All our earth-friendly actions this year
A reminder about how to be gentle with ourselves
When my kids are feeling down about after losing a soccer game, I always tell them to think about what they did well. Only after seeing their value for the team can they begin to process what they learned from the experience, what they can do better. Soccer, like most activities, is a team sport. They aren’t the only ones out there on that field trying to score goals. And it’s only in working with the team that they can win.
Friends, our work is like soccer. And we are definitely not going at this alone.
In fact this year, learning about all the heroes ensuring our kids can be grandparents has helped me ease my own eco-anxiety.
Here are just some of the exciting places I’ve found hope this year:
Check out this wonderful collection of climate solutions from the Washington Post.
The Solutions Journalism Network is my go-to spot to learn about new ideas
These Macarthur Genius Fellows are at the forefront of Climate Solutions.
Project Drawdown is leading the conversation and inspiring thinkers worldwide
Organizations like TED, the brilliant crew at Bioneers, philanthropists like Jeff Bezos, and many universities worldwide have committed to doing their part to fund, fight, and focus our attention on our climate crisis.
The soulful nature writing of Robin Wall Kimmerer
The podcasts Outrage and Optimism, On Being, TED Radio Hour
And, of course, YOU
I urge you include these resources in your media diet to help combat the despair. How would our perspectives shift if we balanced all the bad news about the planet with a solution or two? We can bathe our worry in some of the tangible solutions taking place around the planet.
Photo by Michele Bigley
This week’s action
The other day on a walk with an amazing friend, she reminded me to be gentle with myself. Friends, I am offering you the same message. We can’t be perfect. We surely aren’t superheroes and cannot tackle all of our planet’s problems. But we don’t have to.
How might you use this time when many of us are forced inside due to cold, the pandemic, and the slowing of our work lives to honor what we’re already doing?
This week’s task is make a list of everything you are already doing (or have done) this year to be a climate-conscious citizen.
Do you spend time in nature, reminding yourself to learn from (and attend to) the natural world? Do you actively teach your kids to garden, to enjoy walking in the woods? Do you recycle? Do you shop from companies committed to addressing our climate crisis? Do you vote? Ride a bike? List everything you have already done this year. I promise, it’ll be a way to do some soul searching that will make you feel good about yourself.
Share it with us. Brag about what you’re doing with a community of likeminded folks who want to celebrate your actions. You can post your list on our Facebook page. Or, you can share your list here.
After the new year, we’re going to get to work on 2021. But we can’t move forward until we honor what we’ve already done to make the Earth a more habitable home for our children’s grandkids.
I’m taking the next couple weeks off to enjoy the holidays with my crew. See you in 2021 with plenty of inspiration, a dash of hope and lots of ways to heal the planet together.