Act!

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Learn

Calculate Your Carbon Footprint

Understand and reduce your ecological footprint. Then do a little more. In the aggregate, small steps have a huge impact.

Melinda Kramer, Founder/Co-Director, Women’s Earth Alliancer

Connect With The Environment

Connect to your environment anyway you can. Drop into nature. Fall in love with what protects us, and what we get to protect.

Melinda Kramer, Founder/Co-Director, Women’s Earth Alliance

Learn from COVID-19. It has given us a chance to pause and think about the connection between viruses, environmental degradation, and climate change. People blame bats for the virus, but actually it is industry that has affected the wildlife. We owe it to ourselves to take a hard look at what we’re doing to this planet of ours.

Sheila Watt-Cloutier, Environmental, Cultural and Human Rights Advocate

Read Up On Global Warming

Read up. There are many smart people out there who are experts on what you're curious about.

Katherine Lucey, Founder and Chief Executive Officer, Solar Sister

Listen To Your Frontline Communities

Listen to frontline communities. They are hardest hit and are the experts on solutions.

Erica Mackie, CEO and Co-Founder, GRID Alternatives

Know when to speak up and when to step back. Center the voices of women, particularly frontline women and women of color. If you are one of those women, speak up and share your story.

Melinda Kramer, Founder/Co-Director, Women’s Earth Alliance
  • The Women’s Earth Alliance’s You Tube channel includes women’s stories from around the world.
  • Here’s an example.

Follow Climate Role Models

Find others who share your mission and are doing good things. Look at them as role models and partners. Be inspired by them

Fatma Muzo, Tanzania Country Director / Katherine Lucey, Founder and Chief Executive Officer, Solar Sister
  • This book includes 27 women leaders, so read on! Naturally, COOL doesn’t include everyone, including men who are doing good work. Here are 100 more climate influencers.

Change Your Behavior

Cut Your Carbon Emissions

Make a commitment to reduce your consumption. How you shop; how you use energy. Can you use public transport? Change your own behavior. It starts with you.

Kim McKay, Director and CEO, Australian Museum
  • 15 ways to reduce your energy consumption
  • 51tips from Earth Day Network so you can make a difference every day.
  • Join the gift economy. Find your local “Buy Nothing” group on Facebook, then post about what household items you want----and what you hope to give away.

Reduce your carbon footprint. Ride your bicycle, swap out your light bulbs, install a programmable thermostat, wear a sweater

Erica Mackie, CEO and Co-Founder, GRID Alternatives

Download the 1 Million Women app and get 12 new ideas every day. Join us across all our social media channels too.

Natalie Isaacs, Founder, 1 Million Women

Set your washing machine to cold

Natalie Isaacs, Founder, 1 Million Women

Turn off your hot water heater when you’re not at home

Natalie Isaacs, Founder, 1 Million Women

Check your vehicle’s tire pressure. Under-inflated tires increase fuel consumption.

Natalie Isaacs, Founder, 1 Million Women

Don’t wash your dishes by hand; your dishwasher uses less energy and saves water.

Natalie Isaacs, Founder, 1 Million Women

When you order online, order in bulk (double or triple what you need at the moment) to avoid multiple deliveries

Natalie Isaacs, Founder, 1 Million Women

Don’t rake your leaves in the fall; they insulate ground that sequesters greenhouse gases

Natalie Isaacs, Founder, 1 Million Women

Keep your smartphone a year or two longer; the manufacturing process is energy intensive

Natalie Isaacs, Founder, 1 Million Women

Join Green School Organizations

Check out Green School organizations. If you’re a teacher, principal, administrator, or PTA member, many organizations offer you everything from procurement information, curriculum ideas, and programs that engage the community.

Leonie Wechsler and Anna Zaske, Students

Build Leed Buildings

Avoid single use plastics. For example, drink from the tap, not bottles. “Take a cloth bag to the store,” says Nelleke, “You won’t need plastic bags.

