So, you have stopped using plastic bags and carry a reusable bottle. That's awesome! Starting to transform your personal choices is the perfect place to start taking care of the environment. 

But, your work isn't done yet. 

If we really want to take care of our planet, we have to pair our personal changes with larger collective action. This can mean joining in on a march, writing or calling a politician, or signing a petition. Sometimes it take 3 minutes, but your voice added to the list of many can be a powerful thing. Just like our giant trash island was made of a billion individual choices, big changes can only be made with millions of voices. 

You don't have to do anything huge, risk getting arrested, or sometimes even leave your house. Consider yourself a beginner activist, and I will point to little stuff you can be doing each week to have a big impact. 

It's March 10th, and it's a huge week for the environment. I know I am excited about everything that is going on, but I am also potty training my toddler, so I get that sometimes you need small steps to take, not big ones. Don't sit on the sidelines; get involved!

1. Participate in the Youth Climate Strike

On March 15th all over the US and the world, students will be walking out of school for the Youth Climate Strike. You can read their letter preceding the Climate Strike on The Guardian. Their point is that the generations that came before them have failed at preventing climate catastrophe, and they will fight until governments take radical action.

All you need to do is show up and make the crowd look that much bigger. Bonus points if you have a kid (of any size, really). Want to find an event near you? This page has a long list of the events (and this one is International and even longer), but if you don't see one near you, I would do a little research. My hunch is that this will come up in lots of communities not listed.

If you want to help, but it turns out there is nothing nearby, you can still support the Youth Climate Strike by donating to their

2. Write Trader Joe's to Say Thank You

 (Or Call One of their Competitors to Rub it In) 

Last week, Trader Joe's announced they would be radically reducing their plastic packaging, keeping millions of tons of plastics out of our ecosystem. Would it have been better if they did it sooner? And without being pushed to? Yep, but the lesson here is that companies really don't do the right thing until they know people are watching.

So you can write Trader Joe's and say thank you OR you can write the grocery stores chains near you and point out that this is the trend they need to keep up with. Either one can  be 3 or 4 sentences. Just taking a minute to call them out shows these companies that the effort is worth it in customer satisfaction.

3. Call your Representatives About the Green New Deal

Have you read about the Green New Deal yet? If not, this article is a helpful (and quick) primer on what it is all about.

No matter what politics you personally hold, this is a perfect moment to call up all of your representatives and tell them how much taking care of the environment means to you. This is even more powerful if you aren't a young Democrat, because they are banking on you not caring. Let them know you are paying attention and that you want to see profound action to help the environment.

Not sure who you need to call? 5calls is a cool app that will help you find your representatives numbers. Sometimes they even have helpful little scripts to read if you feel nervous.

4. Talk About It

Never hide that the environment is on your mind. If you annoy people, so what? Tell your friends about going to the Climate Strike on Friday; better yet, invite them to come with you. Share this post and ask people to try these things with you. When someone brings up the Green New Deal or AOC, speak up and say the parts of it that you like. Pray for it in your place of worship.

Being bold in your personal life, staying positive but speaking the truth, could be the thing that will change the course of history. Because we absolutely ALL need to be on board and fighting this fight. No single answer is going to be enough. No single action is going to be enough. It's going to take a million solutions on a million fronts to turn this around. So what you do matters, and the more others see it, the better.



What are you doing to fight for our planet this week? Any cool petitions that need signed? Share your ideas so we can get in there and help.