Spotlight: Franklin Wu

August 26, 2019

Describe the first time you felt a strong affinity for nature?

The first time I felt really amazed and connected to nature was my first trip to a national park.  About 5 years ago, I visited Yosemite national park and fell in love with the beauty of nature and started understanding the need to protect these amazing treasures.  Being surrounded by land that had gone nearly untouched by man was unlike anything I had ever seen before.  Living in a large city like Houston, my interaction with nature was minimal.  The towering rocks and mountains, trees as tall as skyscrapers and pinecones twice the size of a human hand seemed like a fairytale land come to life.  It was not hard to understand the impact that the same sights had on President Roosevelt when he was camping with John Muir.  Yosemite opened my eyes to the nature around us, but also brought to my attention that these lands are being threatened by our very own actions.  

Describe a time you participated at a Sierra Club event?  What did you do and what motivated you to participate?

The first time I heard about the Sierra Club was in a documentary about John Muir during my trip to Yosemite.  I joined the Sierra Club after reading that they needed a volunteer for their data systems.  I had previous experience with data and volunteered to help out.  I joined one of their monthly meetings to find more about the organization and I was happy to find a community that was receptive and that shared a universal goal to preserve the earth we all live on.   I recently participated in the Sierra Club’s Equity, Inclusion, and Justice workshop and it was inspiring because I think utilizing and sharing those guiding principles are an integral part of the climate change discussion.

What kind of activity or activities would you like to see the Houston Sierra Club to do more of and why?

Youth are leading the charge towards a sustainable earth.  Our voice and power both as individuals and as a collective group shatter the idea that age is a barrier to change.  I would like to be able to increase youth involvement in the Sierra Club and bring more awareness and action to events in Houston.  We live in an amazing city and we are at a time and a place where we can make positive change a reality.

What environmental message do you have for young people?

I would tell people my age that we have a voice and have the power to enact the change we envision.  The status quo is changing and there has been an unprecedented paradigm shift towards this climate movement.  Rather than sitting at home all day, youth are leading demonstrations and demanding that we see change.  It is up to us to clean up the mess past generations have left for us to fix and to follow the call to action – it is time for the rise of youth.  Change starts here and starts with us.

What are your favorite Hiking or Camping trails?
 
I am not an avid hiker or camper but some of my favorite places to explore have been the tide pools in Acadia National Park, the Narrows in Zion National Park, and the hoodoos at Goblin Valley State Park.  Each of these places hold amazing sights that have taken millions of years to form.  We have to protect these irreplaceable marvels so that they can continue to be enjoyed by future generations in person and not just as historical memories. 
 
 Are you concerned with the environment? If so, what do you think is the biggest issue?
 
The concern, and our call to action, is to act now to tackle climate change.   Hurricane Harvey would mark the third year in a row the city experienced a ‘500-year flood’ event.  We just experienced the hottest July ever recorded.  This is our new normal.  The concern of a changing climate goes beyond my own well-being and brings doubt to the sustainability of the human race as a whole.  Scientists around the globe have pointed out all the ways climate change could decimate mankind – from rising sea levels that would wipe out cities to the extinction of nearly half of all of coral reefs by the next decade. The reality is that the impacts of climate change will go beyond unseasonable warmth.  It’s scary to realize that there is a real possibility that Galveston, the island that I love to visit for weekend getaways, could be underwater in my lifetime.  Just like the city of Atlantis in our fairytales, underwater cities could be the remnants of a species that once lived on land.  We can still prevent this from happening, but time is running out and we cannot wait for someone else to take the lead. We must act now, all of us, and help to save the place we all call our home.