# How to become a climate activist

*2020-02-07*

> A reading and watching list for understanding the climate crisis, the solutions on the table, and the things you can actually do about it.

https://adamstoner.com/climate/

**Understand the problem**

- [Watch Climate 101 with Bill Nye](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3v-w8Cyfoq8)
- Watch Al Gore's 2006 documentary [An Inconvenient Truth](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Bu6SE5TYrCM)
- Read [This Changes Everything](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/This_Changes_Everything_(book)) by Naomi Klein
- Keep an eye on [respectable news outlets](https://www.theguardian.com/) and recognise and accept that extreme weather events and climate change are inextricably linked
- Find out more about global carbon budgets and what happens if we exceed them by reading [Global Carbon Budget 2019](https://www.earth-syst-sci-data.net/11/1783/2019/)
- Read the [Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change's Special Report](https://www.ipcc.ch/sr15/) on what happens at a global warming of just 1.5ºC

**Understand the solutions**

- Accept [there is consensus](https://climate.nasa.gov/scientific-consensus/). 97% of peer-reviewed climate scientists agree climate change is human-caused.
- Watch Al Gore's 2017 documentary [An Inconvenient Sequel](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=huX1bmfdkyA)
- Read [Project Drawdown](https://www.drawdown.org/): The Most Comprehensive Plan Ever Proposed to Reverse Global Warming
- Read [How Bad Are Bananas: The Carbon Footprint of Everything](https://www.amazon.co.uk/How-Bad-are-Bananas-Everything/dp/1846688914) by Mike Berners-Lee
- Research zero-waste living. Research plastic-free lifestyles. Research recycling schemes in your area and fossil fuel free sources of power (I use use [Bulb](https://bulb.co.uk))

**Act**

- Swap to products and companies that share your newfound values
- Weigh your options and cut your own carbon footprint
- Read [This is Not a Drill: An Extinction Rebellion Handbook](https://www.penguin.co.uk/books/314/314671/this-is-not-a-drill/9780141991443.html)
- Read [No One Is Too Small to Make a Difference](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/No_One_Is_Too_Small_to_Make_a_Difference) or [watch a speech](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=H2QxFM9y0tY) by Greta Thunberg
- Read [On Fire by Naomi Klein](https://naomiklein.org/on-fire/)
- Donate to an environmental not-for-profit
- Plant trees (US: [One Tree Planted](https://onetreeplanted.org/) / UK: [Offset Earth](https://offset.earth))
- [Write to your local elected representatives](https://www.writetothem.com/) and ask what they're doing to address the climate crisis. Press them. Keep pressing them. Fire them if they don't act. 
- Write to your local business leaders and ask what they're doing to address the climate crisis. Press them. Keep pressing them. Boycott their companies if they don't act. 
- Refuse to debate the science. The climate crisis is fact and we have no time for liars or self-preservationists. 
- Go on a climate march
- Go on [climate strike](https://globalclimatestrike.net/)
- Tell others about the climate crisis (and feel free to share this page to help inform them)