Thank you for speaking the truth by so clearly and directly. I am divesting my money from any oil, gas and coal. We must fight back, all of us, especially those of us enjoying the convenienceof anti-climate control
So agree on “hope.” You can have hope, lose it, get it back, feel hopeful and then not. Was Navalny hopeful when he ventured back to Russia? Likely not. But he was resolved. So that’s my word. Resolve does not depend on hope. Lovely, impactful speech. You asked for thoughts…here is one. Before MAGA I did not go to protests, or stand on street corners or overpasses or help form a community group that meets twice per month. I am pro choice and anti military assault rifles on our streets and an environmentalist but I did not show up in the way I am now re: the coup. Many of us newly see that this type of energy/activism needs to be harnessed to stop the coup of stealing our planet. Before MAGA I voted as well as I could for the environment, donated to non profits as I could, worked (still do) as a conservation gardener. But that, I see now, was/is not enough. We need to pivot and take what we are learning about the growing rebuke of authoritarianism and translate that to the work we are doing to reverse the destruction of Earth. Thank you for asking.
I like your speech although you're more optimistic than me. I suggest that you weave into a speech the idea that we're not really separate from our environment. The perceived separation is an illusion created by our minds, meanwhile most of the cells in our bodies aren't human. Just plant the seed of the concept in short speeches. That forest being bulldozed is connected to us on a physical level, it's not separate. People might be kinder to the environment if the idea is seeded in enough minds. Also, in that room were the minds of influencers. You've reached the level that allows you to reach out to many others each with their own platforms, so you could really promulgate a few simple ideas, perhaps even spreading hope to pessimists like me
Lovely acceptance speech for a well deserved award.
I just got back from the International Greenbuild conference held last week. Right before that was the Kansas Environmental Education conference, and before that was the ASHRAE Decarbonization conference.
We do have many of the solutions we need, but our current socio-economic systems in many ways act as barriers to their wide spread, rapid implementation - everything from the adoption of progressive building codes, to installing on-site renewables, to systematically accounting for embodied and operational carbon, to systematically validating building performance and occupant experience. And that’s exacerbated by wealthy/political elites - individuals and corporations- who benefit from the current systems / status quo.
We need systems that facilitate desired individual and collective actions.
Economists like Kate Raworth and Mariana Mazzucato have some good ideas on that. As do others thinking about what large scale implementations of Elinor Ostrom’s core design principles for managing common pool resources might look like.
Doing all of this requires having people in power, elected officials, who really recognize the importance of climate action. So our voices and votes do matter. As you said, “What everyone definitely needs to do is speak up.” We need to get engaged.
What if we had “No Carbon” protests with the same numbers as the “No Kings” protests?
Education and messaging that connects this to people’s lives is a part of what’s needed. Consequences should be laid out in human impacts that people can see and grasp relative to their’s, their family’s, their livelihood’s / business’s, and their community’s day to day.
Understanding our and our community’s connections to the natural world can also help instill an urgency for climate action - in elected officials, corporate leaders, developers, designers, etc. Which is one reason why environmental education is so important.
Ayana--Congrats on your award and on using the platform to deliver a compelling message. Thanks too for participating in the BTS event earlier this week!
I learned that from my Polish Jewish relatives who fought the Nazis during World War II. They lived underground in the forests and sabotaged the Nazis. A book about them is titled They Fought Back.
Someone once told me hope is not a strategy, he was wrong, of course. Hope is the BASIS of strategy. Hope is heart and heart is the thread at the center of every story and story is what moves culture—not statistics. In a post factual world, story is probably the most important thing we have. Don’t give up on hope. Solutions can sit on shelves unless people have stories to convey why we should take a different journey.
Love it! When I think about what cultural change around climate and the environment looks like, I think the single biggest thing is for people to understand that humans are a part OF nature, not apart FROM nature. What we do to nature, we do to ourselves.
Just watched the Lost Bus with America Ferrera and it reminded me of you saying we need more movies about climate change. Its about the Paradise fire and the fire chief at one point addresses the news and says "I just wanna add one thing. Every year the fires get bigger. And there’s more of them. We’re being damn fools."
Excellent speech and yes fuck hope! I do want to learn more about sustainable investments - my financial advisor has had a hard time finding bundles of stocks that are sustainable/divested. What are our options for this? Thanks!
