Public health and climate researcher Lyn Stoler learned about climate change for the first time when she was in the fourth grade in 2005. And the lesson wasn’t positive.

“When I first learned about climate change, it didn’t even seem like something you could work on,” she said in a 2023 TEDx Talk.

In a 2021 study by the Lancet, 75% of young people surveyed, ages 16 to 25, said that they think the future is frightening due to climate change, and more than 45% of respondents said their feelings about climate change negatively affected their daily life and functioning. Those numbers are sobering.

“When I learned to meet myself where I’m at and work with my emotions, not against them, I figured out the formula for sustainable, grounded, and radical climate optimism.”

– Anne Therese Gennari, author, educator, and climate optimist

But young advocates like Stoler are attempting to reframe the narrative around climate change. Eco-anxiety is real — headline after negative headline can put you straight into panic mode about the future of that planet, and none of that fear is unfounded. “Climate change is scary, and for good reason,” Stoler said in her talk.

Author, educator, and self-described climate optimist Anne Therese Gennari also started her climate advocacy journey on a similarly negative note. “I started out as an angry activist, as I call it,” she told me. “I was trying to change others by force and always felt bad about my inability to make a difference.”

 

But when she tried to focus solely on positive climate news, that didn’t work, either. “When I learned to meet myself where I’m at and work with my emotions, not against them,” she says, “I figured out the formula for sustainable, grounded, and radical climate optimism.”

What is climate optimism?

“Climate optimism is a framework based on the idea that despite the bleak projections and the high stakes, we can restore our planet back to health,” said climate activist and writer Zahra Biabani in a 2022 TED Talk. And according to Biabani, it’s “what sustains us in our pursuit of sustainability and is what fuels us in the uphill battle of transitioning away from fossil fuels.”

Climate optimism is a mindset reframe — from doom and gloom to hope — and climate activists all over are adopting the mindset. “Apocalyptic optimism is in,” declared a New York Times headline earlier this year, and “Mammals,” a recent docuseries from broadcaster and biologist David Attenborough, presents a fairly optimistic view of the natural world — humanity has choices to make, and reasons to have hope.

“Climate optimism is a mindset reframe — from doom and gloom to hope.”

Climate optimism isn’t about looking at the climate crisis and saying, “This isn’t that bad.” It’s about acknowledging that it is bad — and then identifying the actionable steps we can take to mitigate it.

“A climate optimist looks at the climate crisis and says, ‘What can we do? What else is possible for the future that we may not be able to see yet?’” says Gennari. “Climate optimism is not about taking a step back and hoping for the best to happen,” she says. “It’s about diving into awareness and choosing a path of resilience, action, and hope.”

Do we have real reasons to be optimistic?

Earlier this year, data scientist Hannah Richie published a popular new book called “Not The End Of The World.” In it, she argues that we’ve made good progress on environmental issues in the last hundred years, and that we have tools to help mitigate the climate crisis. Critics have called the book overly optimistic, and it’s true that there is no silver bullet for fixing climate change. But Richie makes some good points — carbon emissions per capita are down, deforestation peaked back in the ‘80s, and we’ve also likely passed peak land use for agriculture. Richie is all about zooming back and looking at the bigger picture.

“Carbon emissions per capita are down, deforestation peaked back in the ‘80s, and we’ve also likely passed peak land use for agriculture.”

Gennari points to how far we’ve come in the renewable energy sector as another reason for optimism. “The cost of solar has fallen by 90% in the last decade, onshore wind by 70%, and batteries by more than 90%,” she says, citing this article by Our World in Data.

In 2020, Biabani started a series on her social media accounts called “Weekly Earth Wins,” in which she’d pair positive climate headlines, like “Honolulu won in a case against Big Oil companies, convincing the judge of the companies’ deception tactics” or “California’s governor proposed a plan that would give $100 million to Indigenous leaders to buy ancestral lands” with cute TikTok-y dances.

At first, the videos felt silly, she said. But “people told me that these videos really helped mitigate their climate anxiety, that they looked forward to these videos,” she explained in her TED Talk. And while making them, she fed her own climate optimism, too, noticing positive trends. “Week after week, institutions were divesting from fossil fuels. Week after week, land was given back to Indigenous communities,” she said. Good things are happening, even if not at the speed at which would be ideal.

