In the Western United States right now multiple fires burn in Alaska, California, Idaho, and other states, all of which follows on the heels of 2021 where over one and a half million acres of forests were lost in California alone.  Over 5 million acres of forests have been lost in California since 2017, which is something that had not happened in the state previously for at least 250 years.  However, this year fires are also burning in France, Portugal, and Spain and in many other places throughout the world.

In 2021 parts of the Western United States and Canada recorded some of the hottest temperatures since governments in that area of the world started to keep record, and since the beginning of summer in 2022 Europe has been experiencing record heat in multiple countries.  Outlier weather events are no longer remaining the exception, and instead are starting to become common.

Greenville, California was a small but thriving community surrounded by a beautiful forest in the Northern Sierras, but because of the continuing destabilization of the climate Greenville is now a decimated community.  In 2021 the Dixie Fire passed through the town on its march through the Sierras, and in its wake much of the town was left in ashes.  For now, the Dixie Fire remains the second worst fire in California’s history with 963,309 acres consumed during the disaster.  It is unclear if a forest will ever grow back to replace the one lost, and while the town struggles on the predominate sound heard in Greenville is the sound of death: silence.

All of which is a reminder that the time for hydrogen education is now as is implementing a global hydrogen economy. This is why Horizon Educational’s H2GP competition is so essential to the success of young people.  Not only is it preparing them for careers in mission critical industries like that of battery and fuel cell electric vehicles, but it also gives them knowledge with which to make informed decisions as consumers.

But even adults can make healthy climate choices whether by replacing a current fossil fuel vehicle with a FCEV, like the Mirai or Nexo, or by converting homes to off-grid sanctuaries using fuel cells purchased from the Fuel Cell Shop. By using renewable energy and implementing a successful global hydrogen economy adults can begin to create a regenerative world, that is, a world that future generations can call home.