Climate Action Now (again)

This year was "the second hottest year since records began." 

In their annual State of the Climate report, released in late October, the Scientist Warning team states,

"We are hurtling toward climate chaos. The planet's vital signs are flashing red. The consequences of human-driven alterations of the climate are no longer future threats but are here now. This unfolding emergency stems from failed foresight, political inaction, unsustainable economic systems, and misinformation. Almost every corner of the biosphere is reeling from intensifying heat, storms, floods, droughts, or fires. The window to prevent the worst outcomes is rapidly closing. In early 2025, the World Meteorological Organization reported that 2024 was the hottest year on record. This was likely hotter than the peak of the last interglacial, roughly 125,000 years ago. Rising levels of greenhouse gases remain the driving force behind this escalation. These recent developments emphasize the extreme insufficiency of global efforts to reduce greenhouse gas emissions and mark the beginning of a grim new chapter for life on Earth."

The 2025 United Nations Climate Change Conference (COP30), was, like most before it, a farce, with past years' commitments forgotten and meaningless promises for future action.

Insane people now run our federal government, and the programs that are supposed to protect our environment and support climate action are being shuttered or transformed to pave the way for more, and more destructive, oil, gas, coal, and mineral extraction.

Communities like ours slow walk or ignore important climate action steps, ignoring that this is an emergency and not a street beautification project.

That leaves us. We have to act. We have to act now. 

What actions will have an impact?

1. Personal action makes a difference. While emissions reductions from one household are minuscule, taking personal action can provide a model for others, especially if you talk about it and invite others to join you. Find high impact climate action at the Project Drawdown SHIFT site.

Impactful personal actions include reducing or eliminating fossil fuel use for transportation (stop flying and driving gas cars; bike, take the train and bus, walk, get an EV), for cooking (use a portable induction cooktop, Instant Pot, toaster oven or CombiMicrowave), and for heating. Move toward a plant-based diet. Try Veganuary to explore other food options. Don't waste food. Compost food scraps rather than tossing them in the trash. 

Stop using plastics wherever possible. Check out this article from Viroqua Plastic Free on "The Rs of Sustainability: Refuse, Reduce, Reuse, Repurpose, Replace, Repair, Rot, Rethink, Recycle. Plastic is huge when it comes to reducing emissions (and protecting the health of all living things). Not only does most plastic come from fossil fuels, but the fossil fuel industry uses plastic to justify and grow its destructive infrastructure. 

2. Push your workplace school, non-profit, favorite business, faith group and other organizations to take action. Ask your employer to offer a parking cashout to encourage and incentivize more to take non-car or full-car ways to work. Ask your school to sign on to the Plant-Based Treaty. Encourage people to take the bus or car pool to events. Offer to set up or present a program on climate actions we can take that will make a difference. 

3, Lobby our elected officials to take strong climate action. Sign up for a meeting with the mayor or email city council members urging them to make climate action a priority this year. Call or email state legislators to support climate action legislation like the new state Regional Transit Authority bill in the Wisconsin legislature (Rep. Jill Billings is a co-sponsor already). Send them information about what other states are doing that we could emulate. Keep the pressure on Van Orden, Johnson, and Baldwin to oppose weakening of climate action programs and commitments. 

4. Join organizations like Sierra Club, Citizens Climate Lobby, Wisconsin Conservation Voters, and Citizen Action, that are working on these issues. Joining with others amplifies our voice and strengthens our movement. If you can't afford to join, attend their events and volunteer to help. 

5. Talk about it. Share your concerns and actions with your neighbors, family members, friends, co-workers, and others. Tell about what you are doing and why. Point them to resources and businesses that can help them take climate action. Invite them to join you at action events. Keep talking about it.

This is not some cyclical inconvenience that will eventually fix itself. If we don't take and continue to take strong action, the crisis will continue to worsen. Already, we are not meeting the minimal commitments made at the Paris COP in 2015. We are headed toward uninhabitability, mass extinctions, and, some predict, societal collapse. Some goals are probably already out of reach, but, as many point out, reducing or slowing the heating even a little bit, can make a big difference.

What will YOU do in 2026 to address this crisis?