Normalize Climate Conversations

Climate conversations can often feel overwhelming and disheartening. When we read about wildfires, the loss of biodiversity, melting glaciers, and climate catastrophes, it can quickly become too much to handle. It's hard to grasp our individual role in this climate crisis and how we can influence any of these major changes. When things get too dark, and we feel helpless and overwhelmed, we usually do—well—nothing. Our brains aren't equipped to live in constant worry.

Many of us are in the fortunate position of simply doing nothing, adjusting the AC a few degrees higher, and carrying on as before. But we don't have to change everything about us and our habits to take part in the climate conversation. Every minor action and choice counts.

Yesterday, the newsletter of climate scientist Katharine Hayhoe (edition from June 7) led me to a realization: What I'm hoping to achieve with this blog is just that: Inspire you to adopt small sustainability changes into your life. I encourage you to focus on the small changes instead of freaking out about the state of the world.

Let's start with one of the easiest actions: If you care about the climate, talk about it. This survey shows that many more people care about the environment than we think, but many of us feel like we're in a minority, and therefore, we don't act on it. So the first takeaway from Hayhoe’s newsletter and today's post is: Talk about it. Not with a raised index finger and scary news, but about why you care about it. With your neighbour, your coworker, a friend, your favourite barista. Maybe you are interested in animals, gardening, community projects, AI, music or art - all these topics are a good starting point for climate conversations.

Normalizing climate conversations makes others more likely to think and act, too. Use your voice to advocate for change. 

I know that many of you feel the same way, and if not, I have prepared some small hacks to help you get started today.

Why Small Steps Matter

I truly enjoy writing my sustainability posts, exploring different aspects that impact us all, learning and identifying areas where we can make a change. We can't do much in our everyday lives about the carbon footprint of mines, the environmental impact of the oil and gas industry, or Trump's rollback of climate legislation (we can, but that's a bigger conversation), but we can look at our plastic consumption, remove toxic products in our washrooms, grow plants, or save water.

Many people have the misconception that climate activism is an all-or-nothing endeavour, with no middle ground. Here are a few things that have a positive impact on the climate that you may not have thought of:

• Delete your emails: This was new to me as well! Tidying up your inbox and cloud storage can actually help reduce digital emissions.

• Eat your leftovers: This is an excellent climate-friendly action that costs nothing. Reducing food waste by eating what's already in your fridge is my biggest challenge!

• Try Meatless Monday: You don't have to become vegan, but consider skipping meat one day a week. The climate benefits would be significant:

Impact	Estimated Savings
🛻 CO₂e emissions	~150–300 kg
💧 Water use	~45,000–52,000 liters
🌾 Land/Resources	70–80 m² of land spared

• Walk or bike for short distances: Use your car only for bigger trips

• Buy some products locally: You don't need to switch entirely to all local in one day. For example, I buy most of my jewelry from local small businesses.

• Skip the dryer every now and then: During summer, you could dry your clothes on the balcony. It saves energy and extends the life of your clothes.

• Buy and sell stuff on Marketplace if you don't like thrift stores.

Here are a few more ideas

Thematic Deep Dive + Sustainability Hacks

In my previous blog posts, I explored different topics and shared small sustainability hacks throughout. You can find the following topics on my blog:

• The Sustainability of Tote Bags

• The Sustainability of To-Go Cups

• Do We Really Need Goodie Bags at Conferences?

• From Microplastics to Mineral Extraction: The Real Cost of Makeup and a Canadian Solution

• Stanley Cup (mugs) and Sustainability

• Should we all switch to E-Readers?

So, I'll keep exploring new topics and sharing my learnings with you, always with an angle on our lives and what each one of us can do on a day-to-day basis to make this planet a little bit better. If there's a specific topic, that you would like me to cover next, please let me know. :)