The Climate Crisis Is a Call to Action. These 5 Steps Helped Me Figure Out How to Be of Use

At the age of 16, perched on a ridge in western North Carolina, I scrawled these words into a handbound journal: Want to help the world. Be connected with the Earth. Change the way I live. My mother has always called the Appalachians “wise old mountains,” not as tall or dramatic as their younger brethren out west but sage and powerful. In the presence of these remnants of geologic uplift, now carved up by cold water and swathed with moss, one feels called to deeper truths. I recall a steadiness of hand as I recorded my clarity and commitment in that moment. It has stayed with me for longer than two decades, but like many moments of inward truth telling, it prompted more searching than it supplied answers. But, what can I do? How, where, and with whom?