We can't solve climate change unless we have an international response. Always make sure to vote for those who support climate legislature! Before elections, look at each candidates description. Ask yourself questions about them:

• Do they support climate legislature?

• Do they prioritize climate legislature?

• What is their past record?

• Have they or still do support fossil fuel companies?

• Do they have a plan in place for legislature?

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Not only vote for politicians, you need to vote also for bills and attend town halls. Understand what is going on in your community. If there is something that concerns the environment that is being talked about in the city council, attend it and put your voice forward. If there is a new bill being passed that could mean a carbon dividend, urge your politicians to vote 'yes.' If there is a new pipeline coming into your area that can harm you and the environment, tell others about the issue and vote 'no.'

Start making change by working in your community by joining an eco group or starting one yourself! Here are some popular examples of joinable climate organizations. 

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Fridays for Future

"FFF, is a global climate strike movement that started in August 2018, when 15-year-old Greta Thunberg began a school strike for climate. In the three weeks leading up to the Swedish election, she sat outside Swedish Parliament every school day, demanding urgent action on the climate crisis. She was tired of society’s unwillingness to see the climate crisis for what it is: a crisis.

To begin with, she was alone, but she was soon joined by others. On the 8th of September, Greta and her fellow school strikers decided to continue their strike until the Swedish policies provided a safe pathway well under 2° C, i.e. in line with the Paris agreement. They created the hashtag #FridaysForFuture, and encouraged other young people all over the world to join them. This marked the beginning of the global school strike for climate.

Their call for action sparked an international awakening, with students and activists uniting around the globe to protest outside their local parliaments and city halls. Along with other groups across the world, Fridays for Future is part of a hopeful new wave of change, inspiring millions of people to take action on the climate crisis, and we want you to become one of us!"

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Sunrise Movement

"The Sunrise Movement is a youth movement to stop climate change and create millions of good jobs in the process. We’re building an army of young people to make climate change an urgent priority across America, end the corrupting influence of fossil fuel executives on our politics, and elect leaders who stand up for the health and wellbeing of all people."

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Citizen's Climate Lobby

"Citizens’ Climate Lobby is a nonprofit, nonpartisan, grassroots advocacy climate change organization focused on national policies to address climate change.

Our consistently respectful, nonpartisan approach to climate education is designed to create a broad, sustainable foundation for climate action across all geographic regions and political inclinations. By building upon shared values rather than partisan divides, and empowering our supporters to work in keeping with the concerns of their local communities, we work towards the adoption of fair, effective, and sustainable climate change solutions.

In order to generate the political will necessary for passage of the Energy Innovation and Carbon Dividend Act we train and support volunteers to build relationships with elected officials, the media and their local community."

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For more non-profit organizations, go to this link Top 50 Non-Profit Organizations Working to Stop Climate Change from ClimateStore.

Change starts at the local level. Let your local government know why you care about climate change by writing them a message or calling them! You should contact your representative and your senators.

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Helpful tips to make your message noticeable:

1. Make it personal. Your local legislature would most likely not consider a pre-made, unemotional message to be readable. When you are writing, tell them how it is impacted you, how it is impacting them, how it is impacting everyone. Also, try and keep your story local. A politician is worried about it's citizens rather than someone else's. We are not Greenland. Consider asking yourself, "Who am I talking too?" "What are they most concerned about?" "How can I tie that to climate?" Additionally, think about both sides of the issue. Not only why climate change is hurting us, but why transferring to green power is better for us. 

2. Do it at least once of month. The more frequently you tell your representative and senators, they more likely they will consider your concern. You do not need to write an entirely new letter, but change the wording and make it more relevant to the times. For example, that month a flood occurred in your state that caused people's home to be destroyed.

3. Encourage others. Ask people you know who want not only want to help but are interested in climate justice. If we want politicians to notice our concerns, we must continue to pressure them. The more messages, the better.

When people take to the streets, join them! Make yourself heard and let the government know why you want justice! They do not need to large scale with hundreds of people. Some climate activists and groups will protest with only ten people! Here is a section from the National Youth Rights Association on how to create and execute a successful event. Note that these answers are for any age, although they focus on students and some parts of the original website's page were cut out:

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Types of Protests

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When people think of protesting, they often picture a large march, but there’s lots of different ways to get your point across.

• Sit-ins involve peacefully occupying a public space by sitting for a designated period of time and are popular in schools and colleges. Sit-ins for student rights have taken place outside the offices of college presidents and in high school courtyards. A sit-in demanding academic freedom could entail students sitting in on a class they’re not allowed to take, sitting outside a principal’s office, or occupying a school board meeting.

• Silent protests can be done as part of refusing to participate in a required activity. You can organize your protest on a specific day and include symbols of solidarity such as wearing a specific color. In 2010, 2,086 students at West High in Madison, Wisconsin gathered for a silent sit-in to protest a change in their curriculum.

