"It'll do fine on its own," he says. Instead, Craven is trying to save humanity.

"What I care about is saving our bacon," Craven said, and he considers climate change to be the greatest threat that humanity has ever faced.

Craven, who teaches Science at Central High School in Independence and Chemeketa Community College in Salem, chose a hip, popular tool as his weapon -- YouTube. Last June, Craven posted a video on YouTube to tell the world about the perils of not addressing climate change. Since then, the original video, as well as additional videos Craven has posted to address flaws in his initial argument and to provide additional information, have received over 6.5 million views.

After taking chemistry and physics classes while studying at the University of Washington a decade ago and attending global warming presentations, Craven was astounded by what he learned.

"Not a day has gone by in the last 10 years that I haven't thought about climate change," Craven said.  

However, unlike other climate change activists, Craven isn't suggesting a greater focus on the environment.

"I'm not talking about being green," Craven said.

"It's too late to be green."  

Instead, Craven believes that "changing minds is the biggest thing I can do," which includes convincing people to switch the question of whether humans are affecting climate change to a question of risk assessment. Craven's argument doesn't rest on the science of climate change but on an estimation of likelihood versus consequences.  

"While the probability of catastrophic climate change may be low, the consequences of it happening are huge and it is reckless to ignore," Craven said.

Craven's passion and dedication are evident in his videos and in person. He has a strong desire to make a difference as a teacher with his ultimate goal: "to create thoughtful, educated, engaged citizens."  After getting high-speed Internet at home, he recognized that he could reach more people than he could in his entire career in teaching. Craven said his YouTube videos are a mix of "midlife crisis, enlightenment, a nervous breakdown, and my gift to the world."

In his updated and corrected second video "How it All Ends," Craven notes that people buy car insurance not even knowing if they will have an accident and that during World War II, just the threat of Hitler having an atomic bomb was enough to justify all-out action. With this in mind, Craven asks, "Why are we waiting for exact science or for all the scientists to agree instead of talking about risk management?"  

Craven said that all other issues such as poverty, pollution, government waste and education are peanuts if the worst of global warming happens. According to Craven, dealing with these issues while confronting the outcomes of global warming will be "like arranging deck chairs on the Titanic."

"Every other single cause is [outweighed] if we don't deal with climate change," he said.
Craven believes that massive action is only going to happen with policy changes and only if enough people demand those changes.

"We only get to run this experiment once and hopefully this idea of risk management will end the debate. How the world ends up -- that depends in part on you and what you do next. We have greatness within us. It's time for the best in us to come out."

To check out all of the videos, visit Craven's website at wonderingmind42.com .