Author, advocate, and Drawdown Georgia Leadership Council member Dr. Katharine Wilkinson was recently published in Time magazine. Her piece beautifully answers the question on so many people’s lips right now: What can I do about climate change?

Here we’ll take a look at the five tips Dr. Wilkinson shared in her piece and explore how supporters of Drawdown Georgia might put it into action:

1. Feel Your Feelings

   “There’s no getting around it: the climate crisis brings with it big feelings. If we’re awake to what’s unfolding on this planet, we experience some cocktail of compassion, grief, anger, anxiety, and even depression.”

   You may find that the first step you need to take is to give yourself some time to reflect on the emotions you are feeling. Write about them, talk about them with your friends and family, but don’t just bottle them up.

2. Scout Your Superpowers

   “We need a vast array of talents. We need whatever you’ve got to give.”

   Each of us have unique talents, resources, and expertise to contribute. If you’re unsure of how you might best deploy your skills, you may find inspiration in the stories shared in All We Can Save, each of which highlight the ways that climate leaders have utilized different types of skills and knowledge to advance solutions.

3. Survey Solutions

   “We can accelerate change by telling different stories, reshaping culture, building collective power, elevating good leaders, adopting different policies, investing money in solutions, innovating where we need to, and shifting our habits.”

   Drawdown Georgia has already done the legwork here - the 20 climate solutions identified by our research team as being the best suited to our state are the perfect place to start. Look at the list and think about which solutions, as Dr. Wilkinson asks, “light you up”?

4. Consider Your Context

   “To simplify things a bit, consider these three realms: your personal life, your professional life, and public life. What opportunities for action lie right at hand?”

   The potential to make a measurable difference may lie directly in front of you at your workplace, your church, your neighborhood, or your county. Begin by looking for opportunities to take action on climate that are close by.

5. Cultivate a Climate Squad

   “Collaboration and community get us to better answers and can keep us going when the work is hard.”

   Georgia is home to a wide variety of climate-focused organizations that welcome new members and volunteers. You might be surprised what you can turn up by searching for climate groups in your city or town. Just a few examples include looking for a local chapter of the Citizens Climate Lobby, the Sunrise Movement, Conservatives for Clean Energy, or Just Energy, an initiative from the Partnership for Southern Equity. The Drawdown Georgia events calendar is another great resource you can use to connect locally with others who are taking action on climate.

Read Dr. Wilkinson’s full piece: “What Can I Do to Fight Climate Change?”