My reflections

Climate Week, my Super Bowl. Last week was San Francisco’s fourth year, and my third in attendance, of a whole week (technically 9 days) dedicated to multidisciplinary talks, meetups, panels, excursions, networking events, trivia nights, and more, all centered around climate. A huge, decentralized climate gathering.

I can’t remember the last time I had such an event-filled week. I definitely attended more events than I did at last year’s Climate Week. Five days in I worried I was pushing my in-person social battery to its limit, and tried to go easy on myself by taking that night off. But I was too excited for that night’s event (a panel of Bay Area climate writers), and I quickly realized I wasn’t actually tired – I just expected myself to be. So against my own expectations of my introverted self, I kept it moving, and I’m so glad I did. In reality, I felt weirdly, super energized. (I attended SIXTEEN events at final count, and I did eventually get paneled out, but far from burnt out.) It must be that you have a lot more energy than you assume when you’re feeding your soul so well. And that’s exactly what all these events did for me. They filled up my world-despairing soul in ways I clearly desperately needed.

Climate work is exhausting. A sizable part entails poring through deeply troubling, existential news of ecological collapse that gets worse by the day and trying to keep strategically chipping away at the problem while the majority in power relentlessly counteract or downright trample decades of collective progress and science. Anyone who works in climate knows the heaviness of that weight. But in-person community events are deeply energizing and comforting. I’ve known this to be true conceptually, but I’ve never felt it more than during this Climate Week. Last week served as a powerful reminder that showing up in for each other and the climate in our communities is essential to keep moving forward.

I leaned into the magic of early mornings and felt rewarded for it this week. Wednesday morning I emerged from bed at 5:45am to experience bird watching in Golden Gate Park before the rest of the world woke up – something I’ve been wanting to do for so long, but needed the push. ‘Birding & Bagels Bonanza’ at the Blue Heron Boathouse (I love the alliteration) felt like an event made specifically for me. Two days later, I found myself cold plunging in the bay at sunrise – something I never saw myself following through with beyond the thought of ‘one day.’ I’m shocked I actually did it. It only happened because I had a couple friends who said they might join. The motivating effect of real-world community cannot be overstated.

That tone of community was set at the very first Climate Week event I attended this year. Day 1 was on a Saturday, and I kicked it off with a volunteer event in Chinatown. A rain garden planting event, it was hosted by SFPUC, which I discovered runs a Rain Guardians program maintaining 136 gardens across the city. Rain gardens are a multi-purpose tool for urban beautification and greening, as well as crucial stormwater management. Bonded by shoveling and planting rain gardens, I made three friends and fellow newly-minted official Rain Guardians for the city of San Francisco. From there, we immediately journeyed together to the next event and have stayed in touch. Yes, community can be planted that easily.

With regret I must admit it’s never possible, due to the limits of the human body and our yet inability to jump space-time, to attend all the events that intrigue me. There were some very difficult choices. But I’m quite pleased with how the variety of experiences shook out for me. From opportunities to reconnect with nature in community, to diving into clean energy policy minutiae and political strategy, to mind-opening panels and inspiring award ceremonies, to surprisingly, refreshingly, and potentially alarmingly bold solutions put forth to address sea level rise – the balance and contrasts in vibe and content were highly enjoyable. It shows how diverse this climate space truly is, and how there’s a place for everyone. You don’t have to be a scientist or policy expert to get involved in making the world a little bit less of a terrifying place. (I’ll throw in that I also won second place with my team at a wildlife trivia night hosted by Wildlands Network, a very cool organization I’m excited to learn even more about.) And still, my individual experience of Climate Week amounts to but a tiny slice of the 600+ offerings this year.

I am so grateful Climate Week is free and open to the public. Of course, some events had a fee, but with myself as proof, it’s extremely feasible to overfill your calendar with still too many quality, free events to choose from. As a climate generalist and curious person, I thrived in the ability to jump around from subject to sector in the climate space, with open ears eager to learn something new and ready to spark interesting questions and connections.

I made one such interesting connection at a communications-focused climate event. I identify as, at most generous, a heavy skeptic when it comes to AI. Living in San Francisco, the epicenter of the so-called ‘AI revolution,’ by default you are bombarded with AI ads and companies. Most of it strikes me as part of the uncritical march (or thoughtless wrecking ball?) towards needless efficiency gains and the replacement of humans, and humanity itself, across the economy – while leaving huge trails of damage in the process, all for the power consolidation of the world’s multi-billionaires. So, it’s really refreshing to hear about uses of AI for good, especially for addressing real-world climate problems. I’m genuinely receptive to those initiatives, while still cautious about potential implications. I was really excited when, during an exercise at the event titled “How to Have Effective Climate Conversations,” I spoke briefly with the founder of a climate tech startup whose product is an AI-powered tool for climate resilience, specifically providing personalized adaptation plans. It planted one of the many seeds of ideas I collected throughout the week.

Should all the world’s leaders do a guided psychedelics trip together? That’s a real question that popped into my head during a fascinating panel on the connection between psychedelics and climate. An emerging Respectable Academic Field in many Western institutions, this ecology-psychedelics intersection is a ripe space for the increasingly dystopian world we find ourselves in. Panelists spoke convincingly and passionately about the real opportunities psychedelics can bring us, as a human collective, to better grapple with the climate crisis reality that surrounds us. They explained how psychedelics can shift consciousness about what’s possible, temporarily melt away the default mode network in our brains that can serve as a barrier between ourselves and the rest of the natural world, and how that increased connection to nature is one of the strongest predictors of pro-ecological action. Psychedelics, when used responsibly and with expert guidance, have shown to increase resilience, creativity, and problem-solving capacity, all essential for dealing with immense climate grief and building a healthy mindset to withstand difficult climate work. They can provide a pathway for accessing clarity amidst catastrophe, if you will.

Another burning question that got re-sparked this week: how to get climate back in the Overton Window, but this time with staying power. Aside from the world-making powers of big bags of money (in this capitalistic world anyway), I think the second most powerful tool for shaping a world is conversation. The topics that occupy our minds are where our energy flows. What you water, grows. And the things we spend the most time thinking about, talking about, and working on, are the things that advance the most. That’s why the puzzle of climate communication is so important and interesting to me. Our time, attention, and energy are limited. How can we continue to turn ourselves’ and our communities’ attention back to the overarching issue of climate in this society where the flow of everyday frivolous news alongside horrifying distractions is constant? The guy in the White House is an expert at controlling what comes and goes through the Overton Window. It’s really important to reject nefarious attempts to distract from the real issues, and to find ways to connect new, manufactured disasters (deserving of our attention and concern) to the overarching, intersectional issues of climate. After all, climate is truly the backdrop of everything. It’s the water we swim in.

Climate Week always offers a unique chance to soak in the brilliance and inspiration of people advancing climate solutions locally here in the Bay Area and across the US. It gives me a really energizing, electric feeling to be in rooms sharing company with groups of people that will never again all be in one place together. A one-of-a-kind meeting of minds and exchange of energy. I really cherish it. But I won’t wait until next year to keep the momentum going. One of the most beautiful outcomes of the week is helping me remember and get acquainted with the many people and organizations working on cool, aligned climate things right here, in my Bay Area backyard.

Until next time!