If you spend any time with The Driller, you’ve likely seen or heard us use the words “climate” and “change” — increasingly one right after the other, like this: “climate change.” See what happened right there? Half of you clicked back to ESPN.com or your preferred silo of a news site. For those who stuck around, thanks. Congratulate yourselves. Your open minds leave you open to opportunity.

First, a bit of justification. I, personally, am not a meteorologist, climatologist or even a hydrologist. I leave that important work to the experts who spend years studying that stuff. But I do live in a world and make amateur observations with my own eyes. Just in the last 10 years, in separate incidents:

• A powerful thunderstorm brought high winds and hail to my area, downing a maple in our yard and damaging our roof and garage.
• A “100-year” storm in my area overwhelmed every stitch of infrastructure meant to channel it. Water waist deep rushed down the middle of my street and our basement filled with sewage as the sanitary system buckled under the pressure. Most everything in the basement was a loss, including the furnace, washer and dryer, and water tank. We set up a bleaching station on the driveway for items we could potentially save. It took weeks to clean and months to rebuild. In two weeks, trash collectors removed as much material from our little city as they would in a typical year.
• A different 100-year storm, just a 2-hour drive north, overwhelmed not one, but two dams, sending a dangerous surge downriver. With a relative in the path of the floodwaters, our family chipped in to help. It took almost 2 years to clean up, remediate and rebuild the home. This was one of thousands of homes affected.

I know what you’re thinking: Weather isn’t climate. That’s the same logical fallacy used by many who reject climate change: How can the planet be warming if they just got record snows in Colorado? Correct. These weather events, however extreme, don’t necessarily add up to climate change. However I want you to ask yourself, when small talk turns to the weather these days, why do so many people have similar experiences? Why is it so common now to have these types of adverse weather experiences?

My experiences definitely influence how I think on the issue of climate change. Your experiences may influence you in a different way. That’s fine. But you will see climate change coverage in The Driller, and you will see and hear us call it that. We hope you stick around, even if you think differently. Having the discussion is important and we both may learn something.

Now, on to the opportunity I mentioned. We’ve talked often about geothermal and other strategies folks who believe in climate change use to cut carbon emissions and (hopefully) mitigate some of the associated risks. Some great recent examples:

• What is Drilling’s Place in a Carbon-Free Future?
• Episode 58 – The Driller Newscast: It’s Time to Drill Geothermal
• Episode 60 – The Driller Newscast: Rising to Meet Upcoming Geothermal Drilling Demand
• Episode 66 – The Driller Newscast: Building the Workforce in Geothermal, Other Drilling

Give them a read or listen. You don’t really need to believe in climate change to get something out of them, either. Even if you don’t, many people do and act accordingly. That means more geothermal installs as people look for effective, low-carbon and carbon-less heating and cooling options. That means huge subsidies and incentives for this type of work, at both the federal and state levels. I believe I know an opportunity when I see one.

Stay safe out there, drillers.