Thank you for speaking the truth by so clearly and directly. I am divesting my money from any oil, gas and coal. We must fight back, all of us, especially those of us enjoying the convenienceof anti-climate control
Brava, beauty 💛💛💛
So agree on “hope.” You can have hope, lose it, get it back, feel hopeful and then not. Was Navalny hopeful when he ventured back to Russia? Likely not. But he was resolved. So that’s my word. Resolve does not depend on hope. Lovely, impactful speech. You asked for thoughts…here is one. Before MAGA I did not go to protests, or stand on street corners or overpasses or help form a community group that meets twice per month. I am pro choice and anti military assault rifles on our streets and an environmentalist but I did not show up in the way I am now re: the coup. Many of us newly see that this type of energy/activism needs to be harnessed to stop the coup of stealing our planet. Before MAGA I voted as well as I could for the environment, donated to non profits as I could, worked (still do) as a conservation gardener. But that, I see now, was/is not enough. We need to pivot and take what we are learning about the growing rebuke of authoritarianism and translate that to the work we are doing to reverse the destruction of Earth. Thank you for asking.
I like your speech although you're more optimistic than me. I suggest that you weave into a speech the idea that we're not really separate from our environment. The perceived separation is an illusion created by our minds, meanwhile most of the cells in our bodies aren't human. Just plant the seed of the concept in short speeches. That forest being bulldozed is connected to us on a physical level, it's not separate. People might be kinder to the environment if the idea is seeded in enough minds. Also, in that room were the minds of influencers. You've reached the level that allows you to reach out to many others each with their own platforms, so you could really promulgate a few simple ideas, perhaps even spreading hope to pessimists like me
Lovely acceptance speech for a well deserved award.
I just got back from the International Greenbuild conference held last week. Right before that was the Kansas Environmental Education conference, and before that was the ASHRAE Decarbonization conference.
We do have many of the solutions we need, but our current socio-economic systems in many ways act as barriers to their wide spread, rapid implementation - everything from the adoption of progressive building codes, to installing on-site renewables, to systematically accounting for embodied and operational carbon, to systematically validating building performance and occupant experience. And that’s exacerbated by wealthy/political elites - individuals and corporations- who benefit from the current systems / status quo.
We need systems that facilitate desired individual and collective actions.
Economists like Kate Raworth and Mariana Mazzucato have some good ideas on that. As do others thinking about what large scale implementations of Elinor Ostrom’s core design principles for managing common pool resources might look like.
Doing all of this requires having people in power, elected officials, who really recognize the importance of climate action. So our voices and votes do matter. As you said, “What everyone definitely needs to do is speak up.” We need to get engaged.
What if we had “No Carbon” protests with the same numbers as the “No Kings” protests?
Education and messaging that connects this to people’s lives is a part of what’s needed. Consequences should be laid out in human impacts that people can see and grasp relative to their’s, their family’s, their livelihood’s / business’s, and their community’s day to day.
Understanding our and our community’s connections to the natural world can also help instill an urgency for climate action - in elected officials, corporate leaders, developers, designers, etc. Which is one reason why environmental education is so important.
Ayana--Congrats on your award and on using the platform to deliver a compelling message. Thanks too for participating in the BTS event earlier this week!
Thanks, Ayana. I wrote a substack in August entitled Hope, Shmope - Just Fight Back. https://marthature.substack.com/p/rule-1-hope-shmope-just-fight-back?utm_source=publication-search
I learned that from my Polish Jewish relatives who fought the Nazis during World War II. They lived underground in the forests and sabotaged the Nazis. A book about them is titled They Fought Back.
We know that it's fossil fuel companies that have been actively blocking climate agreements since 2011. Here's hoping this year's COP 30 can change that story. https://marthature.substack.com/p/cop-30-mon-nov-10-2025-fri-nov-21
Someone once told me hope is not a strategy, he was wrong, of course. Hope is the BASIS of strategy. Hope is heart and heart is the thread at the center of every story and story is what moves culture—not statistics. In a post factual world, story is probably the most important thing we have. Don’t give up on hope. Solutions can sit on shelves unless people have stories to convey why we should take a different journey.
Love it! When I think about what cultural change around climate and the environment looks like, I think the single biggest thing is for people to understand that humans are a part OF nature, not apart FROM nature. What we do to nature, we do to ourselves.
Powerful speech!
Listened 3 times. I’ll be sharing with a couple others. Thank you.
Just watched the Lost Bus with America Ferrera and it reminded me of you saying we need more movies about climate change. Its about the Paradise fire and the fire chief at one point addresses the news and says "I just wanna add one thing. Every year the fires get bigger. And there’s more of them. We’re being damn fools."
What a concise, clear and compelling call to action that speaks to everyone that cares about living on this planet. Beautifully said.
Love this! We need to talk about the future as something we long for so we’re more inclined to act towards it. 💕
This is fantastic!!! I love your messaging and how organized this speech was!
Excellent speech and yes fuck hope! I do want to learn more about sustainable investments - my financial advisor has had a hard time finding bundles of stocks that are sustainable/divested. What are our options for this? Thanks!