It’s gonna take a paradigm shift: A lesson from California Sky Watcher
On April 22, the 2025 Earth Day, retired Santa Monica College (SMC) professor William “Bill” Selby returned to campus to deliver a lecture, as well as offer a call to action.
Speaking at the old Life and Physical Science Complex on SMC’s Main Campus, Selby presented his latest book, “The California Sky Watcher: Understanding Weather Patterns and What Comes Next.” It was a culmination of his decades-long devotion to California’s climate, geography and environmental education. Selby’s message to students and faculty alike was clear: If we’re going to solve the challenges we face, from climate change to unsustainable lifestyles, it’s gonna take a paradigm shift.
Selby, age 71, has spent his life learning and teaching about California’s diverse climates, from the misty redwood forests to the scorching deserts. His talk centered on reconnecting with nature and using science as a tool to understand, adapt and act.
”It's not gonna be these little things here and there. Those are good. Yeah, cool, but it's gonna take a paradigm shift,” Selby said to the crowd. “I can live a wonderful life that's more fulfilling for me without becoming caught in this crazy consumer society.”
His call is about shifting values - from materialism to sustainability, and from separation to connection.
Despite retiring from SMC in 2017 after teaching for more than three decades, Selby has never slowed down. He leads climate workshops, trains naturalists and educates park rangers, all as part of his traveling “California Sky Watcher Show.” Through storytelling, interactive cloud-spotting and DIY weather forecasting, he encourages people of all ages to observe the world around them and understand how deeply weather and climate shape our daily lives.
According to Pete Morris, an SMC geography professor, Selby doesn’t just preach change; he embodies it, staying active and inspired while empowering others to do the same. He said, “As I was going back through this book, change is a thread that runs throughout the entire book … What I really appreciate about the way Bill presents it in his book, and in my many conversations with him, is an attitude towards change that is flexible, willing to go with the tide.”
Continuing on, Morris said, “But (his attitude is) not in a powerless sense, in a sense that we have the potential for agency, the potential to take action and one of the best tools we have to manage that change, to try to guide it individually and collectively, is the tools of science, through the tools of observation, and that again is something throughout this book.”
Selby’s Earth Day presentation held a reminder that transformation begins with awareness. It’s not just about understanding the science of our environment, but about feeling a responsibility to care for it, whether you’re a student cramming for finals or a professor leading field trips through Yosemite.
Selby said, “We don’t need to use more than 17 acres of productive surface of earth every year. Four or five earths would be required to support all of the people on earth if they all lived like that. We just need to treat the one we have with more respect.” And that, he insists, starts with a shift in how we live, think and see the sky above us.
Selby appeared at the California Geographical Society Annual Conference on April 25 — 26 at California State University, Stanislaus, where he presented on wildfire science and climate resilience. He will also lead a guided ecology hike at the annual Field Ecology Weekend for Topanga Canyon Docents in Malibu Creek State Park on April 27.
Further resources, including weather guides, lesson plans, and interactive tools can be found at www.rediscoveringthegoldenstate.com, along with his recent book “The California Sky Watcher.” His latest book is also available for purchase at the SMC Bookstore on the Main Campus.