A New Way to Cope With the Climate Crisis

By Peyton Haug

“There are as many stories in this classroom today as there are students sitting here. And I would love to give each one of you a voice to tell your stories, and for your voice to feel permitted.”

Whether it was teaching at private high schools and middle schools or community colleges, lifelong teacher Phil Fitzpatrick would tell his students the same bit. Now, he is expanding the sentiment to the social justice scene in Duluth.

After a successful career of teaching English, being an avid birder, outdoorsman and advocate for others, Fitzpatrick is writing poetry — though it isn’t just about putting words onto paper. It is about using syntax to start important conversations about the social issues we face today and also to appreciate what we still have.

Just within the past few years, Fitzpatrick has become a published author. He has released a variety of books, poetry collections and even articles that speak to various aspects of life. Some of his most notable works include Hawks on High, an ode to the acclaimed bird observatory Hawk Ridge here in Duluth, A Beautiful Friendship, a book about his passion for golf, Catharsis, a short story about two brothers on a canoeing trip and The Urge For Going, another short story featured in the book Going Coastal: An Anthology of Lake Superior Short Stories.

Alongside fellow poet and friend, John Herold, Fitzpatrick has brought together a group of artists who share the same passion for poetry as well as climate justice. They call themselves the “Climate Emergency Poets.”

Even though Fitzpatrick’s writings seem to crescendo into the past few years, the inspiration and skillset didn’t simply happen overnight.

It all started in a small suburb outside of St. Paul, Minnesota. At the time, Fitzpatrick’s family lived on the “undeveloped” end of the neighborhood. He and his three younger brothers were granted all of the access to the outdoors a kid could dream of. For young Fitzpatrick, it was a childhood filled with endless open fields, homemade tow ropes for skiing and a whole lot of the Northern woods.

“It was an idyllic childhood … bird feeders, camping trips, binoculars always out in the living room, a pond below the house with all kinds of wildlife in it. Dad knew his trees, mom knew her flowers…” Fitzpatrick said.

During this time and up until attending college, Fitzpatrick was still unsure what his true calling was. He knew he had a passion for two things: nature, and life.

“I wanted to be a scientist like my brothers,” Fitzpatrick said. His younger brothers are still scientists today — one at the Cornell ornithology lab, another at the Carpenter Nature Center in the Twin Cities and the third as an educator in geography and mapping software. To say the least, science was supposed to be in his blood. In many ways, it can be argued that it is a good thing it turned out not to be.

He was admitted into the prestigious Harvard University, first as an oceanography major and then a biology major. Dinosaur digs and rattlesnake hunting are some of the things the course rigor entailed, though Fitzpatrick is quick to insert that “any hunting” is something he isn’t proud of.

For Fitzpatrick, the classic cliché “the third time’s the charm” rang true in terms of his career path. Ultimately, his “ADHD-ridden brain” told him that numbers naturally aren’t his thing.

“I figured, if you like nature, you can always go to nature,” Fitzpatrick said. “You don’t have to be a biologist to enjoy nature.”

He subsequently turned to pursuing and earning an English degree. Shortly thereafter, he started teaching. When asked if there were any students he still kept in contact with after retiring back in 2010, he was quick to reply with a substantial list of people, even dating as far back as 1968. Some even have hand-written report cards they kept from him.

To say some of their first impressions of Fitzpatrick are unique is an understatement. John Whittier-Ferguson, who is now an English Professor at the University of Michigan, first had Fitzpatrick in class at the Wilmington Friends School in Delaware and later on as a mentor while student teaching.

Whittier-Ferguson recalls an experience in “Phil’s” (he had them call him by his first name) high school class, where, after being fifteen minutes Fitzpatrick made quite the entrance.

“This thing (Phil) entered the room,” Whittier-Ferguson said. “He is on all fours. He’s got a bunch of wood under his arm and is kind of crawling around, growling and snarling at all of us. Then, he performs the entire speech that Calaban gives in the Tempest.”

In more serious cases, some of Fitzpatrick’s past students go as far as to give him credit for being where they are today. Peter Keleman was a part of the group of students who took a canoe trip with Fitzpatrick in the Boundary Waters during summer vacation. Currently, he is a professor at Columbia University’s Department of Earth and Environmental Sciences — all “thanks to Phil’’ he said.

