To our readers:

Today marks the start of a yearlong effort by The Bulletin and its sister newspapers in EO Media Group to explore how climate change is affecting life across Oregon.

It is sort of a reboot, as EO Media spotlighted the issue in 2006 and won a national award for its reporting. (See Monday’s edition on a perspective of that effort by former EO Media editor Patrick Webb). Now, 14 years later, we are revisiting some of those topics and sources to learn if they’ve witnessed change — good or bad.

We’ll also look at what is happening in our own backyard. For instance, how the Deschutes River is affected by global warming, the snowpack in the Cascade Mountains, irrigation district concerns, farm and ranch operations and life in general in the cities and towns of our three-county region.

Global warming is a contentious issue because it’s not easily quantifiable. There’s a diverse number of factors that are causing it, both natural and human-caused. Some would debate how much people are playing a role in the increasing Earth temperatures, but it’s obvious that coal-burning plants and other industries are contributing to the problem.

The series will look at the issues and possible solutions or strategic plans going forward to try to curb the march of climate change.

Although Oregon is a small player on the world stage, to do nothing is not an option.

It starts with our youth. A large contingent of local high school students are motivated to research global warming as they are the next generation to confront the issue.

Sunday and Monday’s editions focus on the youth climate change movement, including interviews with high school students who are actively seeking answers and solutions, why they have taken up this charge and what they believe can be done.

Next Saturday, the culmination of months of work by Bend High School students and the High Desert Museum will result in a youth climate summit at the museum, coinciding with Smithsonian-climate events around the country. The students will make presentations on global warming, discuss climate change legislation, develop student-led action plans and listen in on Smithsonian panel discussion.

EO Media will also partner with the University of Oregon’s School of Journalism students to reach our readers across the many social media channels with this series, employing video, podcasts and other electronic outlets, expanding the reach across all media platforms.

This fall, we plan to bring a national speaker on the topic to Bend to give a bigger perspective on the issue for our audience.

And, we plan to develop a school curriculum at the end of the project that can be used in the classroom as another starting point for discussion and action about climate change.

This series will be informative, enlightening and inspiring. We hope you agree.