Local boy makes good

||| FROM DAN GOTTLIEB for CANOPY JAPAN |||

In 1989, I moved to Orcas because it was, and still is, a climate change refuge. I now live on Okinawa, in Japan for the exact opposite reason. I have, of course, maintained my home on island.

In 2026, so far, on Okinawa. we have had five typhoons, two earthquakes, a tsunami alert, numerous high wind alerts, numerous flood alerts, heat stroke alerts, and the occasional jellyfish warning.

With all this knowledge about climate change, why, you might wonder, would I move into one of the more rapidly developing danger zones formed by human induced climate change?

I moved to Orcas because I wanted out of Silicon Valley, and I wanted to write novels. The novels—all of them on climate change—were published from 2004, with the last of the “Galileo Series” published in 2015. I originally decided to live on Okinawa for part of the year so I could write another novel.

Publishing the books taught me that people don’t like to read much as they used to. Many dislike thought provoking novels. And they detest any media adding more angst to their lives. I also learned — because the books gave me credentials to access places I would have never had otherwise — why the rapidly developing climate problem continues unchecked.

So why jump down the gullet of the beast into its belly? A few reasons, I had an opportunity to start a company developing short form videos on climate change. I have a place to do the research on my new book at the Innovation Core here at the Okinawa Institute of Science and Technology. I wasn’t ready to retire. And the most compelling reason for me. I had to see what it (Climate Change) is now — first hand.

The last reason, is far from some kind of perverse eco-tourism. I am writing a new novel on climate change effects in Japan and Asia. The curious part of all this is the Shorts (Short Form Videos) look like they may become popular rather than just a chapter in a research project or a novel. Canopy Japan LLC has produced over forty Shorts on climate change, society’s responses, and frustration at the “machine” that spins propaganda against the topic of climate change. It appears popularity will follow, unlike the novels.

I guess the answer to the question of why I am living on Okinawa is not so simple: When a complex subject is served up with humor—or as a music video—more more people take it in. If enough people take the videos in, the tsunami of political will that develops from the visceral connection formed by the Shorts might just help us navigate our climate future with a bit more panache’.

The videos can be found here: https://canopyjapan.jp/en/canopy-studios/