If you are tired of worrying about our overheating planet, you will want to read Christine Penner Polle’s Unfreeze Yourself. Her book will show you how to shift from fear and paralysis to meaningful action in the face of the climate crisis. “It is for busy but concerned people, particularly parents, that I wrote this book,” says Christine.
This article summarizes Unfreeze Yourself’s “five ways to take action on climate change now for the sake of your family, your health, and the planet.” The piece is a blend of text drawn from the book (with Christine’s permission) intermingled with my own writing.
Unfreeze Yourself – Five Ways to Take Action
1. Break the silence
It’s important to talk about climate change every day, with different people including elected officials. Christine provides tips to make this happen. Christine and I and dozens of our Citizens’ Climate Lobby friends have been lobbying Members of Parliament in Ottawa for several years. Our discussions focus on climate change and the pricing of carbon.
You too can become part of the climate dialogue by learning how to communicate effectively about climate change.
2. Join other climate-concerned citizens
Fighting climate change alone can easily drain one’s energy and spirit. I speak from experience on the matter of climate burnout and the emotional consequences of being a climate activist. Unfreeze Yourself stresses the importance of joining a climate group to become more effective and maintain a life-choice balance.
And studies show that people who volunteer their time with a group have an increased sense of satisfaction and well-being along with a reduced rate of depression. Creating a livable future doesn’t require joyless activism.
3. Plan regular time in nature
There are more than just health benefits to time in nature. A love of nature learned early results in adults who are good stewards of the planet. Our disconnection from nature has made it difficult to comprehend the reality of global warming even as signs of its impacts increase.
Spending time in nature is a vital investment in our children’s and grandchildren’s health, and also our own. Also, it’s an essential investment in a stable climate for future generations
4. Know the scientific consensus
Christine and I are not scientists but we do not need to be to fight climate change. We only have to stand on the shoulders of the 97 percent of climate scientists who agree, based on the evidence, that global warming is happening and is human-caused. We speak on their behalf. But that is not all.
There are countless resources available to support the ground evidence about the ravages of global warming that we witness daily – books, websites, scientific associations, prominent businesses, climate groups. Many of these are calling on governments and world leaders to place an effective price on carbon pollution as an important step towards addressing global warming.
Chrisitine mentions the importance of choosing a “climate school” in which to enroll. Organizations like the Citizens’ Climate Lobby, the Climate Reality Leadership Corps, and I add 350.Org, provide excellent training, direction, and key resources for our advocacy and writing.
5. Share the GOOD NEWS
The magnitude and severity of global warming demands a planetary-size strategy. Small steps will no longer suffice. Although individual actions are collectively important, climate problems are systemic and require massive government intervention.
Pricing carbon on a global scale is one of the big solutions for the big problem of global warming. And far from being negative, the carbon-pricing imperative opens up opportunities just now becoming apparent.
A price on carbon and the shift to a clean energy economy opens a window for us to create a society that values clean air, clean water and our children’s future, not to mention the opportunities for a rapid transition to a clean energy platform.
We are entering a world in which everything we hold dear is increasingly at risk from a changing climate. Each of us has a role to play in the powerful changes that we will witness in the coming decades. Those of us calling for climate sanity believe that a paradigm shift is coming that is good news for us as individuals and the planet.
This post provides just a glimpse of the potential of Unfreeze Yourself as a guide to help those of you wishing to do more to fight climate change for the sake of your family, your health and the planet. I highly recommend Christine’s book.
Unfreeze Yourself is available for purchase at Amazon. Get your copy and Join Us!
For anyone who recognizes the scale of the problem we are dealing with in regards to global warming, this is an excellent primer to guide their particular response – Mark Reynolds, Executive Director, Citizens’ Climate Lobby.
Each of us has a role to play in the coming transformation. It is an honour to be alive in times like these — Christine Penner Polle
Christine Penner Polle is an educator and mother who lives in northern Ontario. A registered nurse for 25 years, Christine is committed to doing her part to promote personal and planetary healing. One of the first three people to bring Citizens Climate Lobby to Canada in 2010, Christine now works with the Climate Reality Project and Transition Red Lake as well as in her wellness practise to ensure a livable planet for future generations. Visit her website at www.tappingcourage.com. You can follow Christine on Twitter and Facebook.
