Some high school students find data analysis boring, but one California teen loves it.

McGregor: “When I get home, I spend my free time creating different graphs and reports on how climate change is affecting Southern California.”

That’s high school student Edgar McGregor. When he first saw graphs of regional climate change, he was struck by the sharp rise in temperatures, especially over the past decade. So he began digging into climate data, looking at …

McGregor: “… which months are changing more than others. Is one month getting drier while another is getting wetter? Just to kind of understand what I can expect when I’m in my 60s, 70s, and 80s.”

McGregor shares what he learns on his website and social media. He’s also compiling the data into a paper that he hopes to one day publish with the help of climate scientists.

McGregor: “I kind of run on the idea that people will listen to kids more than they’ll listen to adults. When it’s even a teenager or a younger kid, when they say that ‘this is a problem that we need to solve’ and ‘this is my future’ people will listen to that more than just another scientist.”

So he’s inspired to keep analyzing climate data on weekends and after school.

Reporting credit: Rosie Simon/ChavoBart Digital Media.
Image graphic: Created by David McCarthy.