“There Is So Much We Can Do”
I have been an environmental activist for decades. However, one day I was hiking with a friend who has very different political beliefs from mine. I enjoy talking with her. We do not think about things in the same way, but we respect each other. It stretches my thinking to listen to her and share what I think. I discovered that she was a “climate denier.” We had an interesting discussion. When I returned home, I started studying information about the climate so that I would have better discussions with her.
I also started raising climate issues in environmental groups that did not have a policy about climate change and helped to integrate climate action into the work they were doing. I got involved in the local Democratic Party and wrote a draft plank on climate change for the Montana Democratic Party Platform and presented it at the State Convention. I testified at legislative hearings on climate bills. I ran for the legislature to raise climate issues.
There is so much we can do—from small conversations to large actions. When forest fires threatened our homes and smoke filled the skies and obscured the views of the mountains for weeks, I would lightly point toward climate change when people were talking about the fires. When family members were threatened by hurricanes on the Gulf Coast, I would point out how we are all affected by the climate emergency.
I recently started an RC support group for climate activists. Our goal is to discharge and act—and discharge some more.
Polebridge, Montana, USA
Reprinted from the RC e-mail discussion list for leaders in care of the environment
(Present Time 207, April 2022)