Help Fight Climate Change in Just 5 Minutes

It’s easy to feel overwhelmed by everything going on in the world these days. But I’ve found staying engaged with causes that I care about keeps me more optimistic about the future and the positive role I can play in it.

Finding causes you care about most and writing your elected officials are great ways to make your voice heard. And if you’d like to get involved more directly with earth-friendly causes, here are some resources you can use to get started:

REI Cooperative Action Network: You can browse active campaigns for climate action, outdoor equity and places we love. They provide templates to quickly contact all your elected officials at once.

The Nature Conservancy: Here’s an expansive list of current causes you can support ranging from protecting wildlife to rallying for clean energy. They set a goal for the number of signatures so you can see which causes most urgently need support. 

National Parks Conservation Association has “Protecting Landscapes” action alerts covering various issues related to conservation.

Ocean Conservancy Action Center: Our oceans need us! Plastics and pollution are putting our oceans at risk. The Ocean Conservancy Action center has a list of high priority issues that need action to support trash-free oceans and healthy marine wildlife. 

Audubon's Action Network: Birds are so important to our ecosystem and they’re one of the most at-risk species. Audubon’s Action Network makes it easy to support issues affecting birds, wildlife, and their habitats.

If fish and rivers are on your radar, sign up for Native Fish Society’s email newsletter to receive action alerts for supporting wild, native fish.

The Center for Biological Diversity lets you filter causes by category and state so you can find the issues you care about most, check out their great resources at Saving Life on Earth: Current Actions.

Looking for ways to get involved right in your community or backyard? Check out the Trust for Public Lands for opportunities to take action by getting involved with public land and park and community projects.

If you find yourself frequenting social media sites like Twitter, follow your favorite organizations like the Sierra Club, Climate Action Network International, and Ecowatch for frequent updates and alerts when action is needed. I also recommend signing up for email newsletter updates from organizations you’re following so you get updates sent right in your inbox - it’s a great way to stay on top of action items like signing petitions and writing to elected officials.

Some organizations do the work for you, like the Climate Forests Campaign, where you can find a message advocating for the protection of forests on public lands from commercial logging and a form to enter your constituent info into. You can choose to personalize (or not!) and send a message to the secretaries of Agriculture and the Interior to protect our old-growth forests. 

If using your voice to advocate for a cause comes naturally to you, writing an Op-Ed or Letter to the Editor for your local paper is a great way to get the word out. Check out the Earth Guardians’ “Stay-at-Home Guide to Saving the World”, a handy guide to writing Op-Eds and Letters to the Editor to add to your advocacy tool kit.

Some of these organizations will ask for a donation during the submission process but it’s not a requirement for sending your letter. 

Taking action and engaging with causes that are important to you doesn’t have to be intimidating. It can be as easy as talking to your friends and family to spread the word about replacing single-use plastics with more earth-friendly options or as involved as planning a community cleanup at your local park. No amount of engagement is too small when it comes to saving the planet!

Looking for other ways to make a difference?