How to Stop Freaking Out and Tackle Climate Change

"As the climate essayist Mary Annaïse Heglar writes, “The belief that this enormous, existential problem could have been fixed if all of us had just tweaked our consumptive habits is not only preposterous; it’s dangerous.” It turns eco-saints against eco-sinners, who are really just fellow victims."Agree! We are all suffering in this system, and some of us have more bandwidth to watch our consumption than others. "Even if we manage to zero-out our own contributions to climate change, it would be practically a full-time job, leaving us little time or energy for pushing for the systemic changes we need."This is what I've noticed as well from my research. So although I try to make some modifications to my consumption, I've also realized I need to rely on some environmentally non-friendly strategies in order to get anything done in my life. But with the time I gain from that and the money I earn from being involved in this society, I can give resources to political campaigns and activist groups I care about."Instead of trying to become an expert in international regulatory law, global supply chains, atmospheric science and the art of protest, you can offer the skills and resources you already have, and trust that other people with complementary skills are doing what they can do, too."Really appreciate this point. I realize I am not best suited for many roles in this fight, so I want to use my skills as a software developer to A) make money to give to people who are environmental lawyers, organizers, politicians, etc and B) contribute to coding projects targeting environmental issues. Thank you for posting this @RebeccaStevenson! I've been consuming a lot of info around all this these days and this was really helpful.

amrosnik·Jan 10, 2020

Oh yeah. This was a good article, and it calls out the personal sacrifice vs. systemic issues conundrum quite effectively.Also, the art on the top of the page is gorgeous -- Evan Cohen's illustrations are extremely soothing and dreamily earthy. I've followed his work for almost a year now. http://www.evanmcohen.com/

sandramedina·Jan 14, 2020

How to Stop Freaking Out and Tackle Climate Changehttps://www.nytimes.com/2020/01/10/opinion/how-to-help-climate-change.html

How to Stop Freaking Out and Tackle Climate Changehttps://www.nytimes.com/2020/01/10/opinion/how-to-help-climate-change.html