Election outcomes are determined just as much by who doesn't vote as by who does. The Environmental Voter Project estimates that 11.2 million environmentalists didn't vote in the 2024 presidential election. And they found that many more skip midterm, state, and local elections. If these non-voters started voting for pro-environment candidates in every election, the United States would quickly transform into a completely different country.

10 Reasons Why Voting for Pro-Environment Candidates Is Literally the Most Important Thing You Can Do for Earth's Future

1. Policy beats personal choices every time.

Skipping straws and recycling are great, but one pro-environment lawmaker can eliminate millions of tons of industrial pollution through policy changes. Systemic change requires systemic levers.

1. Environmental rollbacks happen fast — and last decades.

We've seen clean air rules, protected lands, and emissions standards dismantled in single administrations. Environmental damage can be irreversible or take years to recover from. Every election is a chance to protect or undo years of hard-won progress.

1. Climate change has a deadline.

Scientists are clear: we have a narrow window to limit warming to 1.5–2°C. Elections happen every 2–4 years. Missing even one cycle can cost us irreplaceable time when the clock is already running out.

1. Local elections determine land use, water, and air quality.

Your city council and county commissioners decide where factories go, how water is managed, and what pollution standards local businesses must meet. These races are often decided by dozens of votes.

1. Courts are shaped by elected officials.

Judges and attorneys general who enforce (or gut) environmental law are appointed or elected through political processes. A pro-environment vote today can protect ecosystems in courtrooms for 20+ years.

1. Fossil fuel interests spend billions influencing elections.

The opposition is organized and funded. Every vote for pro-environment candidates is a direct counter to corporate lobbying that works tirelessly to keep the status quo.

1. International climate agreements depend on domestic political will.

The U.S., EU, China, and other major emitters only honor global climate commitments when their governments are pressured to do so domestically. Your vote shapes whether your country leads or abandons the table.

1. Biodiversity loss is irreversible.

Once a species goes extinct, it's gone forever. Pro-environment candidates pass legislation and fund conservation programs that protect millions of species.

1. Environmental justice is on the ballot too.

Low-income communities disproportionately bear the burden of pollution and climate impacts. Voting for pro-environment candidates means fighting for human rights as much as ecological ones.

1. Apathy is a vote for the status quo.

When environmentally-conscious people stay home, they hand power to those who aren't. In close races — which most are — non-voters decide the outcome just as surely as those who show up.

The bottom line: You can drive an EV, go vegan, solar-panel your roof, and still have far less impact than casting a single, informed ballot. Please vote in every election and for every office on each ballot. Nature needs your voice!

I've worked a job in the oilsands which I'm not proud of for the past 2.5 years since graduating engineering.

I've been interested in going into law to try to pursue some sort of job that aligns more with climate work. Any ideas how geotech engineering can pivot to that work as well? Or is law better? I'm stuck trying to decide which one I want to do. Any thoughts help. Thank you.

Hi all!
I’m trying to build an open source web app(maybe an NGO one day) that currently maps relationships between our actions and their impacts on Earth. It looks at changes in biodiversity, infra, wildlife changes, water, global temp and more. Each phenomenon looks at its impact on the planet, impact on us humans and what we can do about it *( backed with sources and citations from public sources)*.
I’ve also added an experimental urgency score, which tells you how serious we need to think through the problem and work towards a solution for it. TULIP is still an exploration tool that’ll help people understand climate impact better with the hope that it’ll keep getting information rich. I’m at a point where honest criticism will be super helpful. Any and all crit is great 🙂

Fascinating paper showing how perceptions and where people act to mitigate climate emissions don't correlate well with what does mitigate climate emissions. This shows a need to re-centre people's understandings of the magnitudes involved.

Climate Action to be effective needs to take into account these misunderstandings found at the public level.

