Why your climate story matters more than you think

To promote positive change, stating that climate change is your top priority is akin to saying attending church is the most essential activity of the week. Both involve acting on your personal beliefs without sharing much about the reasoning behind them. Without the clarifying details that make the existential crisis more personal and relatable for others, people will stereotype you as ‘other,’ from a different tribe.

And you may ask yourself, “Why is no one listening to me? Why am I so alone?

Today, we accept as fact the findings of learned, peer-reviewed scientific and government publications, much like the words of ancient oracles and biblical scholars.

Most everybody knows that climate change is as old as the Fertile Crescent, located in the valley of the Tigris and Euphrates River, where it was transformed from an agricultural region to a desert, and the climate changed.

Where is the water flowing underground, under the rocks and stones, and into the blue again, to paraphrase the Talking Heads? Once in a lifetime, opportunities arise to restore vegetation and soils, turning hardscapes and heat islands into green landscapes — even if it’s just with potted plants on cement stoops.

Cool the planet by greening hardscapes and eliminating stormwater; to quote the Velvet Underground, you know it’ll be alright.