Originally written for Thurston Climate Action Team’s newsletter.

It is 2023, and the majority of Americans now believe climate change is real and mostly caused by human activity. While this fact doesn’t get the attention of less nebulous things, like the passing of the Inflation Reduction Act, it is a huge victory. We’ve done our work well. In some cases, maybe too well. The dominant narrative in our society around the climate crisis is one of doom and gloom. It is a story of giving up the things we love—a story of scarcity.

This led to another crisis, the crisis of climate despair. Nearly three quarters of Americans feel climate anxiety and that number is highest in our youth. When we are stuck in anxiety and despair, it impacts our entire being, making it difficult for us to get out of bed, let alone participate in climate action.

And yet, taking action on the climate, with other people, is one of the best and most hopeful things we can do to move from hopelessness to what Joanna Macy calls Active Hope.

It is a new year, and it is time for a new narrative.

It is a new year, and it is time for a new narrative—a narrative that focuses on the abundance we will create from facing the Climate Crisis head on. It’s time to shift our perspective from we have to, to we get to.

Seriously people, we get to be part of something incredible! We are at the forefront of a massive creative culture shift that is redefining our very way of being. And yes, change can be scary, but it can also be exciting, especially if we focus on a shift to abundance.

“Fear is simply excitement without the breath.”

— Unknown

One of the things that I love about working with TCAT is that it is filled with people that work together and take action to make the world a better place. To that end, we are restructuring how we do our work at TCAT to make it more impactful and more community centered.

In the new year, we will begin a new way of being and working together. We will transform our current practices that can lead to aspects of our work being siloed from one another. For instance, the work we do on decarbonizing buildings is separate from work we do on trees, which is often separate from the work we do on equity and health. Instead, we are developing a Hub and Spokes model, with a central focus of Climate Justice. The glue that will bind our work together is the integration of arts and culture.

It is our goal in 2023 to integrate the different facets of our work while creating community—coming together monthly with our entire group to look at the big picture, with opportunities to work with like-minded individuals and partner organizations on different aspects of this essential work.

TCAT will continue our essential work focused on reducing carbon emissions, while getting to the heart of the issues at hand, including broad-ranging perspectives, and sharing these stories in an inspiring way, often integrating the arts.

If we are to usher in a vibrant future where we ALL can thrive, we first need to create a present that is life-affirming, meaningful, and hopeful. We need to create a foundation within ourselves and our organization, built of love, hope, inspiration, and abundance—a foundation where we have the capacity to support others and allow others to support us.

What does this look like? While we have a broad vision of what this could look like, we fully believe that this type of shift is best made collaboratively.

That’s where you come in.

On January 12th, 2023, we are having a party! This party is a celebration of our incredible volunteers and partners—a celebration of all the amazing work we’ve done so far. We will share food, honor volunteers and partners, introduce the new Hub and Spokes model, and ask for your feedback. Together, we will dream and plan and practice ways to deepen our work together in 2023.

See HERE for Party details.

It is time for a new narrative. I am thrilled to deepen our work while finding new ways to share it with the world, together.

Will you join us?

Carrie Ziegler
Lead Artist and Community Engagement Extraordinaire
Thurston Climate Action Team

If you are local to the Thurston County area, and would like to get involved with the Thurston Climate Action Team, email me at Carrie@ThurstonClimateAction.org.