Small, individual climate action can be scaled up
Hundreds of global leaders are gathering to discuss how to limit climate change at COP30 in Brazil. Meanwhile, the rest of us may feel that we have very little influence over how decision-makers shape policy with wide-ranging effects on the planet.
But “very little” is not “nothing.” Joining others in community-based actions can have a far larger impact than one person can have alone.
“Rather than acting as an individual by yourself trying to make yourself as small as possible, (you can) join with others to try to make your impact as big as possible,” said Leah Stokes, environmental politics and public policy professor at the University of California, Santa Barbara.
Community action takes different forms. The most effective option depends on what kind of change you’re trying to accomplish. Here are three common approaches in the United States.
Voting is often the most effective climate action in a democratic country because large-scale policies are typically set by elected officials, according to some climate experts.
“You have direct access to decide who makes the decisions,” said environment professor Anthony Leiserowitz, who directs the Yale Program on climate change communication. “They’re the ones that we are basically choosing as our leaders to make these system-level choices for us that are going to profoundly affect our lives.”
Votes matter
For example, the United States has twice withdrawn from the Paris Agreement climate treaty after voters elected President Donald Trump, who deprioritizes climate action.
Leiserowitz said some might think that a single vote doesn’t make a meaningful difference in a country as large as the United States, where more than 150 million people participated in last year’s election.
“And yet we have seen again and again, including the most recent election, that actually these are incredibly close, and that votes do matter,” he said.
Local governance
Voters also elect members of Congress who make budget decisions and write laws. There are also often climate-related ballot measures. Governors and state lawmakers shape policies in their area. Elected leaders of local governments decide on public transit routes, trash collection, bike lanes and public electric vehicle chargers that can change people’s behavior and reduce planet-warming emissions.
“As a US citizen who feels as though policy decisions are being made that are far beyond their control, I think there are still meaningful ways to engage,” said Finn Hossfeld, climate policy analyst at New Climate Institute. “Those are changes that are happening at the state level that are shielded from changes that are happening at the federal level.”
There are two ways to do this: Call local, state and federal representatives or show up at public meetings.
Ideally, elected officials cast votes and propose laws that represent the will of their constituents. They generally wish to remain popular so they can get reelected. In both cases, knowing and acting on your opinion is important to them.
The US House and Senate have directories of representatives and their contact information. State and local representatives also typically list contact information on their websites.
Council participation
City councils, county boards and school boards have public meetings where residents can share their opinions before elected officials make decisions. Leiserowitz said sometimes these meetings are not well-attended, so an individual can have an outsized impact.
“Nobody ever focuses on public utility commissions. Most of them, by law, have to have public hearings where they are deciding what energy system you are going to be using when you flip on that light switch. Is it being driven by fossil fuels? Is it been driven by clean energy?” he said. “Most people don’t even realize they’re there.”
When she’s not teaching or writing, Stokes collaborates with students and activists to advocate for phasing out oil and gas in her community. She said collective action can be even more effective when people seek smaller changes closer to home.
“Every day, people can show up to local hearings. They can show up to a permit process for a solar project,” she said. “All the action happens really at the scale of a building, at the scale of the car, at the scale of an oil well.”
Constituency demand
Nonprofits, think tanks, legal action groups and advocacy groups will sometimes select legislation to challenge or support. They often rely on volunteers with specific expertise to make a dent in the issues they’re protesting or backing. If you like what they’re doing, you can increase their impact by joining.
“Political systems, economic systems, social systems tend not to just change because it’s the smart thing to do. They change because there’s a constituency demanding it. And that’s particularly true in democracies,” Leiserowitz said.
For example, maybe your issue is a more efficient and comprehensive US rail network. Alone, there isn’t much you can do about it. “I would love to be able to take a high-speed, highly energy-efficient bullet train from New York to California, but I can’t do that because I live in a society that hasn’t given me that option,” he said.
But there are multiple groups working to make better trains a reality.
Leiserowitz said another positive effect of public action is that it signals to others that it’s worth the effort and encourages them to try it themselves.
“On a research standpoint, when we ask Americans, ‘What gives you hope?’ There’s one answer that comes back that’s bigger than any other,” he said. “And that is seeing other people acting.”
