hey everyone i'm taking a week off so for this video i partnered up with youtuber ankur shaw to
showcase one of his videos after you give it a watch definitely make sure to head over to
anker's channel and also check out some of the other resources in the description
below if you're feeling anxious overwhelmed and hopeless about climate change and want to know
real ways to cope with it then you're not alone your feelings are completely valid and this video
is made for you so make sure to watch till the end with ecosystems around the world being destroyed
the sixth mass extinction going on more intense hurricanes and heat waves and the average global
temperatures rising it is natural to feel extremely anxious and even spend sleepless
nights worrying about our future i certainly felt that way for a very long time and there's a real
term for the suffering and fear for our survival climate anxiety a team from the university of
bath surveyed 10 000 children and young people aged 16 to 25 years in 10 countries for climate
anxiety nearly 60 percent of the respondents were extremely worried about climate change
and felt sad anxious angry powerless helpless and guilty about 4 in 10 young adults are choosing
not to have children of their own given the dire future that will face them the primary root cause
for this is government and generational failure to address climate change in time so in this video we
will discuss how to transform our climate anxiety into effective climate action because action is
the only antidote to despair we ultimately need to build a bright green fossil fuel-free future
but getting there needs massive systemic action so let's look at some existing solution guides
arguably the two most comprehensive resources on climate solutions are project drawdown and
project regeneration led by paul hawkin you can visit drawdown.org and find the amazing list of
solutions and learn more about each they're ranked by the amount of emissions they reduce i gave my
city planner a copy of this book two years ago and planted some seeds in his head the amazing sequel
and extension to drawdown is project regeneration and you can visit regeneration.org to learn more
it is the world's largest and most accessible list of climate solutions regeneration.org has
a fantastic nexus which details environmental challenges and climate solutions so you can
click on a solution let's say eating plants and there will be a summary with a call to action with
embedded links and all the descriptions you see and the action items divided into individual
actions group or community based action company action governance how governments can support this
and they even have bad actors with their emails and phone numbers which is extremely unique
and key players leading the implementation of the solution they also have a list of
learning resources divided into sections for watching reading and listening now we
know some resources for climate solutions but how do we make them a part of our daily life
according to a great framework by will grant of the pachamama alliance there are four levels of
action especially when it comes to climate solutions what are four levels of action the
first is individual action the second is action with my friends and family the folks i'm directly
connected to the third is community and local institutions and the fourth is the economy and
policy change and changing laws and so you know in the environment level one is yeah i recycle i
use less i drive less level two is i get me and my family to do that and maybe i put solar panels on
my roof you know and maybe i join a community supported agriculture a csa for level one and
level two actions a great resource is drawdown eco challenge in this website you can join many
participants around the world for putting climate solutions into action these solutions are divided
into categories such as transportation industry buildings and you can click on one category and
you pledge to each of these actions that you're interested in this way you can earn points and
climb a leaderboard holding you accountable to act as you have pledged level three is
when that's when i start to do things like change the way the schools that i'm connected to
right the way that i change my workplace that maybe i get my i organize in my town right to
start moving towards a community solar array or that i start to you know i i go into the
industries that i work in and i make changes and the idea for level three for me is the place where
it's at the level of institution and groups but where i'm still known as a person for level three
actions we can implement small and replicable solutions in our neighborhoods schools and cities
check if your city has an effective sustainability department and if not speak at city council
meetings or with your mayor to propose one we have a choice to become a smart and sustainable city as
we go we don't want to make the same mistakes that other cities have made and then level four is like
i say policy it's changed the law it's right your congress person it's boycott this product and the
environmental movement i think in a lot of ways has given the message that's been at level one
and level four right change individual actions or sign this petition lobby this person right and the
thing is i think our greatest impact is actually at level two and level three and especially level
three the reason that i say that is if i change a local institution or something that i'm involved
in i'm not just impacting my life i'm impacting the lives of hundreds or maybe thousands of people
i'm also changing an institution and then other institutions can take a look at that and take the
model for that change my hope is that small-scale local solutions will catch on and replace existing
polluting systems while empowering people and healing our planet one of the most powerful ways
