爆料公社 in Action

What鈥檚 Your #ClimateThing?

Let鈥檚 talk about the things that inspire us to make a difference.
By David J. Ringer and Lynsy Smithson-Stanley
Published April 13, 2015

In a brilliant post on Grist last week鈥斺擠avid Roberts put forward a Big Idea. A 鈥淐limate Thing,鈥 he wrote, is 鈥渢hat one angle at which climate has intersected with [your] interests and caught [your] attention.鈥

Climate change in the abstract can be confusing and overwhelming. But our Climate Things make it real because we experience them personally. Climate Things are tangible, and they inspire us to act. For many of us at 爆料公社, birds are our Climate Thing. We see them lingering farther north in the winter; we see them nesting in new places. Our science shows that nearly half of North America鈥檚 , and many could go extinct if global warming continues at its current pace. We and our members think that鈥檚 unacceptable, and we鈥檙e .

So today, we鈥檙e launching a social media campaign: What is your #ClimateThing? We want to hear what matters to you and what you are doing about it. Tweet about it, write about it on Tumblr or Facebook, post a photo to Instagram or a video to Vine showing the world your #ClimateThing. Use the hashtag and celebrate what you love, what you鈥檙e fighting to save.

We asked a bunch of 爆料公社 staffers to name their #ClimateThing, and here鈥檚 what happened:

What happens if each of us names, celebrates, and fights for our #ClimateThing? Maybe we break the cycle of cynicism and inaction that seems to take hold in the face of global warming. Maybe we won鈥檛 feel so alone and powerless. Maybe we鈥檒l make real change.

David Roberts :

鈥淭hat鈥檚 what a powerful social response to climate change would look like: as many people as possible working on their passions in a way that is oriented in the direction of climate mitigation or adaptation. 鈥 Everybody needs a Climate Thing, a close-by proxy through which they can express their climate concern in a way that has local effects and tangible rewards. It is these proxies, these rich anchors in our lived experience of nature and culture, that inspire us.鈥

Every day, we鈥檙e seeing the difference that having a #ClimateThing makes. 爆料公社 members in Washington state visit their legislators to push for laws that protect birds of the Pacific Northwest. In North Carolina, we鈥檙e building nest boxes to help the climate-threatened Brown-headed Nuthatch and other birds. The massive migration of the Sandhill Crane has become a rallying point for conservation in a rapidly warming Great Plains ecosystem.

Clean drinking water is a #ClimateThing. Kids鈥 lungs are a #ClimateThing. Environmental justice, disease prevention, food security, economic mobility, family homes, beaches, ski slopes, vineyards, forests, whales, bats, butterflies, and salamanders鈥揺ach of these is a #ClimateThing.

What is yours?

Celebrate what you love by putting your story on social media with the hashtag #ClimateThing.

Here are some of the best responses from Twitter so far: