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August 4, 2016
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# David Kowalski
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BY KELSEY SANDRA ABLES
After a rejuvenating retreat to the Adirondack Mountains,
environmentalist David Kowalski came back to reality: a severe
drought in Bualo and a high-stakes election looming on the
horizon. We met in his Synder home on yet another unmercifully
hot July morning. Sitting before a wall covered in childrens
drawings of pastoral scenes and placid lakes, Kowalski spoke
fervently and gravely about the intergenerational injustice that
is climate change.
As a former biochemist and cancer research scientist, Kowalski
has a knack for citing precise statistics and can deftly navigate the
scientic arguments that verify climate change and support
renewable energy. As a nature-lover, Kowalski traces his
motivations to ght ardently for climate justice back to his
visceral love of the outdoors. And lastly, as a grandparent, he
feels a moral obligation to his children and grandchildren from
whom we borrow the Earth.
After a series of fortuitously timed events in the mid-2000s, the
thought of passing on this polluted and overheated world to
[his] children and grandchildren became unbearable. Kowalskis
erce ght for climate justice actually began with his son who,
upon returning from college in Vermont, told him it was time to
toss the gas-guzzling Jeep and asked to change all the light bulbs
in their house to LEDs. Shortly after, the United Nations 2006
Report on Climate Change stirred Kowalski to think more about
the implications of climate change. More politically aware than
before and with the 2008 primary election approaching, Kowalski
accompanied his son and his sons classmates to New Hampshire
and watched as they educated the public about climate change.
Inspired by these young activists, he thought he should join the
ght, as well.
Now one of the most outspoken environmentalists in Bualo,
Kowalski began engaging with politicians and writing to
representatives asking them to step up. For me that was a
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Amidst the chaos at the Capitol on that June day, a security guard
turned to Kowalski and said this is the way democracy is
supposed to work. Being a part of a democracy means that even
if we are ultimately subject to the forces of corporations and
government, we can join together in an eort to inuence the
decisions and actions of those larger bodies
Its the reality of greed vs. peopleits an old theme but that
theme is getting more and more entrenched, says Kowalski,
they [fossil fuel industry] do this for their own survival because
their ideology is based on the free market and prot and
continued economic growth and we only have one planet we
cant grow continuously forever.
Environmentalists have no desire punish people who work in the
fossil fuel industry. In fact, they are very concerned that those
aected by the switch to renewables nd meaningful work to
replace lost jobs. The goal is Climate Justice for all. Expanding
on the Climate Justice idea, Kowalski advocates for a just
transition for workers. He cites whats going on in the west side
of bualo [as] a good example. They are training people there to
weatherize. In Bualo, theres certainly plenty of work for that.
We had this done to our house years ago, said Kowalski,
insulation, double pane windows, steel doors that are insulated,
light bulbs that use less energy. Kowalski even argues that the
transition to renewables will both replace lost jobs and create
more jobs.
Asked if the goal is to completely eliminate fossil fuels, Kowalski
said, its hard right now from the point were at to say completely
eliminate [fossil fuels] but certainly we can greatly reduce
People are calling for 100% by 2050. Kowalski calls this a loser
goal because 2050 is far away. The ght for climate justice could
always use more voices to speed up the change. Kowalski is on
the board at the Sierra Club Niagara Group and also is on the
planning committee for the Climate Justice Coalition of Western
New York, who he does communications for. He encourages
individuals interested in either group to get involved. The Sierra
Club has many dierent opportunities including a writers group
as well as an energy and climate group that focuses specically
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