Eat, bike, protest. Does it matter what I do? What you do? In the face of intensifying climate change and inadequate response to humanity's situation, it's a good question. I will argue that the answer is an unqualified YES. Most positive change in national or world policy is not only slow, but also
News The planet needs attention. Q5 Analytics provides advocacy and communications to mitigate and adapt to climate change and its effects. We partner with non-profit organizations, government agencies, and companies to develop plans, policies, and programs to slow climate change and to better respond to its impacts. We believe that personal, local, state, and national
Climate action: State of the states During this summer of extreme weather, when newly alarmed citizens are asking experts if there is hope for the planet and the experts are hedging in response, U.S. states have the tools to take matters into their own hands. Data tells the tale. The non-profit group ClimateXchange has a
DO look up. If Don't Look Up doesn't transport you back to January 6, 2021 and then propel you forward to the gawdawful mess we'll make of this planet if we continue to shove climate to the bottom of our collective to-do list, then we aren't watching the same movie.
AI Create a planet-forward, future-ready business During most of my adult life, I have run businesses. Now, I’m in the business of advocating for the planet, and I’m also still involved in supporting forward-thinking entrepreneurs. As all the savviest of them know, the future is going to be very different from the present. Observe
4th of July Future-forward 4th of July Ah, social media… if nothing else, my friends and associates remind me to do better. I’m not trying to be Debbie Downer here, but thanks in part to communication from my smart, kind and responsible friends online and in real time, I AM trying to re-imagine our Great American
"Existential climate-related security risk: A scenario approach" Doing right by the climate in an era of crisis fatigue Today in the news is more about the horrific internment camp situation at the border. We’re teasing at war with the Middle East. Women’s reproductive rights are under siege in the U.S. So much is immediate, daunting, unmanageable, that people get overwhelmed or simply stop reading, watching
Climate change Environmental alignment: How much does what YOU do matter? It’s a debate, for sure. What’s the practical utility of individual lifestyle change and its value in fighting climate change and our other most serious environmental issues? In fact, it matters… a lot. Sure, the percentage of United States residents who consider themselves environmentalists is low (and declining)
Climate change The elephant in the room is destroying the planet By Michelle van Schouwen I’ll start off just saying what anyone who knows me knows: I do not like Donald Trump. I believe he is a dangerous narcissist; too selfish, ignorant and cruel to lead our nation. I believe he is far less savvy than he believes he is,
algae Dispassionately yours: Lake Okeechobee, the Gulf and our water By Michelle van Schouwen In southwest Florida, this is a year of high passion… about crisis-level algae, nutrient loading and general water hell. So I needed to understand more about the giant lake that’s gotten so much attention lately. I’ve visited Lake Okeechobee but don’t know it
Longtime activists... why do they do it? How do they cope? By Michelle van Schouwen What possesses anyone to become an activist for a progressive cause? And what induces anyone to stay with it for years or even a lifetime? “Putting it on the line” or devoting substantial time and energy for positive change may sound heroic and gratifying, but the
algae Gulf coast eco-disaster – something is rotten in Florida By Michelle van Schouwen A huge chunk of ice splashes into Arctic waters, raising sea levels just a little more. The parts-per-million measure of carbon dioxide in the air edges up yet another notch above the 280/million figure considered the proper amount of CO2 in terms of global temperature
Finding common interests in the quest to save the climate By Michelle van Schouwen, Q5 Analytics Ideally, it would be incontrovertible that people from all walks of life would agree that climate change is real, that it is largely caused by human activity and that mitigating its acceleration would benefit humanity. But that’s not the way it is. Given
The creative challenge in teaching climate change By Jennifer Leonard “Yikes, so in other words, we are all going to die,” said one of the teen interns for our after-school science program. I had shared a map of the city of Boston that showed climate change scenarios for the city, with likely areas of coastal flooding, storm
