Hope

Only a few years ago, one of the biggest obstacles to climate action was denial. Now, I think, one of the biggest obstacles to individuals engaging in climate action is discouragement. Some, perhaps many, people who never would have engaged in climate denial, are allowing discouragement to stop them from taking meaningful action to address the climate crisis. Discouragement can slow any of us down.

I don’t know a lot of Spanish, but I learned that the Spanish word for discouraged is “desanimado”–literally “not animated.” In the middle of an emergency such as the climate emergency, we need to be animated (“lively, energized, full of life”).

We don’t know how things will turn out with the climate crisis. We can be sure that climate change is going to get worse. There is already a lot of suffering and damage and there will be more. But we human beings are a remarkably resilient, inventive, determined species. Large number of us around the world are taking action in myriad ways to enable humans and other species to survive and thrive on this planet. We may yet pull it off.

The New York Times recently published an article titled “The Clean Energy Future is Arriving Faster Than You Think.” In Tulsa, Oklahoma, once known as the “Oil Capital of the World,” their reporter found workers on assembly ….

Writing about climate, or even just thinking about climate, can pose a challenging dilemma for any of us. If we focus too much on what a desperate climate emergency humanity is facing, it’s easy to feel overwhelmed or discouraged and pulled to give up. On the other hand, if we focus too much on the good news and signs of hope, some may be tempted to become complacent and feel that others are taking care of what needs to be done.

At our best, we develop an ability to simultaneously: 1) remember the magnitude of the crisis, 2) find hope in the good news, and 3) maintain a commitment to sustained action. We then engage both in lowering our own carbon footprints and in joining actions to accelerate the systemic changes that are essential.

Emotionally this requires what for many of us is a new approach — acknowledging our feelings of overwhelm and hopelessness, while at the same time, choosing to be hopeful. As we do this we can feel more fully alive, more connected with others, and full of purpose.

I trust that my readers will remember that climate change is causing severe suffering in many parts of the world and that almost everywhere, including in the United States, corporations, governments, and individuals are still doing things to make the crisis worse. With that awareness, I offer some highlights of good news from the year 2022 to help us all stay hopeful as we engage in making a difference.

The climate-destroying deforestation of the Brazilian Amazon is expected to …

At the moment the Democrats in the U.S. Senate have a new proposal — a bill to curb inflation and address climate change. It’s not yet clear whether they have the votes to pass it, but Joe Manchin, the West Virginia Senator who has scuttled previous Democratic climate bills, helped to craft this one and is making the rounds of the TV talk shows advocating for it.

Climate activists don’t agree about this bill. At least one organization has forcefully rejected it as “a gift to the fossil fuel industry” (XR NYC in an email to supporters on July 31). It does have some horrible provisions. It requires that the federal government offer new fossil fuel drilling leases on public lands and waters as a prerequisite to putting any solar or wind energy projects on public lands, and is part of a deal to speed up some pipeline permitting. On the other hand, the widely respected Sunrise Movement said “the strongest version possible of this bill must pass immediately,” noting that it puts $369 billion of climate spending in play (in an email to supporters on July 28).

Analysts estimate that that the combined provisions of the bill will cut U.S. greenhouse gas emissions by 40% by 2030! That’s huge. That’s enough to have me, and many other climate activists, cheering despite the concessions that were required to get it. There is nothing more important in solving the climate crisis right now than reducing greenhouse gas emissions.