to be part of climate action is to re-evaluate your paying job most of us work eight hours or
more per day so what if our work was to help solve climate change and related issues or even
introduce climate solutions into our existing jobs if your current job is damaging the planet
in any way then find what difference you can make whether it is having climate education workshops
finding a specific climate solution project for your company talking to your superiors
or even emailing your ceos project drawdown has an excellent how-to guide for employees looking
to implement climate solutions in their workplace investors and companies are increasingly pouring
money into ecosystem restoration regenerative agriculture mass deployments of renewables
grid electrification ocean conservation emissions reduction and carbon removal if you're seriously
interested in a climate career regardless of your background then please do check out
climatebase.org for the state-of-the-art database on climate jobs you can find
impactful and meaningful jobs across the globe and in sectors arranged by drawdown solutions
another solid resource is the work on climate slack community through which you can seriously
network with like-minded climate solvers and find jobs and companies dedicated to climate solutions
do is also an excellent resource to start learning about the climate career landscape
find mentors and be part of a community which cares about climate change and their mission is
to get 100 million people working on climate change solutions relevant to them by 2030
we do not inherit the planet from our ancestors we borrow it from our children if you are a parent
teacher or educator then you have the privilege of shaping our future generations in profound
ways what if we redefined what success means in an era of climate change imagine if our youth are
disconnected from the american dream of a big home fancy car and material success instead what if we
taught our children permaculture philosophies how to connect with nature self-sufficiency building
healthy relationships valuing experiences instead of things you can shape the future of our species
by shaping healthy perspectives in our future generations if you're interested in resources on
climate change education check out clean climate literacy and energy awareness network here you
can find dozens of free teaching resources for k-12 students climate science is another great
organization creating free courses curriculum and kids books to teach solution-based climate science
for nature connection resources and activities the main environmental education association has
compiled a fantastic list of diverse lessons and activities from various organizations
on this document talk to school principals and curriculum creators to incorporate climate change
and nature connection education in classrooms we need to listen to indigenous wisdom and
create a culture where we can become ecological stewards who live in harmony with our planet
we cannot work on climate action in isolation we need strong collective
action to transform our death economy which currently profits off of destroying our planet
into a life economy which prioritizes the well-being of people and our planet
we need to build community and coalitions around climate solutions so please contact our senators
all of them get weird with it if you want you better yet invite some friends over get drunk and
just go to town on these guys and if that's not really your speed just get educated on the climate
crisis maybe even join some local organizations like citizens climate lobby the sunrise movement
extinction extinctionrebellion350.org the list goes on so take small steps but just start
somewhere climate action can be exhausting and frustrating at times but stay sane stay strong
and most importantly stay healthy after all we're contributing our efforts to the greatest challenge
humanity has faced yet so it's no easy task join local organizations and chapters with existing
programs in place and i can assure you that you'll find new friends and a like-minded action-oriented
community i want to offer one final perspective which helped reduce my anxiety by 70 percent
the ultimate way to reduce climate anxiety is to really embrace the fact that nothing lasts forever
the most certain aspect of this universe is that everything is constantly changing absolutely
nothing is permanent every single civilization which has come before our modern globalized one
has fallen the only certainty of life is death the earth has survived five mass extinctions and
will continue to survive until the sun eventually consumes it in the red giant stage about two to
three billion years from now what will change for sure is how our civilization is structured
as we simply cannot have infinite growth on a finite planet so until then i hope you found this
video valuable and learned something new to soothe your climate anxiety with practical action steps
as always all the links to my video references are in the description so please check them out if you
found this video useful please hit the like button it really makes a difference for us youtubers
share this video with more people hit that subscribe button below for a lot more informative
videos on environmental topics coming up so thank you so much for watching this video i'm very
grateful for your time and energy and i hope to see you soon on a new video if you're interested
in watching more videos like this definitely head over to anker's youtube channel using the link in
the description or comment section below anker is releasing great content all the time ranging
from a critique of team seas to a deep dive into the importance of the amazon rainforest
i highly highly recommend heading over there to watch otherwise i will see you in two weeks