By Sarah Noel
It’s weirdly common now – that buzz in your chest when you read about the planet. The rising heat. The fires. The plastics that somehow end up in places no human’s ever even been. You start to wonder if you’re doing enough. Or if it even matters. But here’s the thing: anxiety isn’t a sign you’re broken. It means you’re paying attention. This isn’t a guide to fixing everything – it’s a way to stay upright and useful in a world that’s shifting fast.
Recognising Emotional Responses
You don’t have to hold it together all the time. Feeling heavy about the climate doesn’t make you dramatic – it makes you awake. And honestly, pretending you’re fine when you’re not just adds pressure. A lot of folks are sitting with grief, guilt, or just a constant low hum of dread. Talking about it helps. Even scribbling something down in a notebook can unstick that static energy in your head.
Managing Media and Information Intake
There’s no prize for watching the news nonstop. That tight feeling in your ribs after your fifth climate story scroll? That’s your nervous system asking for a break. Try muting a few accounts. Or pick one time in the day where you catch up – and then stop. You’re not opting out of reality; you’re choosing to stay functional. Big difference. Your brain isn’t built to process constant emergencies.
Developing Personal Coping Strategies
Some people run. Others cook. Some sit under a tree and breathe for ten minutes with their phone off. You’ve got to find what clears your head – not to erase the worry, but to make it usable. There’s something underrated about old-school habits like journaling or stretching. They don’t fix things, but they shift the weather inside you. If you’ve ever gone from stuck to slightly better after a walk, you know. That’s what we’re talking about here.
Reducing Paper Waste Through Digitisation
Not every change has to be flashy. Sometimes the most sustainable choices are the quiet ones – like keeping fewer piles of paper around. Scanning documents, saving receipts as PDFs, or organising climate materials into clean digital folders? That adds up. It reduces waste and makes it way easier to keep track of what matters. If you’re juggling petitions, plans, or articles, techniques to merge PDF documents can keep them all in one spot. Less mess, more focus.
Participating in Community Discussions
It’s easier to carry things when you’re not the only one holding the weight. Conversations with other people – even awkward, messy ones – help. Maybe it’s a neighbor. Maybe it’s a friend who cares but isn’t sure where to start. You don’t need a plan. Just start talking. Sometimes the most powerful thing is hearing “same” from someone else. Solidarity does weird, stabilising things to your brain.
Engaging in Local Environmental Actions
You can’t stop a hurricane. But maybe you can get your apartment building to compost. Or help your local cafe switch to reusable containers. These aren’t earth-shattering moves – but they’re real. And that’s the point. Action anchors you. Plus, when you take small steps, other people notice. Suddenly it’s not just you. It’s you and a neighbor. Then it spreads.
Supporting System-Level Interventions
Eventually, if you’re like most people, you’ll want to level up. That might mean emailing a rep. Showing up to a rally. Signing on with a local group pushing for better transit or clean energy. You don’t have to be the loudest person in the room. You just need to be there. Power shifts when people organise, not when they try to fix everything alone. If your hands are already in motion, let your voice follow.
You don’t need to have it all figured out. No one does. The fact that you’re reading this means you’re trying – and that matters more than you think. Don’t let the scale of the problem shut you down. Let it sharpen your instincts. The most useful people in any crisis aren’t the ones who know everything – they’re the ones who stay present, stay human, and help others do the same. You’re one of them.
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When will people wake up to the fact we will never be free of fossil fuels? Add to this the fact that “Climate Change” is only one facet of the real issue, Environmental Degradation, what is the point of breathing clean air, if you are up to your armpits in shit?
jonangel
I made the following observations the other day as I, unlike you, can see a future where fossil fuels will play a diminishing role in our future.
“I was speaking with a friend yesterday who had gone almost completely off grid at home as so many folk seem to be doing.
He has a full array of rooftop solar panels with a battery with 10kwh storage capacity and whilst still connected to the grid he pays virtually nothing for electricity : next year he is planning to buy an EV that will be able to supplement home electricity consumption from its batteries when required and considers that, with judicious use, he should have eight to ten days stored electricity capacity should the grid go down (cyclone being the most immediate risk in our area ).
His household consists of he and his partner and one child with average daily consumption but, being in tropical North Qld, there is no need for home heating and they have overhead fans rather than aircon. For cooking they have a gas (bottled)cooktop and an electric countertop oven and hot water through a solar heat-pump arrangement”
So his only direct use of fossil fuel is the cooktop bottled gas and inevitably some of the hardware is created through industrial processes that involve grid electricity provided by fossil fuels (here and overseas) but ultimately that grid reliance will diminish and ultimately be eliminated (?).
Is my mate (and am I) being overoptimistic?
PS: my mate tells me that eventually he will build up his battery backup to 30kw capacity.
I am waiting for the fossil fuel industry to diversify and take over the manufacturing, supply and installation industries essential to those who wish to be “off grid”. For those who have both the seed capital and the government’s ear there is more than one way to make a buck!
Terry, I replied to your query about solar at The Climate Crisis Is a Budget Choice
Thanks, Steve I have now seen your comments.
So, you are feeding surplus power into the grid and being paid for it ?
What is your battery storage capacity ; if you had a week of rain how long could you run your home without relying on the grid ?
Cheers
Terry, yes, I feed the grid and get paid.
My battery is a Powerwall 2, 13.5 kwh.
With constant cloud-cover the system still charges during the day, but at a reduced rate.
I have no problem pulling off the grid because I keep a big credit on hand with Ergon.
For anyone contemplating going off-grid, a generator is a cheaper option I think, than installing extra panels and possibly extra hardware.
Thank you. This was so useful to me.
If one is poor or disabled but at least have an affordable home (whether owned or rented), going off-grid or as ‘green’ as possible is prohibitively expensive, even with various grants available. Those folk and the homeless bear the major brunt of climate anxiety.
The 2024 AHURi independent report on the building quality of Australian housing stock by academics from prominent Oz universities provides myriad information.
For the purpose of this comment, the following ‘big’ stats can be gleaned: Of 10.9 million houses in Oz, about 70% have one or more quality problems, more than 66% have Energy Star Ratings (scale 1-10) of 3 or less, and 8.5% are of extremely poor quality. Then of course, there’s the growing blight of homelessness. Do the maths, these figure represent the living conditions for, say 2-3 people in each of the houses.
The lead author of the report, Dr Lyrian Daniel, said to the ABC,
“Australia really just doesn’t have the policy instruments or policies in place that one might expect for building performance and housing quality and condition.” I would add the caveat “for existing houses”. And …
“So all of these homes were almost effectively reducing their useful life, because it’s almost as soon as they’re built, they’re not up to what we might consider a standard that’s fit for purpose.” And …
“In the future, we can imagine that people living in those homes are going to be much more exposed to fluctuations in energy prices because they’re over-reliant on heating and cooling.” … And
“With the advent of climate change, such homes are less likely to be climate resilient.”
Head of School UNSW Built Environment and Professor of Architecture, Philip Oldfield said,
” … there’s no kind of central database to understand how good or poor our homes are.” … And
Given the AHURi Report, “I think our existing building stock here in Australia fails the energy efficiency test, and we need a kind of a national strategy for tackling that.” … And
“Without action to improve existing homes people would suffer.” … And
“It’s not going to get better. It’s going to get worse … conditions of homes that get very hot or very cold can spark mortality and morbidity issues.”