Eight Climate Action Strategies for a Resilient Planet

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1. Help protect pollinators

Around the world, insect populations are in significant decline. The dwindling populations of pollinating insects are of particular concern, as they are essential for food production, human health, and ecosystem functioning. The decline of these crucial pollinators is intricately linked to climate change, with warmer temperatures, human factors, and extreme weather conditions disrupting their natural habitats and life cycles. Protecting pollinators preserves important species and ensures our global ecosystems' resilience against the changing climate. Check out our blog post to learn about ways to support pollinators.

2. Adopt more sustainable travel practices

Travel is a significant component of many people's lives, whether for work, education, leisure, or volunteering. As public awareness of the climate crisis grows, many of us are considering the impact of our carbon footprints. Click here to explore a few practices you can implement for more sustainable travel.

3. Support climate research

To identify and implement science-based solutions to climate change, scientists must conduct rigorous, long-term research about the threats and impacts of a changing climate on our ecosystems. You can always support environmental research financially, but at Earthwatch, we have found that by connecting people with scientists to participate in hands-on research, we can multiply the quantity of data and education and inspire a legion of climate champions worldwide. Consider joining an Earthwatch expedition to help scientists study the effects of climate change and implement innovative solutions.

4. Organize a BioBlitz

A BioBlitz, also written without capitals as bioblitz, is an intense period of biological surveying in an attempt to record all the living species within a designated area. Groups of scientists, naturalists, and volunteers conduct an intensive field study over a continuous period. BioBlitzes focuses on sites connected to residential, urban, and industrial areas and encourages a relationship between a given area's natural and human communities. Check out this guide from iNaturalist and consider organizing a BioBlitz with your friends, family, colleagues, or community members.

5. Support systemic and legislative solutions

To manifest lasting change for a systemic problem, supporting systemic and legislative solutions is crucial. This involves advocating for laws and policies that promote corporate accountability and sustainability and reduce environmental degradation. Whether through voting, legislative advocacy, contacting representatives, grassroots organizing, or supporting organizations that drive environmental policies, your involvement moves us closer toward comprehensive solutions. Need a place to start? Check out the 5 Calls: Contact Your Congress app, where you can select an issue important to you, input your zip code, and find scripts and contact info to call your representatives.

6. Follow youth activists and climate leaders

The environmental movement is markedly influenced by the determination of youth activists, prominently featuring voices from diverse backgrounds, including Indigenous and POC communities with critical ecological and climate justice perspectives. Supporting and following these activists extends beyond social media; it requires learning from and centering the perspectives of those most impacted by the climate crisis.

Below are just a few young climate leaders to follow and learn from.

• Wanjiku "Wawa" Gatheru, Julieta Martínez, Xiye Bastida, Jamie Sarai Margolin, Vic Barrett, Kristy Drutman, Helena Gualinga.

7. Support healthy air initiatives

Air pollutants and greenhouse gases can often come from the same sources. Tackling air pollution also helps mitigate climate change. Air laden with ground-level ozone and the fine particulate matter emitted by everything from car engines to power plants to farm equipment is an invisible killer. How do you mobilize people and policymakers to understand and take action against a threat they can't see? By turning an invisible threat into tangible data. Click here to learn more about healthy air initiatives.

8. Make your home more sustainable

Several ways to make your house more sustainable include composting, adopting energy-saving habits, reducing consumption, and phasing out single-use products. Reducing consumption in your home can also include adopting a plant-rich diet and reducing food waste. Click here to learn more about the steps you can take in our blog post about creating a more sustainable home.

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