I’ve regarded myself as a climate-activist-in-training for the past two years that I’ve been living in Albuquerque. And that “training” produced plenty of learning:

**Everything is inter-connected—gender, air, racism, water, justice, electricity, economics, political power, greed, religion, Earth, insects, agriculture, caste, land, relationships, oceans, war, transportation, social life, media.…

**Climate solutions are the most important thing to focus on now. There is great urgency. There are important actions to take locally, nationally, globally.

**I too am complicit in the destruction and danger showing up on this planet. What do I need to change in my lifestyle? Can I purchase an electric car? Do I need to travel/ fly less? Gulp.

**In the midst of my tendency toward fear, anger, blame, and judgment, it makes better sense to choose attitudes and behaviors that give rise to joy, possibility, fun, creativity, loving. My “vibration” matters on energetic levels.

What I did toward becoming active:

**I joined or renewed membership and contributed financially to Sierra Club, 350.org, ACLU, Indigenous groups, Women’s March, Planned Parenthood, the Third Act, and other awake/alert/and active organizations.

**I took actions that these organizations recommended—signing petitions, emailing letters to politician, handwriting letters to voters, attending demonstrations, listening to webinars, going to the New Mexico capitol to learn and lobby, talking to friends about climate issues, following climate news and climate science, speaking with chain grocery store managers about using less plastic, and more.

**Best of all, I joined with several others to read and discuss excellent climate-change-related books which I would never have read on my own. We call ourselves the Elder Activist Readers. We’re woke and proud of it! I’ll soon share the list of books we’ve read so far.