Colton’s Story

Feb 1, 2023 | How humans are affected, Worried

Title

Colton’s Climate Story

Name

Colton Sheehan

Place

La Rancha, Dominican Republic

How are you sensing climate change?

Coming from a town in Virginia, climate change was never at the forefront of the conversation. During high school, however, I spent my spring breaks in a homestay in rural Dominican Republic. While there, I learned about how these farmers who had lived there for their entire lives were having to adapt their food growth to an increasingly arid climate. Despite not contributing significantly to the causes of climate change, they were having to uproot their ways of life to adapt to it.

How do these changes make you feel?

I think these changes make me feel worried. Climate change is an immediate issue that is not treated that way in the United States, despite the clear impact that is being seen in places like California.

Collection

 

Citation

 

La Rancha, Dominican Republic

When the Weather Comes in With You

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Almost In-between

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AC: Air Conditioning or A Climate Crisis | Tampa, FL

Editor's Note: All Images were provided by the author. Ellen Hu (University of Pennsylvania) I will always remember the exact moment when the AC broke in my suburban home. It was around pi time, 3:14 p.m., on a Saturday, and everyone else in my family was taking naps...
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Christmas’ Fireplace

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There’s Nowhere Quite Like California

Editor's Note: All images were provided by the author. Jonathan Ling (University of Pennsylvania) Dear ten-year-old Jonathan, California always has a way of surprising you. I’ll tell you right now that you have it really good in California, and I know it doesn’t seem...
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Putting the WE in Wednesdays

It’s been a summer of climate chaos. It’s time to organize and build solidarities. I’m putting the WE into Wednesdays this fall.

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Hurricanes and What Home Became

Photo Credit: Alex Georgiev, View From Author's Home in Central Florida Alex Georgiev (University of Pennsylvania) When I think about climate change, what comes to mind is not statistics or politics. What comes to mind is sitting in my parents’ bathroom on a blow-up...
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Meet the New Voices Behind The Next Chapter

Welcome to The Next Chapter! As we begin this new phase of My Climate Story, we wanted to introduce ourselves: the three student research interns who will be helping bring this project to life. We are all undergraduate students at the University of Pennsylvania, and...
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Transforming Climate Education: Campus Climate Correspondents and Writing Sprints

This first of two posts about transformational climate education introduces the project’s Campus Correspondents pilot program which trained undergraduate reporters from 12 North American campuses.

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Launching “The Next Chapter,” the MCS blog

“The Next Chapter” introduces a new phase in our climate story. We’re soft launching this MCS project blog in this summer of 2026 with a showcase of college students’ stories about climate’s impacts on their lives today-and about how it’s changing their future hopes and expectations,

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