The role that individual actions play in fighting the climate crisis is complex. No single person can replace the immense political changes needed to halt climate change at 1.5 degrees of warming, but every individual has a role to play. We can make a difference through the tangible impact we have (reducing just one ton of emissions can save 32sq feet of arctic ice), and we can further use our spare time, careers, or everyday words to influence the communities around us.
With our individual choices that we make everyday we have the power to send signals. Signals that “move money, change minds, inspire others, and drive more good policy discussions” (source).
So, what can an individual do?
We have boiled down that question to two distinct answers.
Individuals can use their skills, voices, and time, to drive change in their communities.
Individuals can engage in a few highly impactful behaviors that experts believe are absolutely necessary to limit global emissions.
How We Source Type 1 Actions
For type 1 actions, our team evaluated all potential actions under the following principle-
The project should help individuals:
1. Bring climate change into important discussions happening on the community, corporate, or national level.
2. Use their personal/professional skills in the best interests of the planet.
3. Get engaged with climate change as an issue going forward.
Examples of type 1 guides include “Take Action as an Employee” and “Join a Climate Movement”.
How We Source Type 2 Actions
For type 2 actions our team was guided by resources from Project Drawdown and Rare.org. Our team evaluated all behavioural changes under the precedent that they must be largely required for a potential pathway below 1.5C°.
Examples of type 2 guides include “Green Transport” and “Green your Diet”.
Our Content Creation Process
We have worked with over 30 professors, industry leaders, and environmentalists along the way to creating our projects. Within every project, we filter through all possible actions that individuals can take to find those with the highest impact, and those that help individuals make climate conversations a part of their daily life.
Once completed, each project has to be signed off on by our team, as well as our contributing editor, former Green Party MP Gareth Hughes.
How We Decide What Resources to Link to
We do not accept money from companies that we link to. We have carefully designated every link based on what our researchers and expert contributors believe will drive individuals towards climate action. Where we chose specific organizations or resources, it is a result of their public reputations and our working relationships with them.
Overall Guiding Principles
Our team hails from a mix of backgrounds, ethnicities, and political orientations.
As a group we work by three maxims:
We are non-partisan. We promote political advocacy to the extent that it affects climate policies. As such we check every site we link to for factual-accuracy and to make sure their work only orients itself towards what most mitigates carbon emissions.
We provide factual, well vetted information to our users. If we make a claim, we will provide a source for it. We strive to make sure it comes from reputable publications without bias on the mediabiasfactcheck.com or is backed by peer-reviewed studies.
We do not sell user data. Any information we collect is used to tailor the experience for users, to provide them a personalised set of recommendations.
Funding
We are funded by the Nicholas School of the Environment at Duke University, and founder of Kayak, Paul English. Neither of the funds when received came with any contractual obligations besides keeping them updated on our work’s progress for the planet.