“There is no doubt that Phil started me on this path with the skills and confidence I gained from that canoe trip,” Keleman said.

After teaching in a variety of states, such as North Carolina and Delaware, Minnesota inevitably became the permanent location. Starting at private schools in the Twin Cities, and ending up at community college on the Mesabi Range, Fitzpatrick wouldn’t have it any other way.

“Kids are kids. It doesn’t matter whether it is public or private (schooling) until somebody else makes it matter” Fitzpatrick said.

Every day, he made over an hour-long commute to teach in Virginia, Minnesota. When there was time to spend outside of the job exploring other hobbies, it was almost always utilized by writing. Smaller projects, such as movie and book reviews, as well as sports writings are what took up the little time that was left from the demanding job. The writing was certainly more than a hobby; it was his way of life.

The Climate Emergency Group aims to provide a lever to have a conversation about living in a world undergoing a climate crisis.

“We would like to get more and more people, first of all, listening, then thinking about what is going on with the climate and maybe even taking local action” Fitzpatrick said.

According to Jamie Ratliff, the arts in general have always played a crucial role in activism. Ratliff is Co-Director of the Prøse Art Gallery in downtown Duluth and instructor at UMD’s Department of Art and Design.

“Art is one of the ways people can participate in civil society,” Ratliff said. “It is about having a voice to speak back to power structures.”

With the controversies regarding the climate that have been developing here in Minnesota, there couldn’t have been a better time to start the conversation and more importantly, to act.

Stine Myrah, an anthropology student at the University of Minnesota Duluth and member of the Minnesota Public Interest Research Group (MPIRG), speaks to the importance of having such outlets in our community.

“Humans in America tend to be apathetic. It is a lack of connection,” Myrah said. “So art is a really good way to evoke emotion and to get people engaged, excited and appreciative about things.”

While in the early stages of forming the Climate Emergency Poet group, Fitzpatrick and Herold discussed the intended mood and atmosphere of the readings. In the midst, Herold shared that he “didn’t want it to be a downer.” Conversely, Fitzpatrick said “well, I don’t want it to be a bogus upper either.”

The outlook of life for upcoming generations is one of the main themes when it comes to the Climate Emergency Poets. According to the Environmental Protection Agency, the Earth’s average temperature has risen approximately 1 degree Fahrenheit in just the past 20 years. As surface temperatures continue to rise, effects become more substantial and all too real. Climate activists respectively are getting younger as hope for a sustainable world in even the near future weakens. Greta Thunberg was only 15 years old when she gained international recognition for striking in response to the Swedish government’s climate targets. Urging those of other countries to do the same in terms of their governments, Friday’s for Future was born, where students all over the world skipped Friday classes to urge officials to take serious action.

It is no question that there are many obstacles to overcome for those who are a part of the global climate movements. Although seeking a diverse group of voices is certainly on the agenda, in a lot of ways, the culture surrounding climate justice still struggles to be inclusive.

“People are partial to their jobs,” Fitzpatrick said. “It is easier said than done to say we are all in this together. It is unfair to the disadvantaged, marginalized communities.”

In hopes of expanding the size and participation of the group, as well as reaching out to those in global warming’s immediate path, Herold and Fitzpatrick are turning to students. Myrah is one of them.

“They have been working really hard at bringing attention through poetry,” Myrah said. “It is also a recharge moment in coming together and appreciating those of us who are in the movement and working on different things, as well as being an avenue to get exposed to [climate justice] and get excited about it.”

You can find information on both the group and meeting times on the Climate Emergency Poetry Facebook page. Since social distancing protocols are still in place due to COVID-19, the group meets on Zoom.

Gatherings don’t have set expectations, as all are welcome. It is not assumed that each attendee is equipped with Shaksperian masterpieces or superlative sonnets. Members can be those who simply appreciate poetry and climate justice, or want to learn more.

“Liking to listen or read poetry — in some cases learning to — is half the battle,” Fitzpatrick said with a chuckle.