Are you concerned about the climate crisis but don’t know where to start?
You’re not alone. It’s easy to feel overwhelmed, given the enormity of the task. If you’re like me and many others with whom I’ve spoken, you might be thinking:
Where would I even start? It’s a huge undertaking and I’m just one individual.
Will anything I do actually make a difference? After all, changing a few light bulbs in my home will not solve the problem, so why try?
Maybe I should just live as I’ve been living, enjoying life while I can, and hope the experts figure it out. Maybe they’ll develop technology to save us in time.
Is climate change even stoppable?
Climate Change is Still Stoppable
Yes, climate change is stoppable. But only if we act now.
Recent U.N. reports state that we have until 2030 to significantly reduce the amount of greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions in the atmosphere.
I have decided to not let being overwhelmed paralyze me, although I find our situation daunting. Instead, I choose to draw on moral courage to do whatever I can in the time we have left to turn things around.
I know I am not alone.
The climate strikes that took place around the world in September 2019 tell me that people are waking up to the need for urgent action.
This gives me hope because to turn the tide on the climate crisis we need an accumulation of individual and collective action focused on changing the way we fuel our lifestyle.
As the Innovation Adoption Curve chart below shows, you don’t have to be an innovator nor an early adopter to make a difference. It is the early and late majority groups who scale up solutions and create the critical mass for change.
I invite you to join me in being part of the early majority.
The good news is, there are lots of solutions already available for us to adopt.
Starting from wherever we are in our lives, we can each become a part of the critical mass needed to reduce GHG emissions.
In this blog series, I will provide information to help you identify specific things you can take on, given your personal level of commitment, time, energy, and money.
Drawing on my experience as former director of Green America’s Center for Sustainability Solutions and my work as Board Chair of several private foundations focused on funding solutions, my aim is to support you in playing a role in stopping climate change. While my goal is to make it easier for you to take action, I want to make a disclaimer: the road to climate recovery is a challenging path. It requires us to step out of our comfort zones and respond holistically. It demands we:
Use our hands, feet, and resources:
What actions can we take to move from inaction to consistent implementation of solutions?
Change our mind set:
How can we use knowledge of the consequences of inaction to spur lifestyle changes?
How can we move from living a life of perpetual consumption to one of sufficiency, sustainability, and regeneration?
Deal with our emotions:
How can we accept and move beyond fear, anger or feeling overwhelmed?
How can we identify what breaks our hearts so that we are inspired by compassion for the earth and those most impacted by the climate crisis?
Connect with spiritual insight and moral courage.
What can we do to discover and tap into our common connectedness?
How can we access our moral obligation to all life so we can sustain a direct relationship with, and commitment to, regenerating a thriving planet?
Are you ready to join me? Jump on in! The water’s heating up.
What one action will you take this week to take the first step on your climate action journey?
In my next blog post, I will share how I took the leap into changing my lifestyle. It will prime your pump for putting things in motion in your own life.
Let me know in the comments what would help you make changes in your life to support climate recovery and stability.
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Krista / Eco-Omi