Reed’s interest in climate change began as an elementary school student, studying clouds and weather. At age 14 he and his family survived a tornado, which lifted their car off the road before placing it down again on all 4 wheels. As a student at Hamline University, Reed worked as a teaching assistant on climate modeling, studied Mayan archeology in Mexico, and traveled with Hamline University to the National Conference on Race and Ethnicity in New York. He also traveled to New Orleans in the wake of Hurricane Katrina in the spring of 2006 to learn more about the social justice implications of the environmental disaster. Reed worked as a community organizer this spring on transit, community development and equity in St. Paul, Minnesota.

Read Reed's blog on wilstegerfoundation.org