Nelleke van der Puil, Ph.D., Vice President of Materials, LEGO

When you use plastic, reuse it as much as possible; make sure it has a long life.

Nelleke van der Puil, Ph.D., Vice President of Materials, LEGO

Let corporations know that you don’t support single use plastic bags and bottles, GMO seeds, pesticides, fracking, and oil pipelines

Melinda Kramer, Founder/Co-Director, Women’s Earth Alliance

Support Mangroves

Support the Global Mangrove Alliance. One hundred species of mangroves grow in 118 countries located 25 degrees north and 25 degrees south of the Equator. The Alliance intends to increase the worldwide mangrove habitat 20% by 2030.

Sudeesa: Women-Led Community Cooperatives
  • Global Mangrove Alliance
  • Donate mangrove trees to Sudeesa: $1 USD buys three trees.

Save Old Trees

Support efforts to save old trees; the older they are, the more greenhouse gases they sequester.

-Sudeesa: Women-Led Community Cooperatives
  • Research shows young trees sequester carbon faster, but old trees sequester more.

Eat Green At Least On Mondays

  • Consider a rainbow diet to balance your nutrition.
    Eat rainbow colors; red could be red beans; purple could be eggplant… Jenny Ng, Executive Director, Green Monday
  • More about rainbow foods.

  • Surprise your dinner guests with a green meal.

    Jenny Ng, Executive Director, Green Monday
  • Eat a green meal at a Green Common restaurant, where you can also buy ingredients and take classes so you can cook a green meal at home.

Check out plant-based recipes.

Jenny Ng, Executive Director, Green Monday

Buy Products That Protect Children And Natural Resources

Buy products that ensure that children and natural resources are protected, not exploited

Nina Smith, CEO, GoodWeave International
  • The Good Weave label guarantees that no child labor was involved in creating the rugs that bear its mark.

Avoid Food Waste

Purchase only as much food as you and your family need, and use all the food you buy.

Carina Millstone, Executive Director, Feedback

Support the distribution of extra food to hospitals, schools, food banks, and charities

Carina Millstone, Executive Director, Feedback

Compost

Carina Millstone, Executive Director, Feedback

Buy food grown and distributed locally through independent shops, farmers’ markets or community-supported agriculture schemes—or grow your own.

Carina Millstone, Executive Director, Feedback

Organize a community feast that features food that would otherwise be wasted

Carina Millstone, Executive Director, Feedback

Call on supermarkets and policy makers to create binding food waste reduction targets.

Carina Millstone, Executive Director, Feedback

Repair And Refurbish Clothes And Furnishings

Repair and refurbish clothing and furnishings when possible.

Anna Bergström, Mall Manager, ReTuna Återbruksgalleria
  • If you bought an item of clothing from Patagonia, they’ll repair it without charge, no matter how old it is.
  • Repair devices, too; 83% of an iPhone’s life-long carbon dioxide production happens when it’s manufactured, so instead of buying a new phone,support the Right to Repair Movement.

Buy A Hybrid Or Elecric Car

Buy a car that gets high gas mileage, is a hybrid, or electric. And drive it prudently. Speeding increases pollution from tailpipes.

Gabriela Rivera, Regional Field Manager, EcoMadres / Dominique Browning, Co-Founder and Senior Director of Mom’s Clean Air Force

Contribute To EarthDay's Environmental Challenge

Join EARTHDAY.ORG’s Earth Challenge, which invites kids and adults to collect information about biodiversity, pollution, air, water and human health. Everyone uses a standard method, and all the information goes into one database, for use by scientists everywhere.

Kathleen Rogers, President, EARTHDAY.ORG

Use LED Bulbs

Use LED light bulbs. They use 85% less energy and last 25 years.

Clover Moore, Lord Mayor of Sydney Australia

Invest Ethically

We’ve got a lot of power in where we invest our money. My investments are not going into fossil fuels. Consider ethical investment funds.

