Last weekend I went hiking with some friends, and someone (probably me) brought up climate change. My friend confessed that they feel quite hopeless about the climate crisis, and they don’t think their actions can help. They asked me if I ever feel the same.
Conversations like ours are happening thousands of times a day. There was a time very recently when climate change was seen by most as an obscure shadowy problem looming in the distance. That time has assuredly passed, since the consequences we have been hearing about for years are here. Unnatural disasters are occurring all over the world at unprecedented rates, and the sheer magnitude of the crisis leaves most people feeling both desperate to help and insignificant in the fight.
If you are feeling hopeless against climate change, I will tell you what I told my friend: Take action anyway. Contact that local activist group you follow on social media and ask to join an upcoming meeting. Donate to that environmental nonprofit that’s been emailing you. Call your senators (202-224-3121) and demand they support meaningful climate action, and then do it again tomorrow. Try the vegan option at your favorite restaurant. When you run out of laundry pods or razors, replace them with a more sustainable brand that you find online.
Hopelessness is what has probably stopped you from taking these actions before. You’ve thought to yourself, What’s the point? What impact could it really have? I guarantee that if you push past that doubt and take a few minutes for the planet once a month, or week, or day, you will find yourself having a little more hope. You will feel like your small actions are part of a large movement, driving the systemic change we need. And with that newfound hope you will feel motivated to take more action. Hope is a self-fulfilling prophecy: the more hope you have for our planet’s future, the more compelled you will be to take action, and the more collective action is being done to help the planet, the more justified your hope will be.
If you need to kickstart your personal cycle of hope and action, here are a few reasons why I have hope in the face of the climate crisis:
The hard part is over. The human race is not helpless and confused about how to combat climate change with no solution in sight. We know exactly what we need to do to fight climate change. We need government regulation to accelerate the transition to renewable energy. It’s quite simple, and all we need is the political will to make it happen, brought on by individuals like you.
The IPCC report came at a critical time. Its bleak findings, coupled with the disastrous year we’ve had, have occurred right before the UN’s climate summit in November. I suspect that as a result, substantial reform or goals will emerge from that summit.
Renewable energy is the future, and fossil fuels know it. The market has shifted dramatically in favor of renewable energy in the last decade, and it won’t be long before wind and solar energy are objectively cheaper than fossil fuels in the short-term (they already are in the long-term). Fossil fuel companies know this, which is why they’ve worked for decades to remain propped up by our government, helping to elect complicit leaders and receiving billions in subsidies. Eventually though, their meddling will not be able to outweigh the fact that renewables are the objectively better market choice in every aspect, and the switch will happen. It’s up to us to decide exactly when their time is up.
The next generation cares and acts. More people than ever are questioning the systems in play that are harming our planet and putting our futures at risk. They are stepping up and speaking out, and it’s the exact reason why corporations care more about sustainability than ever before. Seeing so many young activists educating themselves and others is a huge source of hope for me.
Humanity’s needs outweigh one industry’s profits. We have learned this year that no one can escape the impacts of the climate crisis, not even the ultra wealthy. Everyone needs healthy air, water, and food, and continuing to do nothing so that 100 fossil fuel companies can keep making money would put everyone’s basic needs at risk. Feeling hopeless against climate change is like saying you think all of humanity is less powerful than 100 companies. Such an assumption is simply illogical, and as long as people recognize their own power enough to act, humanity will inevitably prevent the worst outcomes of climate change. There are simply too many intelligent, caring people on this planet to let one industry determine our fate.
If you care about the planet, having and instilling hope is your job. Take your first action now.