• Walkouts are often used in schools and colleges where a group simply leaves at a designated time in an effort to express disapproval. They can often lead into a rally or march. They also can occur spontaneously, in response to some event. Walkouts have a long history in the fight for student rights, including Barbara Johns who organized a walkout to protest poor school facilities and segregated schools in the 1950s and Mexican-American students that protested unfair treatments and corporal punishment in the 60s.

• Protest rallies involve people making speeches about an issue. You can invite someone to act as an emcee to lead protest chants and songs and other community members who support your issue. Rallies are often used at the beginning or end of protest marches, but can be used by themselves. Rallies should be creative to bring attention to your cause. In 2014, dozens of students from the Providence Student Union in Providence, RI dressed up as zombies for a rally against standardized testing.

• Picketing and protest marches are similar except a picket stays in one place, like in front of a business, and marches go from one location to another. In most places, you will have to remain on the sidewalk or other public areas unless you’ve obtained a permit from your local government.

• Boycotts are refusals to buy a product or participate in an activity. Boycotts can happen alongside a protest and are good to use as a last resort- just the threat of a boycott may be enough to make your opposition back down.

 

Planning Your Protest

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• Use your protest as part of a larger campaign. Depending on what your issue is, you should make sure that you’ve also used other methods to create change. If you are protesting a law or policy, let the people responsible know your complaint and give them a chance to respond. And since not everyone will be comfortable with protesting, make sure you are being inclusive by encouraging other ways for people to show their support, such as making phone calls, writing letters, or organizing a boycott. Holding a protest where not enough people show up might not help your campaign as much as other tactics, so you should make sure you have enough people to participate.

• Decide on a time and place. Protests can happen anywhere, but you should arrange your protest where it will be seen by as many people as possible. Some options include the sidewalk in front of a business, government offices, your school, or a park. If you’re protesting on private property without permission, the owner can ask you to leave and call the police to remove you if you don’t. You should also pick a time when you can get the most people to attend the protest (like a weekend), unless you want to specifically target someone (such as a legislator) and pick a time when they’ll be around. Obtain a permit, if needed.

• Publicize your protest. Make brightly-colored flyers and posters about the protest and put them up around town and your school. Hand out pamphlets. Publicize in your school newspaper and on social media. Make a press release and send it to local newspapers, to websites and blogs, and to other organizations that may support your message. Call local newspapers and radio stations and ask them to promote the protest. Be prepared to talk about your issue in case you are asked for an interview. Even if people don’t come, they may be curious and research it.

• Make a visual impact. Make brightly colored posters and banners with catchy slogans and bring some extra. Have pamphlets to help spread your message information on what you’re protesting to interested parties. Put the name of your chapter or group with your contact details so that people who are new to the issue will know who to contact to find out more. You can use chalk to write messages on public sidewalks.

• Be vocal. Learn or create some chants so that everyone knows what you’re protesting and why. Some examples include:

  • What do we want? Voting Rights! When do we want them? Now!

  • Hey, hey! Ho, ho! Curfew laws have got to go!

  • Youth rights are human rights!

  • Whose schools? Our schools!

• Document your event and have fun. Even if you are protesting something serious, you can make your protest entertaining. Take pictures and post them on social media. Live stream or record your protest. Keep the people energized and having fun.

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Making Art

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Art has been a driving force in every major social movement. Songs, street performances, plays, films, literature, and paintings have the power to change people’s understanding of an issue, raise awareness, and bring activists together. Art provides a universal language that gives voice to individuals and communities and is accessible across social boundaries. Art that is made by young people or portrays young people in a positive way can also make youth feel empowered.

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Going on Strike

 

Strikes have been used successfully throughout US labor history. Workers use strikes to show their bosses that they will not go away or return to the job until their demands are met. You can keep a strike engaging by chanting, marching around campus and bringing whistles, drums or other noisemakers to draw attention to yourself.

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It is also important to be flexible. Your tactics will be influenced by accidents, other people’s reactions to them, and necessity, so you may need to improvise to achieve your goal. Use your analysis of the situation to make sure you are in control of your tactics, instead of your tactics controlling you.

Most importantly, remember that it’s okay to feel scared and stressed out when organizing a protest, especially one on a huge scale. Allow yourself to feel whatever you’re feeling and deal with your stress and anxiety as they arise. Your emotions are valid, so don’t hesitate to take care of yourself and the people around you.

 

Know your rights

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Sometimes protests are unpredictable, but you should have a plan for how to deal with the police if they show up. Have proof of your permit, if you have one. Make sure you know your rights as a protester and are familiar with how to deal with police in case you get stopped by an officer.

 

MISSING CLASSES

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If your protest involves missing class, you may be punished for having an unexcused absence. However, that punishment should not be any worse than if you missed class for another reason.