Kim McKay, Director and CEO, Australian Museum

Divest fossil fuel stocks from your portfolio and demand that your bank and pension fund do the same. One reason for the climate crisis is that fossil fuels have a ready flow of capital.

Miranda Massie, Founder and Director, Climate Museum

Ride Your Bike

Consider your trip. Ask yourself whether you could walk, bicycle, or take the bus. You don’t have to bike everyday; just days when the sun shines.

Marianne Weinreich, Chairman / Marie Kastrup, Vice Chair, Cycling Embassy of Denmark

Start your children cycling. All cities have parks and playgrounds where youngsters can practice.

Marianne Weinreich, Chairman / Marie Kastrup, Vice Chair, Cycling Embassy of Denmark

Demand protected bike lanes, bike education programs, and bike-share programs if your community does not have them.

Marianne Weinreich, Chairman / Marie Kastrup, Vice Chair, Cycling Embassy of Denmark

Learn About Landscape Ecology

Read about landscape ecology. If you plant trees in the wrong place, you’re killing them and wasting resources.

Molly Burhans, Founder and Executive Director, GoodLands

Make changes on your property to support ecosystems where you live. Understand your landscape and work with it. Don’t fight it

Molly Burhans, Founder and Executive Director, GoodLands

Recycle Legos To Charity

If you no longer use your LEGOs, give them to charity. We’ll help you donate them to the children who need them most

Nelleke van der Puil, Ph.D., Vice President of Materials, LEGO

Install Solar

Install solar on your rooftop. Or join a community solar or coop renewable energy project.

Meagan Fallone, CEO of Barefoot College International

Volunteer

Volunteer at the Barefoot College.

Meagan Fallone, CEO of Barefoot College International
  • To apply: Email your resume, skill set, interests, and time commitment to volunteer@barefootcollege.org.

Get involved. I am a believer in solving the problem that’s in front of you.

Fatma Muzo, Tanzania Country Director / Katherine Lucey, Founder and Chief Executive Officer, Solar Sister

Make your presence count. Get involved in organizations working to end environmental injustice. Bring your talents and resources (financial, time, skills) to efforts you’re passionate about.

Melinda Kramer, Founder/Co-Director, Women’s Earth Alliance

Plant Bamboo

Plant bamboo, which absorbs carbon dioxide and releases 35% more oxygen into the atmosphere than an equivalent stand of hardwood trees

Sudeesa: Women-Led Community Cooperatives

Support Girls' Education Worldwide

  • Support organizations that educate girls.

Twenty-one organizations that educate girls around the world:

Shop For Second Hand Clothing And Gifts

Shop for a second-hand outfit if you want to be a better person,” Anna suggests. “Start with clothes

Anna Bergström, Mall Manager, ReTuna Återbruksgalleria
  • If you’re too far from Sweden to shop at ReTuna, just Google “second hand,” “hand me down,” or “thrift” clothes. You’ll discover online shopping options as well as retail stores (Good Will has 3,300 across the US and the Salvation Army has more than 7,000 centers where you can donate as well as shop).

Buy one Christmas gift that’s second hand in high heels. You don’t have to buy all your gifts; start with one.

Anna Bergström, Mall Manager, ReTuna Återbruksgalleria
  • You can also make them yourself:“upcycle” socks into a teddy bear, or turn crayons into candles or….

Recycle Products You're Done With

Recycle products that you’re finished with: donate them; give them as presents; hand them down.

Anna Bergström, Mall Manager, ReTuna Återbruksgalleria
  • Ship used household goods in your own, used shipping cartons, and GiveBackBox will distribute them to charities.
  • Eileen Fisher will accept their brand’s gently-worn clothing, then create a new garment, and resell it as part of their Resewn Collection.
  • Ikea will buy back their used furniture and recycle it.
  • Other retailers that are rebuying their merchandise for resale.
  • Evernu’s fiber technologies convert discarded clothing into many kinds of products—and not just once.

