You Control Your Future

I may not know what the future holds

But I know who holds the future

It’s easy to feel completely overwhelmed by the magnitude and inescapability of the climate crisis. It’s the greatest threat to human existence and no one person’s actions will make a difference whether you live the most sustainable life imaginable or not.

Yeah, it’s too late to stop climate change, no matter what anyone tells you.

But it’s not too late to do something about it. Not by a long shot. You still hold your own future in your own hands.

If you’re lucky enough to be upwardly mobile you can pick up and make the move from a more climate vulnerable place to a location more climate resilient.  I know that’s just a small percentage of people. And I know that that sucks.

For those of us staying where we are, we have the choice to shape our own futures and become resilient in our homes and in our communities to adapt to the change in our climate address.

It might be adding air conditioning or insulation to your house. It might be growing your own fruit and vegetables. It might mean rain barrels and drought tolerant landscaping. It might mean adding shade trees. Or it might mean preparing your house for potential flooding and extreme weather. It definitely means having an evacuation plan and a relationship with your neighbors. 

You also control the future of your elected representatives and members of your local government. You may not think that you do, but take it from me as someone with decades of experience working with government at the city, county, state and federal levels – they all work for you and they fear your active, informed participation and they are all controllable.  Give me 20 people in matching t-shirts and signs at a public meeting and we can win a vote.

And finally if you’re a young person, still in school, you control the future more than anyone because the powers that be fear you more than anyone else. The Sunrise Movement  and Greta Thunberg and her Climate Strike Fridays scare the shit out of both governments and entire industry.  They know that No one controls the future more than today’s students who have the power to shut the entire economy down.