How to Join the Fight for a Better World

WORK INSIDE YOUR CIRCLE 🌎🌱

What’s the most important way to fight climate change?

I hang out in eco-spaces and I see this question asked a lot. But what people really want to know is…

What can I *personally* do to help in the climate fight?

And the very best answer to that is: whatever you’re passionate about.

Anything you love can be used to fight climate change.

I MEAN THIS VERY LITERALLY.

Here’s a great example:

If you’re a gamer, you’re already familiar with Settlers of Catan, but for everyone else: it’s a cool world-building game that people get famously intense about. It’s well-built, fun, and has a pretty strong following.

The people who make Catan asked themselves “what can we do to help in the climate fight” and they answered “what we do best: make a game.”

“Based on evidence-based research and expert sources, new game elements will get players thinking and talking about important issues.”

The climate fight is not just about getting solar on your rooftop or buying an EV (but absolutely do those things, if you can!)… it’s about each of us doing our part to move toward a more sustainable way of living.

There is no Planet B. We’ve got one Earth and we need to figure this out or it will go badly for everyone, including every one of us and our children and their children.

If each of us worked inside our circles, doing things we love in service of creating a more sustainable world, we would be halfway there already.

PRE-ORDER CATAN: NEW ENERGIES

My favorite climate graph

Graph showing 70% believe climate should be a top priority to ensure sustainable planet for future generations but only 30% have personally taken action in the last year

Most of us, even in America, know that climate change should be a top priority.

By “most” I mean 60-70% of Americans across age brackets understand that climate change is real and we have no time to waste in the transition to a more sustainable way of living.

And yet only 30% of us think it’s a top PERSONAL concern.

THE GOOD NEWS: folks who think it’s a top personal concern have taken action in the last year to do something about it.

A lot of people want to do something but get stuck on what to do. Again, the answer is: do whatever you’re most passionate about in service of the climate fight.

I’m passionate about storytelling

4 cover spread for Nothing is Promised series

For three years now, I’ve been writing stories about the climate, conjuring a future where we’re fighting for a better world.

I plan to do much more in 2024. Details to come, but it will involve lots of storytelling. Fighting the doomerism, showing the stakes of the biggest story facing humanity, inspiring people to take action, shining a light on what the fight looks like and how we can win it… all of that is storytelling. All of it is changing the narrative about climate, which is key to people staying engaged in the fight.

That’s one of the great things about Catan’s New Energies game: they’ve given us a fun way to engage in the conversation about what needs to happen, and that’s a first and vital step. Once we’ve worked through our fears and climate grief, once we’ve stepped back from the precipice of doomerism, we can really dig in and get our hands dirty in making change happen.

What is your part?

Reduce, reuse, rewild, repair. Rethink, reimagine, reorganize. Recalculate costs. Redistribute wealth. Resist, resist, resist. Revolutionize. Regenerate.

Have you personally done something in 2023 to help address climate change?

You probably have (although you might not think so).

What new action(s) can you take in 2024?

How can you use your passion(s) in the climate fight?

HERE ARE SOME IDEAS

(This is not a checklist nor a guilt trip. You might find things on the list you’ve already done and others that are out of your reach. It’s important to focus on what you can do (in terms of time, money, emotional energy) not what you “should” do (berating ourselves or others is a recipe for inaction). There are a million ways to help in the climate fight, but I hope you’ll truly take a minute to think: what am I passionate about and how can I use that to help with climate change? You might find a surprising New Year’s Resolution you’ll really want to keep.)

Community Solar: check this zip code search to see if community solar is available in your area (more info) — great for apartment dwellers as well as homeowners!
Join a Farm Share: regenerative agriculture and eating local are good for both you and the planet! And fresh food tastes better! Search for a CSA (Community Supported Agriculture) in your local area. Now is the perfect time to sign up for next summer’s harvest!
REDUCE: we tend to think of big things like getting solar or an EV, but small reductions in usage (energy, plastics, consumption of goods) are an important step in the right direction. Reusable beverage containers, lowering the thermostat at night, using Buy Nothing/Gifting with Integrity groups, thrifting rather than buying new, combining trips when you drive, switching to bar shampoo and powder detergents, are all small ways that reduce consumption (and often save money as well and can even connect you better to your community).
Buy organic: regenerative farm practices are better for both humans and the planet (because we’re not disconnected, you see). If you can’t afford to get everything organic (note: Aldi has a commitment to low-priced organic foods), focusing on the Dirty Dozen/Clean Fifteen is a good way to prioritize.
Plant something: rewild a corner of your yard, grow tomatoes or herbs in a pot, plant a butterfly garden, volunteer to plant a tree.
Get political: vote for politicians who understand climate needs to be a top priority, contact your city council and ask if they have a climate plan, ask your schools if they’ve considered solar for their buildings and electric buses for their fleets, get involved with local community efforts to stop polluters in your area, volunteer with Environmental Voter Project to mobilize environmentally-minded voters.
Normalize talking about climate actions: play a climate card game with your friends, watch a solarpunk movie with the fam, go see an art exhibit about climate change, read (and share!) a solarpunk short story or novel. Studies show that we’re heavily influenced by what we see our friends doing (even our “imaginary friends” in fiction). Remember: a majority of us already think the climate should be a top priority—we can help each other find ways to act by modeling climate actions ourselves and making it “normal” to talk about how to live sustainably in the world.