“Good things are happening, even if not at the speed at which would be ideal.”

Lyn Stoler, in her TEDx Talk, mentioned many climate solutions she’s excited about — solutions that her newsletter, Parachute, shares with readers. Urban tree planting can store carbon,  dramatically reduce temperatures, and save cities millions in energy costs. Some new types of windows can use photovoltaic glass to generate electricity, and new types of paint can “reflect heat right back into space,” she said.

“Another huge climate advancement, in my opinion,” says Gennari, “is the rise of awareness and people’s willingness to engage in the subject. When I became a sustainable influencer about ten years ago, no one mentioned climate change in either social settings or on social media.” Now, the topic is promoted much farther and wider, and often by folks who aren’t even activists.

What are the benefits of climate optimism?

Climate optimism isn’t about seeing the world through rose-colored glasses, or as a delay or cover tactic. “Climate optimism is not for politicians who have stalled on action, or corporations who have incessantly pursued profits over people,” Biabani is careful to clarify. “To them, my message is clear: Listen to science and act now.”

Rather, the framework is for everyday folks and climate activists alike. “The future we deserve cannot be built on the unstable foundations of fear and anxiety,” Biabani said. “It must be built with one of the few infinite resources that we have on this finite planet: Hope.”

“The future we deserve cannot be built on the unstable foundations of fear and anxiety.”

– Zahra Biabani, writer and activist

Humanity has some incredibly advanced climate-solutions technology, activists point out. We’ve made progress already, and believing that we can continue to make progress is essential for continuing to make meaningful change. Climate optimism isn’t taking the passive road — it’s looking at everything we’ve done so far in a positive light and using that as motivation to continue the work.

Climate optimism has some ties to solar punk too, which we wrote about earlier this year. The movement uses art to reimagine our future, producing radical visions of a world in which humans and nature live in complete harmony. Maybe renewables make up 100% of all energy, public transit is free and clean, and every rooftop has a garden, for example. It’s all about opening up our imaginations to what the world could be — but using much of the technology that we already have.

Optimism can even motivate us to work harder. According to this Psychology Today article, optimism is evolutionarily beneficial — it helps us work towards huge goals that otherwise seem too daunting or unapproachable. Research shows that optimism can improve both physical and mental wellbeing, since it helps motivate folks to make healthier choices and to deal well with stressful situations.

“Optimism is evolutionarily beneficial — it helps us work towards huge goals that otherwise seem too daunting or unapproachable.”

That motivation can carry over into how people think of and deal with the climate crisis, too. The more optimistically someone feels about the climate crisis, the more likely they are to take steps that contribute to solutions.

So, what can you do now?

While no single person can solve the crisis, we can all still meaningfully contribute. It’s true that some actions like recycling don’t have the collective impact we’ve hoped for. But asking your utility company to switch your home’s power to a renewable source, biking or walking when you can, taking the train instead of a plane, and shopping secondhand (or going without!) whenever possible are some of the most effective things you can do for the climate. If everyone did these things, the impact would be powerful.

Organizing politically is huge, too. “Connect with community members and see how you can get more involved,” advises Gennari. “Speak with local representatives and get active in seeing how new laws and regulations that benefit our climate can take shape.” She also notes that she likes to inverse her thinking whenever possible to help generate momentum: Instead of only focusing on minimizing a negative impact, think about how to maximize a positive one.

“Instead of only focusing on minimizing a negative impact, think about how to maximize a positive one.”

Stoler, in her TEDx Talk, encouraged campaigning locally, too, like advocating for a microgrid where you live. “Everything that we build and bring to our community enriches our lives and those of the people around us,” she said. “This is what’s converted me from climate pessimism to climate optimism.”

To be clear: Huge work still needs to be done. The earth is still warming rapidly, and change must be made now — but these climate advocates say that climate optimism is the only path by which to rapidly make those needed changes.

“We cannot play a part in making change,” Biabani says in her TED Talk, “if we do not believe that change is possible.”