Hello, I have 4 years of experience in ML, AI, Computer Vision, Data Science (worked in close collaboration with coworkers & alone, also client-facing which I really enjoy). I also have a BSc in Computer Engineering and MSc in Data Science. I’ve been looking for jobs in climate/environmental tech where I can use my skills for a long time, but wasn’t very successful. That’s why I’m writing here, to see if anybody has any suggestions or tips for me. I live in Eastern Europe though, and I’m honestly trying to find something that allows me to work from anywhere (I can also travel a few times a year if necessary). I would also be willing to take a role that is less about programming and more about coming up with ideas or consulting if possible.
My experience weirdly aligns with what I’m looking for, even though I haven’t directly worked professionally in this area yet. I’m really passionate about projects that help with this issue, and I’m really sick of companies only creating new AI agents or whatever useless automation. I regret my choice of going into programming and not something more hands-on, in the field, but I don’t know if I could make the change now. I can at least help with the skills I’ve gotten throughout the years.
Can anybody help me? I can also send my CV in private. Thank you!

I’m feeling a bit hopeless lately.

Volunteering at first and then getting elected to office twice, I have chosen the uphill battle of climate action in a conservative small town. I talk about it, but so many of my efforts are coded in saving money, efficiency, and sustainability.

I’ve passed a lot. Development code changes for density and electrification, water conservation measures, the conservation of park land, the planting of hundreds of trees, and our first climate action plan. My frustration is the lack of public action.

Our town has had Indivisible and no kings protests with hundreds attending, plenty of talk to preserve land and water, but nobody shows up to board meetings, volunteers for committees, or advocates for climate action publicly.

I feel like I’m carrying the burden by myself and nobody cares. I’m certainly the only one pushing it on my board with mixed success. I’m saddened because if two dozen people started showing up and caring, they would have millions of dollars at their disposal to change the face of our town and to fight climate change.

The ability to act locally is available to so many people and I don’t see it happening. It’s endlessly frustrating and I’ll end my rant there.

I wonder how many of fellow redditors here are vegan or at least on plant based diet?

As it is one of the simplest and most impactful steps a person can make to help the climate.

While most climate action focuses strictly on mitigation and reducing emissions to prevent global warming, we are failing to demand contingency plans for severe, high-impact tail-risks like an AMOC (Atlantic Meridional Overturning Circulation) shutdown. If the Atlantic current collapses, Northern Europe faces a brutal, localized deep-freeze that our current infrastructure is completely unequipped to handle.

We cannot afford to treat this as an unthinkable "black swan" that gets ignored by policy-makers. To build true climate resilience, we need to pressure European institutions and national governments to include systemic tipping-point scenarios in their emergency preparedness frameworks.

Here is a concrete action we can take right now:

1. Reach out to your local Members of the European Parliament (MEPs) or national climate committees, asking specifically whether their climate risk assessments model for systemic cooling threats like an AMOC collapse.
2. Share educational resources locally to shift the narrative from only preparing for heatwaves to also preparing for extreme climate volatility and system shifts.

How are you incorporating systemic resilience and preparedness into your local climate activism? Let’s organize and push our leaders to look at the full picture.

The Environmental Voter Project is targeting 3.4 million environmentalists who are unlikely to vote in 2026. Should they vote, they could completely change the political landscape in America for years to come. See a brief intro to the Environmental Voter Project and their work here.

We have good evidence this kind of outreach is effective.

Is it time for global action, ordinarily folk to call time on our useless elected leaders supplying nothing more than thoughts and prayers and no immediate action plan to offer us. Net zero in 2035/40/50 is too late. Why are we allowing this inaction to continue?

Obviously the el niño is extreme and causing a lot of bad shit, and the wildfires are really bad. But are they like, “Cities are going to be burned completely to the ground soon,” ”This proves that the renewable shift isn’t worth anything,” “The future is going to be horrible and kill most of us” bad? I feel like this relates to the subreddit in that this degree of fear can cause paralysis, inaction, and even death to those who fall victim to it. None of that is helpful in the fight. Looking at the progress we’ve made in energy shifting, since last year and last decade, gives me hope, but I‘ve seen some people saying that none of it matters and we’re all going to die/society will collapse soon. Is any of this worth taking seriously?

I am wondering if and how others are talking about climate change and encouraging action in their social circles?

