Look 👀 Out for a Petition to the Biden Administration to do Our Fair Share Soon!

How to Take Action

“3-Legged Stool” Theory of Transformational Change Asks People to Commit to Action in a Multitude of Ways

  • Relational 

    • Relational actions speak to the ways we call on our beliefs, traditions and communities to make sense of the tensions between joy and pain around climate change and to provide wisdom and sustenance for this life-long work. It also involves the ways we can work to bring balance and health to our relationships with ourselves, each other, and the natural world. Education and guidance are important when it comes to shifting the narrative.  Below are some examples of how to both deepen your community’s connections and spiritual commitment to climate justice. ​

    • Examples: 

      • Host a community education session to imagine what your community could look like if the US did its fair share on climate action. 

      • Call your networks and communities/schools/congregations/teams to action. Talk about what needs to happen to get the US to do its Fair Share.

      • Add an aspect of discussion around Global Responsibility to your community gatherings! 

      • What else uplifts the relationships you hold? 

  • Systemic

  • We know that individual action isn’t enough - to address the climate crisis, we must change the deeper systems that have created this crisis. Working for systemic change is about using our voices to advocate for policies and structures that ensure a livable future for all. This includes policy campaigns like ShiftUS, mobilizations like the People’s Climate March, and more! 

  • Example:

    • Policy Priority: Pressure the US State Department begins to act on and accept its Fair Shares of Climate finance to the Global South.

    • Read the U.S. Fair Shares Nationally Determined Contribution document that will be presented to the U.S. State Department and White House, urging it to begin immediate action. 

  • Strategic Systemic Change Activities:

  • Local Conference of Youth US - Policy Document Release Calling for the US to do Fair Share

  • Calls to US Youth Leaders and Orgs urging the US to be a Climate Leader

    • Share social media content: IPCC charts, Fair Shares Videos, Congressional Inquiry, Tweets

    • TikTok - @POTUS do your fair share for climate action!

  • Community Virtual Tour- Ask your networks and communities to sign on to Biden letter and record a video of themselves telling Biden “Do your Fair Share for Climate Action!” “It’s time to Pay Up for Climate Finance!” 

  • Practical

    • We must accomplish all of the above. As a country, we have to start by shifting the political conversation in the United States to what is needed and what the future can look like.

    • Practical climate actions involve individual and collective actions that reduce you or your community’s carbon footprint. In the case of the United States, because we are the largest historical emitter of Greenhouse Gasses (GHG), and the largest producers of fossil fuels currently, it is imperative that the ways that we take practical climate action also include a global approach. This looks like localized solutions and global solutions. 

    • Adaptation: Countries and communities need to develop adaptation solutions and implement actions to respond to current and future climate change impacts.

    • Mitigation: Efforts to reduce emissions and enhance sinks (think- forests that absorb carbon dioxide). 

    • Loss & Damage: Loss and damage refers to the negative effects of climate change that occur despite mitigation and adaptation efforts. While mitigation addresses the causes of climate change (like reducing greenhouse gas emissions) and adaptation addresses its impacts (like building sea walls to prevent flooding), loss and damage is concerned with the unavoidable and irreversible impacts of the climate crisis.

    • Individually, we know practical actions aren’t enough to stop climate change immediately, but they are still an essential part of climate action! Below are examples of practical solutions you and your team can build into your action plan. 

    • Examples:

      • Contact your local government representatives to Sign On to a letter to the Biden Administration urging Congress to Contact your local government to integrate zero-waste strategies

      • Get your school/organization/business to have conversations that build shared knowledge so that we can in support of climate finance– the more we talk about it in our communities, the more people can speak up