbon dioxide. Carbon neutrality refers to achieving net-zero carbon dioxide emissions.) I set a meeting with Brooks and Emerger Strategies founder Rick Crawford to explore how a partnership might help me achieve these goals. After learning more about the mission of the FFCA and what is involved, I jumped at the opportunity to make difference.
The first step involved establishing the carbon footprint of my guide business by creating a greenhouse gas inventory. I worked with Brooks and Rick to examine all aspects of my business practices, including the energy needs of my home office, carbon dioxide created from purchasing and shipping new fly-fishing gear for my guiding business, waste generated and processed during guide dates, and travel for me and my clients. After I input my information into a spreadsheet based on the Greenhouse Gas (GHG) Protocol Corporate Accounting Standard, I received a report placing my 2020 carbon footprint at approximately 8.2 metric tons. (For more information please refer to this web link: https://emergerstrategies.com/ mike-pease-adventures-becomes-californias-1st-carbon-neutral-fly-fishing-guide.)
I learned through this process that most of my guiding-related greenhouse gas emissions, 82 percent, come from transportation — from my own driving for guiding and scouting waters, as well as from the driving that my clients do in separate vehicles. Knowing this, I have set a goal to purchase an electric truck so that I can significantly reduce my footprint in the future. In addition, 15 percent of my guiding-related greenhouse gas emissions come from utilities and 3 percent from guiding equipment.
The next step was to figure out how to neutralize my carbon footprint. I worked with a company called Cool Effect (https://www.cooleffect.org) that offers a portfolio of projects around the world to mitigate carbon in the atmosphere. I was drawn to a project in Guatemala titled Where Trees Save the Seas. The project reduces emissions by preventing deforestation caused by the conversion of forests into cropland and pasture in order to save the coastal ecosystem. I purchased enough carbon offsets to alleviate my carbon footprint and thus achieved carbon neutrality.
When I spend time on the streams and lakes of Northern California, I feel blessed that I can call it my home. As I continue on this journey to diminish my impact on the environment, my hope is that more of us will consider our impact on the planet. With wildfires and summer temperatures in California increasing each year, I encourage all of us to do our part to raise awareness about global warming and to work to turn this crisis around.
What You Can Do: How to Reach “Drawdown”
Project Drawdown (found at https://drawdown.org) seeks a comprehensive approach to help the world to reach “Drawdown,” which is “the point in the future when levels of greenhouse gases in the atmosphere stop climbing and start to steadily decline, thereby stopping catastrophic climate change — as quickly, safely, and equitably as possible.” By searching out organizations and programs such as this to learn from and support, we can each play a part in solving the global warming crisis.
— Mike Pease
