5 Ways To Take Global Climate Action

What is climate action?

We are learning more and more every day about the effects of our actions on the climate. If you want to learn about the most current state of the climate, I suggest you tune into Episode 42 of Hometown: Earth where I go over the biggest takeaways of the 6th IPCC Climate Change Report.

But, if you start to take efforts towards reducing your emissions and protecting the earth, you’re taking climate action!

In fact, number 13 of the 17 Sustainable Development Goals created by the UN for large-scale global change is taking Climate Action. They define it as,

“Climate action means stepped-up efforts to reduce greenhouse gas emissions and strengthen resilience and adaptive capacity to climate-induced impacts, including climate-related hazards in all countries; integrating climate change measures into national policies, strategies and planning; and improving education, awareness-raising and human and institutional capacity with respect to climate change mitigation, adaptation, impact reduction and early warning.”

In its simplest form, climate action is taking action towards a better climate future.

Unfortunately, a small group of corporations and the extremely wealthy are responsible for a large part of climate change. Individual action matters. But in this post, we go over 5 ways you can take meaningful climate action for larger-scale change.

Talk to your representatives

When it comes to the power to implement change, representatives are going to be our best chance. We elected them to be our voice. It is their job to do what is best for their constituents. Specifically, congresspeople have the most power to make a change on a larger scale. They introduce bills and resolutions, serve on committees, and can even gather press about issues that mean the most.

It is our job to keep them accountable.

So the first step is to know who your representatives are – locally and nationally. A simple google search of representatives for your area will return a list and usually websites where you can contact them directly.

Email your representative and tell them about an issue you’re passionate about (whether it’s specific or broad). Climate change affects our health, economy, and every aspect of our lives so they should have a plan. Ask where they stand on climate change and request an action plan if they don’t already have one.

bank sustainably

I never considered banking as a way to live more sustainably or take climate action. Something that is almost solely electronic didn’t cross my mind as something that could have an environmental impact – but it does.

When you’re trying to find the root of anything, you should follow the money.

Just as we take out loans and hold our money at banks for them to invest, so do the ultra-wealthy and corporations. This means that banks hold a lot of power. Banking sustainably means finding banks who acknowledge that power and have made a promise to only invest in projects that are environmentally friendly. This means refusing projects that are harmful (like fossil fuel projects) and actively investing in projects that are good for the planet (like clean energy).

P.S This applies to your 401K too!

Support agroforestry

Agroforestry is the use of trees in conjunction with growing crops. For instance, coffee, cocoa, and palm fruit all grow well in agroforestry conditions.

Why would supporting agroforestry efforts help the planet in a big way? Well besides providing more goods to us in an efficient way, agroforestry efforts:

Enhance soils
Protect biodiversity
Preserve water supplies, and
An acre of agroforestry can “achieve carbon sequestration rates comparable to those of afforestation and forest restoration” efforts.

You can support Agroforest personally by choosing to buy products that are shade grown, or donating to organizations that support agroforestry like Plant With Purpose, Rainforest Alliance, or One Tree Planted.

support global organizations

One easy way to help is by supporting organizations with a global climate action plan. Support can include anything from subscribing to an email list, following on social media, participating in actions (signing petitions, attending events, etc.), or donating. Here’s a short list to get you started.

Global Citizen

Word Resources Institute

Corporate Accountability

Climate Action Network

United Nations Global Compact

Nature Conservancy

continue learning

Knowledge truly is a gateway to good things. When we continue to learn and grow, we are able to make more informed decisions that are good for the planet.

You cannot shine a light on an issue unless you have your flashlight powered up.

When you have the tools you can put them into action.

If you continue to learn about how to lower your emissions, events happening in the world, and more steps on how to take climate action as an individual – you will have the tools you need.

We are also able to use that information to discuss with others what is going on in the climate crisis. These discussions will lead us to a point where we can normalize frequent and constructive conversations about climate change.