Demand Political and Corporate Action

Vote To Protect The Planet

Vote for candidates who have ambitious, convincing plans to protect our planet. The League of Conservation Voters and many states publish scorecards that summarize candidates’ positions

Kathleen Rogers, President, EARTHDAY.ORG

Declare yourself. Tell your elected representatives that you’re a climate voter,” Miranda says. “Hold them accountable for climate-relevant decisions such as whether they accept funding from the fossil fuel industry, and are pursuing aggressive legislation and policies to create climate progress.

Miranda Massie, Founder and Director, Climate Museum

Fight for equitable climate policy. That’s critical

Erica Mackie, CEO and Co-Founder, GRID Alternatives

Join the groundswell of voices demanding city, state and national policies that will reduce global warming.

Erica Mackie, CEO and Co-Founder, GRID Alternatives

Never, ever, stop demanding more from your elected representatives. If we’re going to stop runaway climate change, we need big, structural change—and that is the role of government.

Clover Moore, Lord Mayor of Sydney Australia

Call on the US Government to conduct a World War II-scale mobilization and end all greenhouse gas emissions in less than a decade.

Dr. Margaret Klein Salamon, PhD., Founder/Board Chair of The Climate Mobilization

Vote in city, state and national elections for candidates whose commitment to ending global warming is strong.

Gabriela Rivera, Regional Field Manager, EcoMadres / Dominique Browning, Co-Founder and Senior Director of Mom’s Clean Air Force

Speak out. Speak up. Smile. Politicians work for you. Meet with national, state, and local elected officials. When we engage with mayors, they listen. When Ecomadres walk the halls of Congress (or district office halls), staffers welcome us. The Moms are coming

Gabriela Rivera, Regional Field Manager, EcoMadres / Dominique Browning, Co-Founder and Senior Director of Mom’s Clean Air Force

Get involved in your city or community’s planning council. Push city green plans and city green codes.

Molly Burhans, Founder and Executive Director, GoodLands

Pressure Corporations To Act

  • “Vote your proxies for executives who champion programs that combat global warming.” -Miranda Massie, Founder and Director, Climate Museum
  • Via shareholder resolutions, The Ceres Climate Action Network calls for companies worldwide to set science-based targets for reducing greenhouse gas emissions and to disclose climate-related financial information.
  • As You Sow uses shareholder advocacy to promote environmental and social corporate responsibility.

Lobby Your Politicians

Lobby your politicians. “Don’t give up. Keep on it. They will only react if they keep hearing from constituents day in and day out on these issues.”

Kim McKay, Director and CEO, Australian Museum

Question your elected officials about their positions on global warming and vote for those who champion policies and programs that aim to reverse it (often women).

Kim McKay, Director and CEO, Australian Museum

Participate In Local Environment Organizations/Issues

Recruit five people to act with you. Sign petitions, do cleanups, participate in town hall meetings, demand that governments and corporations do right by the environment. Together we can create a movement.

Kathleen Rogers, President, EARTHDAY.ORG

Join a climate-focused organization. One thing that makes people turn away is the feeling that, as individuals, we cannot affect the climate crisis. That’s correct. One call to a congressperson won’t do it; one hundred will.

Miranda Massie, Founder and Director, Climate Museum

Demand Wind And Solar Power

Demand wind and/or solar from your local power company.

Gabriela Rivera, Regional Field Manager, EcoMadres / Dominique Browning, Co-Founder and Senior Director of Mom’s Clean Air Force

Understand That Local Is Global

  • “Understand that global is local and local is global. What happens across the world profoundly influences our lives.” -Melinda Kramer, Founder/Co-Director, Women’s Earth Alliance
  • NASA summarizes the "https://climate.nasa.gov/effects/">effects of global warming.
  • Pew Research reports that in the US, recognition of the local effects of climate change vary widely.