Make sure you’ve checked your school’s policies on the punishments for unauthorized absences as well as their guidelines for suspensions. If you are being threatened with a punishment that is more extreme, it is possible that your school is reacting to the particular stance that you are taking, and that could be a violation of your freedom of speech. In many cases, students who walkout in large numbers can be spared punishment since the administration would not practically suspend everyone, but this really depends on your school and the issue. In these cases, schools may just choose to punish the organizers.

 

DISRUPTING CLASSES

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Schools could also punish you for disrupting other students’ right to an education. Legally, disruption is difficult to determine, but it can include interrupting classes, threatening or harassing others, violent behavior, preventing school events for taking place, or causing emotional distress. Sometimes even the behavior of others, such as a flood of calls from angry parents to the school, can be considered a disruption. However, if you are just walking out, the “disruption” caused may not be substantial enough to warrant any punishment.

Unfortunately, the Supreme Court has ruled on multiple occasions that students’ First Amendment rights do not apply when students are found guilty of disruption. Those rulings usually focus on the fact that classes and class schedules are disrupted and the students who remain in school are distracted during walkouts. Furthermore, federal courts have determined that “the First Amendment does not require school officials to wait until disruption actually occurs before they may act” (Karp v. Becken, Ninth Circuit, 1971). In another federal court case, (Dodd v. Rambis, Southern District Court of Indiana, 1981), the court ruled that students’ distribution of leaflets urging fellow students to engage in another student walkout was substantially disruptive to school activities. In that case, a judge explained: “The First Amendment does not require school officials to forestall action until disruption of the educational system actually occurs. Indeed, this is the very essence of the forecast rule.”

While the administration can punish you for disruption, they cannot prevent you from having a walkout, say by issuing a school lockdown, for example, without a legitimate safety concern.

When people take to the streets, join them! Make yourself heard and let the government know why you want justice! Here some excellent advice directly from the podcast "How to Save a Planet" from Gimlet":

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Step 1 – Set realistic expectations for yourself!

Your initial goal should be to lower the temperature around this issue. Even if you just succeed in attempting to talk to them one on one, or expressing a DESIRE to do so, that’s an important step forward! Do NOT set yourself an expectation that you will change how they feel about climate all in one go! 

Step 2 – Find a buddy!

Find someone you trust and feel comfortable with who’s down to be your support before and after having a challenging conversation with a friend or family member. Talk to them about what your fears are, and name some goals for what you’re doing to make this one go different. 

Step 3 – Find a quiet moment to talk to your family member

Ideally do it when you can be one on one, NOT surrounded by the whole family at the actual Thanksgiving table! Be direct and say “Hey, I’d love to find a time to talk more about this.” So that they have a chance to opt in.

Step 4 – Listen!

When the time comes to talk, start by letting them know that you really want to understand how they feel about climate change. Listen, and ask follow up questions “Tell me more? Why do you feel that way?” But importantly DON’T RESPOND. Don’t engage with the parts that you disagree with. Don’t try to debate or correct information, just give them a chance to talk it out and be heard. You don’t want this to go on forever, but you do want to let them get the crux of their feelings on the subject off their chest. 

Step 5 – Acknowledge that you disagree

Let them know what you think. For example “Got it. So you’re probably not surprised to hear it but I think climate change is real and human-caused” or “I think we should be responding to it in x/y/z ways.” But then most importantly, say “BUT I really want to find a way to talk to you about it openly, and better understand what each other thinks, even if we don’t agree.” In other words, name the elephant in the room – that you disagree – and name it without being upset about it! This helps make it OK to disagree, and be honest and vulnerable, without having to argue.

Step 6 – Make it personal.

Turn the conversation away from talking points and dueling facts, and towards their life and experiences, and your life and experiences. For example, I might share a story about my friend Laurel, whose sister lost her home to a wildfire in Paradise, CA, and how hearing her story was the first time I felt a knot of fear in my stomach, that my own community in Southern California could be in danger of the same thing. The key here is to share vulnerably, and then talk about how it made you FEEL.

And then (most importantly) invite them to do the same. Be prepared that their story could be about how environmentalists or Democrats have negatively impacted someone they know, like someone lost their job or is in danger of doing so. That’s OK too, as long as the story is specific and from their own life. Most importantly ask how that experience made them FEEL – bring emotion explicitly into the conversation.

Some more resources that we recommend:

• Check out this short video, The Secret to Talking about Climate Change, from the Alliance for Climate Education

• Watch this in-depth webinar, How to Talk About Climate Change at Thanksgiving Dinner feat. Dr. Katharine Hayhoe, by Young Evangelicals for Climate Action

• If you've got a conservative family member, Bob says you can send them to RepublicEN.org, where they can talk to them in the language of conservatism

A few of the research papers telling us that climate conversations matter:

• Discussing global warming leads to greater acceptance of climate science

• Children can foster climate change concern among their parents

• The influence of personal beliefs, friends, and family in building climate change concern among adolescents

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You can learn about this and an experience of former Republican congressman Bob Inglis and his kids on the podcast's episode "Trying to Talk to Family about Climate Change? Here's How."