My Kinda Nasty: a "HEATED" Affair

Start with an easy explainer on why a changing climate matters.

Remember when talking about the weather was "small talk"? Now it can feel alarming, confusing, or even controversial.

From Probable Futures, this 5 minute explainer on the climate crisis is gold. It answers common questions like, "Wasn't the climate unstable way before human activity?" "Is it really cause for such concern?" and "What can we even do about it?" 

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You might be super familiar with with climate change, but this short video will still teach you something. It's a clear way of understanding that something's up. It's time to work together to change this dynamic that is no longer working for us, because we deserve healthy, joyful lives here on Earth.

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Watch the video. (5 minutes)

Next, get HEATED and learn about Big Oil's dirty tricks.

Big Oil knew that its business model was leading to the destruction of human life on Earth since waaay back in the 70s, when Exxon's own scientists warned that burning fossil fuels would lead to an increase in greenhouse gases and a resulting threat to the stable global climate. Over the next 55 years, instead of innovating to meet the moment and lead the way to healthy energy grids, economies, and ecosystems, the fossil fuel industry banded together to spend tens of millions every year on marketing and lobbying campaigns that continue to stall climate action. As a result, the stable global climate that civilization has depended on for 10,000 years has been disrupted in the span of just over 150 years. 

We could've been in such a different place today, if only they had vision, imagination, wisdom. Instead, we're fighting delusional billionaires who continue to tout the idea that we can have infinite growth on a planet with finite resources. They're like a lying, cheating, gaslighting toxic ex that just won't let us go -- but we're done.

To move beyond them, first we have to understand their dirty tricks. 

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Listen to Drilled "S1E1 | The Bell Labs of Energy" (17 minutes)

Listen to Drilled "S3, Ep1 | The Father of Public Relations" (16 minutes)

Check out "Exxon’s Climate Denial History: A Timeline" by Greenpeace.

Now, you're heated. But remember that you're also HOT.

Scientifically, spiritually, in every way -- we're all connected. Think of the air, the water, the microbiome, the vibes. If something's off somewhere, it's off everywhere. Poison the pot of soup in one place, you poison the whole pot. 

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At the same time, mend something in one place and it mends a thread in the whole tapestry. 

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Our toxic ex Big Oil might want us to think that there's no future without them, but in reality, we actually have the solutions we need, and you have a voice, a spirit, a power -- let's learn how to put the two together.

It starts with knowing your shit. Don't let anyone tell you that we can't find a better way forward -- a just and equitable transition is just waiting for us to claim her.

Solutions exist.

Learn about TEK

Traditional Ecological Knowledge, the original technology. Hyperlocal, TEK has been used for over ten thousand years and is the way that indigenous and ancestral cultures around the world have managed to build economies and societies that prioritize surviving and thriving for generations in the local environment. This resource is from the Tongva Taraxat Paxaavxa Conservancy.

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The Solutions Project: 100% Renewable Energy Vision

Explore this interactive map to see what 100% renewable energy could look like where you live in the year 2050.​

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All We Can Save: Truth, Courage, and Solutions for the Climate Crisis 

A national bestselling book by Ayana Elizabeth Johnson and Katharine K. Wilkinson. This is a collection of essays from "women at the forefront of the climate movement who are harnessing truth, courage, and solutions to lead humanity forward."

You are a solution in human form.

This movement is the place to be, and you're the one we've been waiting for. There are as many solutions as there are people. Your power is profound. Here are just two ideas to get you started on how to harness it, keeping in mind that the best individual action is the action that moves you beyond your individual self and into the collective.  ​

Your weekend plans.

Mutual aid is all about folks coming together to share what they’ve got -- time, skills, money, food -- so everyone’s needs get met, no strings attached. It’s like a big community group chat, except IRL, where everyone’s got each other’s back, whether in the face of a major crisis or just for everyday needs. It's We the People filling the gaps and building healthier alternative systems in our local areas. Mutual aid can include grocery distribution, free medical clinics, community fridges, skill-sharing, community childcare, and more.

If you're new like we are, good news: mutual aid has been going on forever. You don't need to start something, just join. And you don't need to know what you're doing -- just show up with curiosity and a willingness to build a new civic muscle.

The best part is your existing skills are always helpful because there are so many types of mutual aid -- maybe you're a doctor, or you speak Spanish, or you have a car, or you have two able hands. Everyone's invited.

We recommend going with a friend and building some mutual aid minutes into your regular weekend flow -- gym, brunch, grocery distribution anyone? 

Mutual aid is highly local. Here are a few places to start (send us any you love in your areas, too!):

LA

Mutual Aid LA Network (a connector and info hub to help you find out what's going on in LA)

All Power Books (grocery distribution, medical clinic)

Los Angeles Community Fridges
 

NYC

Mutual Aid NYC (a network of groups where you can find your fit!)

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National

Mutual Aid Disaster Relief (another network to help you find your fit)

Tell 'em: "You broke it, you buy it."

"Big Oil is facing the music." 

Climate superfunds are big pools of money set up to make sure polluters pay for the mess they've made -- especially the big fossil fuel companies. Instead of everyday people footing the bill for wildfires, floods, and rising energy costs, these funds hold the real culprits accountable. The money goes toward rebuilding communities, protecting vulnerable folks, and making sure we’re ready adapting to our climate needs. It's an effort to make the billionaires who broke the planet help fix it.

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Make Polluters Pay is a campaign to build public support for climate litigation and other efforts to hold fossil fuel companies accountable.

In their own words: "There is a growing global effort to hold Big Oil accountable for their climate disinformation and the damage they’re doing. Cases in South Africa, the Netherlands, the United States, and beyond are already making their way through the courts. In the United States, 46 states, cities, and municipalities, representing more than a quarter of the U.S. population, are suing fossil fuel companies for fraud and climate damages. Multiple states are working to pass “climate superfund” bills that would make polluters pay for climate damages. There are also Congressional investigations underway into Big Oil disinformation.

Modeled on the Truth Campaign that went after Big Tobacco, Make Polluters Pay is building a groundswell of public support behind legal and political efforts to hold the fossil fuel industry accountable for climate damages."

Check out their toolkits and take action.

Stay inspired by deepening your knowledge & awareness of the incredible, 
ongoing climate movement.

Train your algorithm. 

Follow solutions-based and community-empowering organizations and independent news outlets so you're always calibrated away from despair and towards energy. You can start with any initiative or organization mentioned in this guide.

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Books, books, books!

Hard copies, audio, e-books -- just books galore!

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Metamorphosis: Climate Fiction for a Better Future by Grist 

This Changes Everything: Capitalism vs. the Climate by Naomi Klein

Doughnut Economics: Seven Ways to Think Like a 21st-Century Economist by Kate Raworth

Drawdown: The Most Comprehensive Plan Ever Proposed to Reverse Global Warming​ by Paul Hawken

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Independent Journalism

Grist (and Grist Solutions)

Drilled (+ the Drilled podcast)

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Silver Screen

Yintah -- a documentary on Wet'suwet'en resistance to Canadian colonialism and the Coastal GasLink pipeline. On Netflix. Goosebump-inducing.

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How to Blow Up a Pipeline -- a heist-style feature film. "With the climate crisis at a dangerous point of no return, a group of brave environmental activists come up with a daring plan to make their voices heard and disrupt an oil pipeline." On Hulu.

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The Nitty Gritty Science

If you like reports, here's the official one: the 6th report from the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC). This is the most recent report from the UN body tasked with surveying thousands of studies from scientists around the world that research and report the effects of climate change.