Take Action Overview


Learn & Act

There are many ways that we can act to intervene in the catastrophic trajectory that civilization is taking, so many that we will only list  a tiny fraction of them here.  We refer to these actions as ‘interventions’ since we cannot ‘solve’ many of these problems in the conventional meaning of the word (putting things back the way they were), but we can intervene to improve them.
We’ve included three sections in this overview:

  • Learn & Act Resources
  • Broad Areas of Action
  • Actions for Individual or Group Consideration

Learn & Act Resources

Here is a subset of the resources we would like to highlight in terms of learning and acting to intervene in the catastrophic trajectory that civilization is taking

FacingFuture.TVPlease subscribe to our Youtube channel and explore our video library.
 
Facing Future BlogWe welcome you to submit blog posts on any of the stressors covered in the World Scientists’ Warning to Humanity, or other stressors not covered in the warning.
Facing Future LibraryThe FacingFuture Library is a fully accessioned library hosted by the powerful Zotero bibliographic engine. Its organization, as a hierarchical tree of subject matter collections, makes it particularly easy for the visitor looking for materials on a specific subject.
Facing Future Mobile AppWe are pleased to announce the release of a Facing Future Mobile App. The App is available for use on both the Android and iOS mobile operating systems. The App acts as a convenient portal to access Facing Future’s content from its YouTube channel and website.
Extinction RebellionExtinction Rebellion (sometimes shortened as XR) is an international social movement that aims to influence the Government of the United Kingdom and global environmental policy, through non-violent protests and civil disobedience to minimize species extinction and global warming.
The Scientists' WarningsThis website is about raising awareness of the various Climate and Environmental crises and consequently motivating action in various forms. As part of this effort we would like to draw your attention to the Scientists’ Warnings as published by the Alliance of World Scientists.
DrawdownA website and book called “Drawdown” offers 100 of the most substantive solutions to global warming.
Skeptical ScienceThis site aims to explain climate change science & rebut global warming misinformation.
Club of Rome Climate Emergency Plan“Climate change is now reaching an end-game scenario, where very soon humanity must choose between taking unprecedented action, or accepting that it has been left too late and bear the consequences”.

Broad Areas for Action

The World Scientists’ Warning to Humanity  itself underscores humanity’s inadequate response thus far to the current well-documented stressors to the biosphere but also recommends the following important forms of intervention.

  • prioritizing the enactment of connected well-funded and well-managed reserves for a significant proportion of the world’s terrestrial, marine, freshwater, and aerial habitats
  • maintaining nature’s ecosystem services by halting the conversion of forests, grasslands, and other native habitats
  • restoring native plant communities at large scales, particularly forest landscapes
  • ‘re-wilding’ regions with native species, especially apex predators, to restore ecological processes and dynamics
  • developing and adopting adequate policy instruments to remedy defaunation, the poaching crisis, and the exploitation and trade of threatened species
  • reducing food waste through education and better infrastructure
  • promoting dietary shifts towards mostly plant-based foods (vegetarianism, veganism, and just eating less meat and animal products as you are able)
  • further reducing fertility rates by ensuring that women and men have access to education and voluntary family-planning services, especially where such resources are still lacking
  • encouraging the decision to have smaller families (see Having Kids and Population Matters )
  • increasing outdoor nature education for children, as well as the overall engagement of society in the appreciation of nature
  • divesting of monetary investments and purchases to encourage positive environmental change
  • devising and promoting new green technologies and massively adopting renewable energy sources while phasing out subsidies to energy production through fossil fuels
  • revising our economy to reduce wealth inequality and ensure that prices, taxation, and incentive systems take into account the real costs which consumption patterns impose on our environment, and
  • estimating a scientifically defensible, sustainable human population size for the long term while rallying nations and leaders to support that vital goal.

This is by no means a complete nor prioritized list.  The need for us to pursue action at every level – economic, social, political, technical, educational and more – cannot be overstated.

Actions for Individual or Group Consideration

There are many things we can consider doing, as individuals or as part of a group, to help sustain the Planet. The table below lists but a handful of them.

Activism and Civil DisobedienceNow more than ever, citizens of the world must take action regarding the climate crisis. Activism is an essential part of being a good citizen of any country or nation state.

Civil Disobedience is an idea that a majority of educated people agree with when the fate of the world lies in balance.
Legal RemediesHave you heard of anyone going to court to obtain protection from climate change impacts? Or to sue a company for causing climate-related harm?

Individuals, communities and even whole nations are increasingly exploring these possibilities, broadly termed ‘climate change litigation’
Adopt a Plant Rich DietIf you’re looking for something you can do starting immediately that will have the biggest most profound impact on the ecology of our planet it is definitely adopting a more plant rich diet.
Fly LessFlying is bad for the environment and a major driver of climate change. The number of flights is forecast to more than double over the next few decades, making the problem worse. Flying is the fastest growing cause of climate change. Choosing not to fly is the most significant thing most of us can do to reduce our personal carbon footprint.
Regard All Life as SacredRegard all life as sacred because that is what sustains us on this planet. There are so many interdependent relationships with other species and plants that allow us to survive here.

Many of the world’s spiritual traditions would agree with the statement “Regard all life as sacred.”
Distinguish Between Real Needs and Wants“Distinguish between real needs and artificial wants and control the latter,” is a quote from Mahatma Gandhi that quite aptly prescribes the life style people living in more affluent nations will need to consider if they care about sustaining human life on this planet.

Adopting this lifestyle will also help you to live a happier, more fulfilled, frugal, and environmentally sustainable life.
Subscribe to the Daily ClimateThe Daily Climate is an independent media organization working to increase public understanding of climate change, including its scope and scale, potential solutions and the political processes that impede or advance them. The Daily Climate does not espouse a political point of view on the news but instead reports the issue to the best of our ability.