Taking on the big issues

How do you make a difference in a matter like climate change, civil rights, and war? Belief, passion, and perseverance.

A few months ago, I found a treasure in a local bookstore, a signed copy of The Children by the late journalist David Halberstam. I had read a few books on the U.S. civil rights movement of the 1950s and 1960s, and met and interviewed numerous participants in those social-justice battles, including for a book I co-authored. It was a time that greatly interested me, though I was born about a decade too late to join the idealistic campaigns. I thought I knew much about…