8 Dynamics of Climate Engagement

This is about purpose—the why or whys that fuel us, stoking the proverbial fire in the hearth of the belly. It is also about imagination—growing our capacity to look beyond the fissures and troubles of the present, which can sometimes be so all-consuming, and to catch sight of the future we do want, one that is genuinely life-giving for everyone and the beyond-human world. Our motivations often source from our values or guiding principles, and they offer us a wellspring for participation.

This honors the truth of our fundamental interconnection and interdependence. We are connected to Earth, to each other. Actively tending the felt nature of that connection—the vibrant threads between us—is vitally important. On so many levels, we need one another to take part in planetary healing, from cheering each other up to cheering each other on. And what is climate transformation ultimately about if not returning to reciprocal relationship with the living Earth? We aim to move into alignment with life.

Human beings are a storytelling species. Though it has not been central to much popular art, film, and literature—yet—the collective climate story is a tale being told in real time, in our time. Do we see ourselves in it? Do we have a sense that we belong in the narrative—not as bystanders, victims, or villains, but as actors in the most fundamental sense? Do we dare to take up the pen or paint a fresh scene or sing new verses? Ultimately, we are the shapers of this story, right from within its pages.

The reality of the climate crisis is heavy, and climate engagement can be too. Around the world, there is swelling grief, anxiety, fear, anger, numbness, shame, exhaustion. Burnout within the climate community is rampant. In our rhythms as individuals and in groups, we need and deserve time to go dark and dormant, to pause and rest. Having the space, skills, and support to be with our difficult emotions is essential—to let the heart metabolize what is hard and to renew the wonder, reverence, and love that often live at the root of our participation.

This is about our ability to wrap our heads around the problem and grasp the ways we might respond to the urgency stamped in our atmosphere. When it comes to climate change, what are we dealing with, and how did it come to be? What solutions are in hand? How can we deploy them in ways that are fast, fruitful, and fair, especially to those most climate-burdened? This is also about continuing to learn over time. We can keep following the questions that pull at our curiosity, honoring that knowledge is powerful and ever partial.

There is so much we each can do, and none of us can do it all. Not even close. Some of the work is more yours than mine, some more mine than theirs. As a small part of a vast collective, can we each navigate to our best ways to help? Can we hold clarity around what those roles are, while also allowing that they will necessarily evolve as we do, and as the world around us does? This is about moving through cloudy complexity into lucid direction, again and again.

Here, theory becomes practice and intentions become deeds. To begin an ascent, a climber on a rockface reaches for a first handhold or foothold. Each hold allows for the next, though not always, or even often, in a straight line. Can we find ways to take meaningful climate action in our daily lives, at work or school, and in the public square? Can we find opportunities to collaborate, tapping into the might of many hands? Not every move will mean progress. It’s a core capacity to stop, make sense of things, and continue the climb.

This is really about lifeforce—the most potent, persistent dynamic on this planet. Lifeforce is our multi-billion-year inheritance, passed down to us despite all odds. It could also be our legacy. There is profound aliveness in possibility. Can we dance with the odds, even when they seem hopelessly long? Can we tap into our authentic power—not external power over, but internal power rising up from within? And can we find joy along the way—that shimmering delight in the very thing we aim to sustain: life itself?