Three Things to Do Now in Your Community

After reading my last post, your reaction may be to despair, throw your hands up, and not do anything. That would be the worst thing you could do. While it’s true that we need systemic change to save the planet (and thereby ourselves), we cannot individually shoulder the world’s responsibility on our own. We must work within our circle of influence and push outward from there. Here are three things we can do within our respective communities to promote change:

• Talk about climate change.
• Join environmental groups that advocate change in your area.
• Be as sustainable as you can be within your sphere of influence.

Talk about Climate Change

I have been reading Saving Us by Dr. Katherine Hayhoe, a Climate Scientist originally from Canada who lives and works in Texas. I’m part way through her book and I’ve learned a lot from her about how to communicate with people about Climate Change. (Putting what I have learned into practice is a work in progress.)

Dr. Hayhoe stresses that the most important thing we can do is to find common ground with people. Throwing data at people can tend to make them so afraid they don’t do anything. Instead, focus on environmental concerns in your area that are easy to get behind. People want clean air and water, and access to healthy food, all good things worth protecting. Start with the common ground you share and then introduce data, even if it’s only data specific to their issue.

In Utah, for example, the desire to save the Great Salt Lake, has at least spurred action from both political parties, but more work remains to be done. Talking up the problems that will come to us if we don’t save the lake is something that we can do along the Wasatch Front. Writing representatives in the legislature about the importance to act more decisively in the next legislative session is another. One season of extraordinary snowfall will not save the lake long term.

Join (or Follow) Environmental Groups

In a previous post, I addressed environmental issues facing the Wasatch Front. There are groups working to raise attention to these issues, and we could help them by joining them or by sharing their posts on social media. These groups include:

• Save Our Great Salt Lake
• Heal Utah
• Mormon Environmental Stewardship Alliance
• Latter-day Saint Earth Stewardship
• Environmental America

I’m sure there may be more, but this is a good start to our journey.

Be As Sustainable As You Can Be

One of the motives for starting this blog was to track my sustainability journey. While I’m still on the journey, I have since learned that even if each of us checked off all the sustainable things to do, humanity would come up short of emission-reduction goals, if the system we’re a part of doesn’t divest itself from fossil fuels. But does that mean we do nothing and wait for the world to burn? No. Let’s do what we can, but don’t beat ourselves up if we can’t do everything perfectly all at once.

Here are three zero-waste influencers I follow who have helped me learn how to live more sustainably:

• Katheryn Kellogg at Going Zero Waste
• Gittemary Johansson
• Shia Su at Wasteland Rebel

As a bonus, if you want general tips and recommended products, I have enjoyed The Cool Down’s take. Check them out.

How do you broach the topic of Climate Change with friends and family?