Help Build a Movement

Discuss The Climate Crisis With Friends And Family

Talk to your friends and family about the climate crisis. Recognize that we all have a tendency to turn away from this emergency because it’s very unnerving and hard to cope with. Bring people into the conversation in a way that destigmatizes the subject and makes discussion safe

Miranda Massie, Founder and Director, Climate Museum

Talk with your kids and grandkids about the climate they’ll live with in the future, and what you can do together to improve it.

Gabriela Rivera, Regional Field Manager, EcoMadres / Dominique Browning, Co-Founder and Senior Director of Mom’s Clean Air Force

Learn/Tech Indigenous Value

Learn more about the human dimension of climate change. Indigenous knowledge, including a respect for the environment, as well as empathy and respect for one another, should be taught in elementary schools, secondary schools, and universities.

Sheila Watt-Cloutier, environmental, cultural and human rights advocate

Bring back the heartbeat of life, the spiritual way in which we can live and work together. We can’t overestimate the power of art, performance, story, and ceremony to bring purpose and pride. If we can stop ‘othering’ each other and, instead, relate through soul, spirit, and understanding, we can create a better world.

Sheila Watt-Cloutier, environmental, cultural and human rights advocate

Join Climate Strikes

Join the Climate Strikes. Follow Greta Thunberg’s Facebook page, Fridays for Future, and you’ll know when and where to participate anywhere in the world

Leonie Wechsler and Anna Zaske, Students

What else can you do?

Political Actions

1. Support local, state and national government initiatives that retrain people whose jobs are eliminated by programs that limit greenhouse gases---even if your tax bills go up.

2. Advocate public funding of election campaigns, which will prevent special interests from thwarting efforts to reverse global warming.

3. Support elected officials who advocate increasing investment in clean energy research.

4. Demand that your elected representatives put a price on carbon.

5. Organize and mobilize a group for action: your school, company, church, team.

6. Sign the Women Lead Climate petition. It urges support for women’s climate leadership and for programs that directly affect women, girls, and climate justice.

7. Champion farmers who practice carbon farming, which sequesters carbon dioxide, restores (vs. exhausts) the soil, and makes it more fertile.

Personal Actions

1. Check out these websites and related resources:

Financial Actions

1. Include organizations that combat global warming in your estate plan.

2. Invest in exchange traded funds that focus on reducing carbon emissions.

3. Increase your financial portfolio’s stake in clean energy companies.

4. Make sure your workplace, pension fund or university does not invest in fossil fuels. If they do, join or start a divestment campaign.

5. Support organizations that raise climate change issues via shareholder proxies at corporations’ annual meetings.

Actions at Home

1. Get an energy audit of your house.

2. Use less heat and air conditioning.

3. Add insulation to your walls and attic.

4. Install weather stripping and caulking around doors and windows.

5. Turn down the heat when you’re away and when you’re asleep.

6. Purchase only FSC (Forest Stewardship Council) products like toilet tissue and paper towels. Or use tea towels instead of paper towels.

7. Use less hot water. Set your water heater at 120 degrees. Take shorter cooler showers (the UN suggests 5 minutes).

8. Buy low-flow showerheads.

9. Wash clothes in cold or warm water.

10. Turn off the lights when you leave the room.

11. Hang clothes to dry instead of using the dryer.

12. Install a heat pump in your home to transfer heat from one location to another.

13. Store food in washable, reusable containers instead of paper or plastic bags.

14. Take advantage of an app called TRANSIT that aggregates bus, train, bike-share (and other) alternatives to show you the best way to get to your destination.

15. Get updates from The UN’s program, Climate Neutral Now.

Family Climate Action Plan

The women leaders in COOL have many ideas to consider. Here are a few:

Buy the Book

When you buy COOL: Women Leaders Reversing Global Warming, you will be supporting the Women’s Earth Alliance, which receives 100% of the author royalties. WEA trains women in 20 countries around the world to launch organizations that aim to reverse global warming.

The authors will also have a tree planted for every copy of COOL that’s purchased, so the book does not contribute to deforestation.

International

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