Climate Lessons from a Virus #2: Global Reach

In my last blog I explored how covid and climate change are similar because both are largely invisible. ((Read it here.) A second similarity is that both are global. Can our experience of global covid help us face global climate change?

The Overwhelm of Global Reach

The first lesson from a global pandemic is simply its huge reach, touching so many corners of the world and our personal lives. I think we can expect climate change to face us as well with choosing among the countless actions to take.

What helped me when faced with the overwhelm the global pandemic was realizing my limits. I first focused on what quarantine would mean to me and mine if one person in the house had been exposed. I became a bit obsessive with making plans to manage it in my house and our community, including specific sleeping and bathing options and how much to try and control our cat.

What You Care About

I care about my cat. And now, looking back, that clarity of my caring was a pretty good guide for where to put my energy. Maybe you can look back now and see where what you care about has guided what you’ve been focusing on during covid. Some friends of mine, for example, have been quite clear about their priorities being grandkids. Others have highlighted food supplies, home schooling, or helping in the community.

Climate Layers

So how do you pick a corner of climate change that you care about. With climate affecting so many aspects of life (again with the overwhelming), I’ve been using the idea of layers to narrow things down. If you are looking for where to put any extra energy into climate change actions, you can zero in on the layer you care about most in two ways

 1. Fill out a questionnaire to identify your starting climate change layer Here.

New calf J57 is was spotted swimming with mother orca J35 on Saturday.

 2. Start listening for inspirational stories about what others are doing in the layer you care about.

Regular readers know that the layer I started out with was Habitats, and that focus on local coastlines quickly led to my caring about our local endangered Orca whales. The whales and those who study them continue to inspire me. Here's a rare video and writeup that touched my heart. It highlights mother nature's connection to our long-time researcher Ken Balcomb. Go straight to the 6-minute video at https://youtu.be/oxf9k2P2po8 .

 I hope it improves your day as it did mine and inspires you to zero in on what layer of climate change you care about.