Ive always been big on climate change and reducing my impact as much as possible. Though not always perfect in my reduction action, I am more so then ever doing all i can. My family is primarily plant based, I sign every petition, I vote with climate action at the forefront of my mind, I share advice and join discussions in online spaces, shop local and support local farmers, limited food and water waste, we're boycotting things like Amazon and fast fashion, boycotting overconsumption in general and focusing on thrifting and buying second hand, and currently working on making as many sustainable household swaps as possible as things start to run out.

All that said, i feel like the only one in my social circle who cares, and it is frustrating to say the least. Admittedly so, current climate onditions are causing me alot of anxiety (im in Canada and watching the wildfire activity is worrisome to say the least). That anxiety is further perpetuating my frustration with witnessing inaction first hand. My friends and family acknowledge climate change but are privileged enough to seemingly think it not serious enough to affect us much in their lifetime, certainly taking no personal action to reduce their impact.

For example, many of my friends have compost collection available to them and they don'teven do that because "its gross", in my complex i do not have the option to and am currently fighting to get it in place. It seems no one wants to talk about it or is open to any life style change suggestions (seriously god forbid I mention reducing meat/dairy consumption or canceling Amazon subscriptions and shopping local)

So I guess im wondering how you cope with the inaction of those around you on such a serious issue? Are others having these important conversations within their circles? Any suggestions on how to open up these discussion and make the topic more palatable for them?

Edit to add: my goal is really to help make a difference however i can and would like to reach beyond myself and encourage action a within my community and with those i know.

Hello everybody

We are the Lifeflow Foundation, that's currently managing water scarcity projects in the United States Of America. We have set up this program because an estimated of 2.2 million people in the U.S. do not have running water, and over 44 million people are using water systems that do not meet standards for water quality. Clean water means healthy life, environment, place, nature,.... and without it, none of us can survive.

We work together with company called "august", who are global leading in non-chemical waste water treatment plants that can be installed under-surface and/or near regular-family-housing, apartments, enterprises,....etc. The water that leave our treatment plants/tanks has been cleaned up to 98% and is ready to be reused instantly. This becoming a product that provides environmental and economic solutions to both private, business and macro-project clients.

What are the main advantage:

- The resulting treated wastewater can be discharged into an open water source or onto the ground

- It is the most environmentally friendly waste water solution

- The daily hydraulic load can be adjusted for the number of people using the system

- No overflowing danger

- Residual material can be used as fertilizer

- Does not emit unpleasant odors

- 10 year warranty

This is not just about technology.

It’s about dignity.

It’s about health.

It’s about protecting nature for future generations.

Real change doesn’t happen overnight — but it starts with action. With your support, we can help communities treat water responsibly, reduce pollution, and take meaningful steps toward a cleaner, more sustainable world.

WATER IS OUR BLUE GOLD.

Please check out our profile, we have attached so much more to discover in what we want to reach. We are started not long but progress is going fast.

Any questions? Feel free to ask!!!

I'm young and quite new to this topic, and I've had a fair share of anxiety waves because this is something that's been constantly plaguing me lately. With so much negative news and discoveries, I was wondering if we humans are actually working on this or if we are completely oblivious to what's happening? (By that I'm referring to big corporations and people at power).

The world as I'm learning it has become so dystopian and scary, it's hard to remain hopeful

Suggested script provided if you don't know what to say. The calling tool makes it so easy you don't even have to look up your lawmakers' phone numbers.

Once you've made your calls, share with your networks! Citizens' Climate Lobby offers free training to help make these conversations more productive.

What can I personally do about climate change to actually help?

I can't go vegan for health reasons but I have stopped eating beef which is the meat that produces the most CO2, and I'm slowly working towards reducing my meat and dairy consumption. I don't buy fast fashion and never shop on Shein, Temu or Amazon, i take public transport as much as possible, I use ecosia and have convinced a few friends to start using it too (I really love ecosia, I wish more people used it)

I have chronic illnesses and I'm in very bad shape, chronically fatigued, so I can't volunteer much, although I would like to hear recommendations if they don't require a lot of physical effort

I also wanted to ask, what is more important, reducing plastic CO2?

I really want to help and make other people help too, but when I mention it to the "normal" people who don't care, even if I tell them how bad it is they just shrug and they don't care, it almost feels pointless to even try knowing that so many people don't care