Katharine Hayhoe: Don’t despair; our society *has* changed before. And when it did, there is one common factor that played a critical role: people raising their voices for change. So when people ask me, what can I do about climate change? I don’t tell them to change a lightbulb. Instead, I say this:

Massive and repeated flooding in Switzerland. Thousands of heat related deaths in southeast Asia and the Middle East. What’s looking like an absolutely devastating hurricane about to hit the Caribbean. Welcome to Global Weirding, brought to you by a minority of companies + countries.

The rise in global atmospheric CO2, surface temperature, and sea level from emissions traced to major carbon producers - Climatic Changelink.springer.com Researchers have quantified the contributions of industrialized and developing nations’ historical emissions to global surface temperature rise. Recent findings that nearly two-thirds of total industr...

Here’s the countries:

Cumulative CO₂ emissionsourworldindata.org Running sum of CO₂ emissions produced from fossil fuels and industry since the first year of recording, measured in tonnes. Land-use change is not included.

Don’t despair; our society *has* changed before. And when it did, there is one common factor that played a critical role: people raising their voices for change. So when people ask me, what can I do about climate change? I don’t tell them to change a lightbulb. Instead, I say this:

I do more and more to minimize my carbon footprint and hope that neighbors are influenced by what I do/don’t do. But it’s hard not to despair. There are too many things to despair about these days. I appreciate your newsletter.

Thank you, Jean! As you can see above, our voices are the most powerful force we have for change. I wonder if there is a local group you could join to help elevate yours? We can’t do this alone, but I know we can do it together, and being part of a group is a powerful antidote against despair!

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