2024 broke the 1.5°C level with a shocking +1.6°C compared to pre-industrial levels. This is hotter than Earth has ever been in the last 10.000+ years. The warming of our planet is primarily caused by the burning of fossil fuels and the way we use our land. In other words, human activity is causing the climate crisis. The results are supercharged storms, floods, and extreme droughts affecting entire ecosystems and billions of people. One very recent example is the most extreme wildfires in California in recent history, while also having an extreme snowstorm in Southern areas, both causing massive damage and disrupting the lives of millions of people. Many lives were lost because of it. Most disturbing is the acceleration, meaning it is not just getting hotter but hotter at a faster rate. Climate scientist Prof. Johan Rockström in 2024 warned that buffering systems such as oceans may have warmed so much they are slowing in the uptake of heat from the atmosphere, and may have begun to fail.
Ironically this is happening while one of the biggest climate deniers has just taken office in the US. And many more right wing politicians have taken top political positions in countries around the world. Suppressing activism, stripping rights from women, the LGBTQ+ community, and people of color. Abusive and self-centered people are using people's feelings against them to gain power, such as anxiety over a possible WW3, fear of a changing world, and increased stress, and so on.
Still climate justice activists are a source of hope. Our most important tool in this struggle may be empathy. Empathy will allow us to connect on a deeper level with those who feel alienated, to guide them towards action. We can encourage people to begin their activism journey by letting them focus on a topic they are passionate about and letting them grow from there. This is how many of us started, and all of us are still learning, even those who have been activists for decades. Even when a new person may seem far from ideal, they might be OK. In a personal experience, I met a person interested in fighting for climate stability, but at the same time also a racist. Inspired by this TED-talk I wanted to give this person a chance. After talking to the people of color in the group, we let him in. It later turned out that the new person was born and raised in a highly racist community. By joining the group the racist person was working alongside the people of color, and he had to conclude by his own experience that people of color weren’t so bad after all. This experience opened the eyes and the mind of the new person, leading the new person not only to drop the racist attitude, but even to an anti-racist mindset, and an open mindset overall. He went back home to share his experience opening the eyes of others in his community.
Allow everyone to work with their passions, where some activists may want to fight every battle, others may not. Fighting for climate stability, and inclusion, and peace, and equity, and human rights, and environment, and intersectionality, all at once can be overwhelming, time and energy-consuming. So it might be good to allow a person to learn and grow while being a part of the movement. People may also not be able to join some types of activism due to personal issues, such as trauma.
1.5°C was not chosen because passing it means complete devastation, 1.5°C was chosen because it was the safest achievable option. Now that 1.5°C is surpassed, we should keep fighting as every bit of a degree matters. Scientists actually look at the 10-year average, which is at 1.2 - 1.4°C of global warming.
In the upcoming years, we have to find creative ways to continue our activism as oppression by governments is likely to be on the rise while climate change surges more with truth on our side. During COVID we’ve already shown that we can be very creative. This Newsletter can play a role in spreading ideas and inspiring creativity. Should you have any creative inspirations, send them on and we’ll make sure all the readers get to know about it.
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