Starting Your Climate Journey
It's been a scattered last few months for my writing. Just look at my backlog of writing prompts and you'll find that in between the completed posts, there are about 10-15 starters that are sitting in draft, collecting digital dust.
As much as consistency is important to building an audience and creating dialogue on new content, it's also hard to continue to stay motivated on topics that are so current and utterly gloomy.
This is something that I've learned from my time in the Climate Reality Project leadership corps. In the 4-part series hosted by Al Gore and his associates, they relentlessly piled on the scientific realities of climate change — a situation that I increasingly call climate doom.
Despite the desperation underpinning the first few days of the climate summit, Gore is still relentlessly optimistic. And this is something that’s become apparent in my own research.
Gore, Gates, Thunberg, McKibben.
They all approach climate action in different ways, but they share one element — optimism. Their optimism is rooted in knowing what’s at stake and what we can do to prevent catastrophe.
It may not be the time to take our foot off the gas, but sometimes it's important to let someone take the wheel for a bit. Tackling climate change alone is not just exhausting, it's also arguably futile.
Our global climate situation is just that — a global issue. It's caused by global consumption habits and brought on by globalization. It's important that we deal with the problem with our global community. There is no one solution — policy, technology, community, etc. Each has a purpose.
Refresher
Hi again, my name is George. For those of you that don't know me personally, I'm a student of climate change and working my way towards a climate action plan of my own.
There are several things I do that motivate me personally (which is to draw attention to the fact that every person has a different personality, so choose what works for you and double down):
Talk to someone
Form a community
Read, save, and dive deeper
Apply and share learnings
Talk to someone
Even if you're not a people person, changes are you have a person — offline or online. Talk to someone about your interest in climate. Better if you can collectively work on climate literacy together.
You can enjoy plant-based meals, plan low carbon vacations, or watch documentaries. The important thing here is to find someone as motivated as you are right now as you are reading this.
Form a community
But what if you are a people person. Do you rely on teams or groups of people to help keep you accountable? Don't worry, so am I.
Communities have been historically important to keeping things moving. When one person is unable to contribute, your community picks up the slack. We give, we take, and we enjoy the presence of others.
Here are some of the communities I have joined in recent years:
Even though these communities are great, I find it sometimes a bit too noisy to catch up after a busy week. Although digests are effective for some, I find that being present is the easiest way to keep myself motivated. There is a proliferation of climate fellowships that each follow a similar pattern: educate, motivate, and apply. I've previously written about a the Climate Reality Project, but here are a few more:
Read, save, and dive deeper
I'm not telling you to read white papers, model scenarios on En-Roads (thanks Garrett), or even follow sustainable social influencers. I'm suggesting that you find content sources that appeal to you. The last thing you want to do when reading about climate change is burn yourself out. I'll be the first to raise my mind and plead guilty to this.
Here are several of my favorites sources of climate-related information:
After ending the leadership corps training at Climate Reality, I was pumped with enthusiasm and excitement about getting involved in local policy, contributing to communities, maybe even giving a presentation. But just as quickly as it started, it began to wane.
This is a marathon, not a sprint. Take your time, educate yourself, and read into the things that interest you and energize you.
For me, I've found an immense interest in urban planning, urban technology, and urban data. My interest in buildings and infrastructure have significant contributions to global emissions and therefore intersect with climate change on many fronts, including walkable cities, building retrofitting, public transit, and heat pumps to name a few initiatives.
Want to know where to get started? Try Project Drawdown. Their Table of Solutions highlight solutions and sectors in great detail, down to the estimated carbon reduction.
Apply and share learnings
This is where you hit the pavement ... wait, wait, wait. You don't need to hit any pavement, unless you want to.
There are many ways to apply your learnings, both on a personal or group commitment. Chances are, personal changes will float to the surface in group gatherings or public events, which is why it's OK to start small.
Some areas to consider:
Want to find a new job in climate? Try ClimateScape or ClimateBase to browse a directory of opportunities across all sectors from seed stage to public. Want something more cutting edge? Try C50 or Climate Tech VC. Both are amazing resources at sharing venture capital investing in seed, growth, or public stage sustainable and climate-oriented orgs.
Want to get lean and healthier and save the planet at the same time? Been considering a Meatless Monday at the dining table? Watch this awesome video from Mark Rober, who visited Beyond Meats and Impossible to challenge the conventional wisdom that animal protein makes you stronger and eating plants is ineffective for protein consumption.
Want to increase your property value and reduce your utility bill? Look into solar installation, improving your insulation, or simply cleaning your filters. I've learned to automate some of my favorite building efficiency practices with OhmConnect and learned about cleaning my refrigerator coils and dryer vents through EarthHero.
Want to dress fashionably and sustainably, but you're not a thrifter? Before you shop, spend a few minutes searching your favorite brands on Good On You to give you that extra peace of mind when you shell out a few extra bucks for your favorite, sustainable t-shirt brand.