What will it take to build greater consensus on the urgent need to act on the climate emergency? I’ve been thinking about what we know in counseling about the power of relationships and wanted to share this thought.


The United States seems so bitterly divided. How can we move forward together? A friend and I were talking about culture shifts, and he mentioned the example of Gay marriage, and how supportive laws ended up passing in state houses across the country and sailing through the court system faster than anyone would have believed possible. The critical ingredient, he reflected, was that by this time everyone, even in the most conservative context, knew and loved someone who was Gay.


That made me think of youth climate activism, and the goal of the Sunrise Movement—for one example—to get hundreds of thousands more young people active in the next big thing, a climate strike on Earth Day. I’ve seen the power of young people’s passion about the earth, to shape their families’ practices and require grown-ups to rethink their priorities. I’ve seen the hunger of young people for a way to express their fears about the climate crisis. What can we do to support youth movements like Sunrise to help us reach a point where everyone, even in the most conservative context, knows and loves a young person who is deeply concerned about the future of the planet and is in motion to make a change?


This thought is helping me focus my climate energy. I’m listening regularly to several activists in Sunrise, teaching them RC, and helping keep them centered in their work and their lives. I’m letting the youth in my circles (and their parents) know about these opportunities for activism. I’m supporting the movement financially. I’m encouraging everyone I know to do any and all of the same.