To Make Change You Have to Make Fun by Annika Mannix

“It’s not worth it if it isn’t fun – Elizabeth Woods, 6/16/25 

On Monday, we departed our campsite in Roundup and headed to Elizabeth Woods’s house, a five minute ride that took closer to fifteen minutes and three tries to get to the right address. When we arrived we heard, “You made it! Right here!” Tucked in a porch shrouded by greenery, an 82-year old Elizabeth stepped into our vision. Pushing through hip-high grasses and avoiding her garden, we rested our bikes in the back. Elizabeth arranged chairs in a circle, offered us muffins, clementines, and coffee. The milk had a thick layer of cream on top and the honey came from an unlabeled jar.

We looked at her eagerly as she told us her favorite success story, a time in her life when she had a lot of fun. “The New Western Energy Show” took place in the summers of the mid-1970’s: the traveling group was composed of Elizabeth, her husband, and friends. They traveled rural Montana teaching people about alternative energy systems in a fun way. They baked cookies with a solar oven, built solar collectors for each town, put on plays about alternative energy, and wore handmade costumes. People found what they were doing “cute,” not threatening nor the polarized topic it is today.

Elizabeth spoke with passion and a touch of nostalgia. She hoped she made some impact in the towns they passed through. Was all her life’s work worth it? Elizabeth is a writer and environmental advocate. She reflected on that question a few times during our conversation. I think it certainly was — hearing her story filled me with excitement. She reflects fondly on her work. And now she’s sharing it with us, young and impressionable college students, many of us unsure what we want to do with our environmental studies-related degrees. No matter the path we take, we must have fun. 

Reflecting on conversations we’ve had with other guest speakers, I find myself worrying about having fun while doing environmental work. I continue to struggle with the obligation I feel to make meaningful change: how can we do this when we sometimes feel we’re the only ones trying to minimize impact on the planet? I’m often in places and with people who care about climate change, but don’t feel like their individual impact matters. Their fears are too overwhelming and sad, so they’d rather avoid the conversation. So, I’ve been reflecting on how to make earth-related topics more enjoyable in my circles at home. It will start as having my roommates compost and growing my own herbs or convincing my family to invest in rooftop solar. I hope it can become bigger: helping my entire school manage waste better and influencing my hometown to put solar over parking lots!

I’ve pinpointed what drives me to engage my time into environmental issues: I love the earth; I find great joy in moving my body outside and taking in fresh air. Due to this love, I’ve developed a passion for protecting the earth through renewable energy, specifically wind energy. My earliest memory of wind energy was in 7th grade when I did a science project on the Block Island Wind Farm (the first offshore wind farm in the US) off the coast of Rhode Island. I spend a lot of time in RI and at night I’m often able to see the five blinking red lights at the top of each turbine. Ever since, I’ve been fascinated by it.

On Wednesday, we rode to the Judith Gap Wind Farm. I was struck by the turbine’s size the closer we got. Mary Beth told us about the turbine’s origin story and its continued success. The farm became the first wind farm in Montana when it went online in 2007. This year, the 90 turbines have generated a total of 215.63 GWh of electricity! Technicians Steven and Wyatt showed us their safety gear and answered all our questions, then took us inside a turbine. Rest assured I was grinning ear to ear!

Back to Elizabeth – my favorite quote from our conversation was, “People need to have more parties.” She continued to tell us that we, as young environmentalists, need to throw the bigger and better parties! As I continue to ride through Montana, I’m going to be thinking about the amazing pro-earth parties I’ll throw when I’m back home – in the meantime I can’t wait to keep discovering fun throughout this cycling journey with this incredible group of students!