“What about my kid’s future?”
It’s a question we all have. These are uncertain times. A brief note on what we can and should do about it.
As a millennial parent of two small children, and someone who has been working in environmental & climate sectors for quite some time, I always knew my kid’s future would be challenging in many foreseen and unforeseen ways…
Did I think we’d be in a global pandemic when my oldest was only 1.5 and my youngest was still in the womb? Definitely not. Did I think we “had a bit more time?” Absolutely.
But the pandemic hit and I think for so many of us millennial parents or soon to be parents, it was a wake up call, a shock to the system.
These “systems” and “norms” we had depended on our entire lives, often taken for granted, seemed to be more fragile than anticipated, lined up in perfect domino formation, ready to fall at the push of a delivery button.
Not children of the Great Depression and WWII, like our grandparents, not raised on the heels of the Civil Rights Movement and the Vietnam war, like our parents, we millennial parents were raised in a period of relative global stability, those of us lucky enough to be born in safe and stable countries, and in many ways, the pandemic was a first real shock to our system, our fundamental beliefs, our privilege — a test of our resolve.
And I’m not sure we handled it so well…
And then there’s Climate Change…
It feels hard enough these days to think about, plan for, build for our kids future. With the daily onslaught of tasks, emails, group messages, activities, screens, things to label, water bottles to clean and fill, and not to mention… work, there feels like there’s never enough time. I get it, my wife and I are right there with you.
It feels hard enough right now to keep a job, work for a living, raise your kids right, and pay the bills, lucky to be saving some money for the future… And I don’t think any of it is slated to get any easier any time soon.
But we millennial parents did came of age in the era of climate change. Al Gore’s transformational Inconvenient Truth came out while we were in college which means we made it through our childhood and adolescence without the dangers of climate change being really made known to us (or perhaps, easier to ignore?). To most millennials, I think climate change still feels like something that “those people over there could solve if we just tried a bit harder! But not me, just those people over there need to just do it!”
And now you have Gen Z, often referred to and coined by a Stanford professor as, “Generation Dread”, as the first generation to be born post our planet’s climate awakening. From the minute they were born, they have known nothing but the dangers of climate change, feeling its effects mounting day by day, year by year. This has led to mounting anxiety, crippling fears, and much more mental and physical health risks.
There are many alarming statistics about climate change, but one of the most eye opening, that still sends a chill down my spine is that: 1 billion people could be displaced from their home due to climate change by 2050.
That’s over the next 25 years. 1 in every 8 people on earth will have to move.
Where do they go?
Who will let them in?
Who will stay? Who will go?
Will your kids be one of “those people”?
If you really think about it, that means our kids will either be one of the ones who need to move, OR one of the ones receiving A LOT of those on the move…Both sides face immense challenges.
So, what can we do?
So what can we, as reasonable, busy, stressed millennial parents do? Start purchasing bunker equipment? No.
There is quite a bit we could and should do to prepare our children for an increasingly unstable future.
And it starts with asking questions.
First, we need to know what questions to ask of our home, city, state, even country. We need to know what to look for. Once we remove the ego, remove biases, only then can we start to understand what questions to ask.
Second, we need to understand our risks. Yes, YOUR risks. Key emphasis: no one is safe from the effects of climate change, including you and definitely your children.
Third, we still need one another. Maybe more than ever. And one another also includes plants and animals.
And fourth, this will take planning. And changing said plan, and planning again.
So in recap (using Michael Pollin’s amazing framing when it comes to diet of “eat food. not too much. mostly plants”:)
- Ask questions. Which ones? The right ones.
- Know your risks. Yes yours.
- People mostly good. Plants and animals really good.
- Plan and adapt. Plan and adapt. And then plan and adapt.
And that’s why we are building Climb. To help individuals and businesses with all four of those points above.
Join the Climb waitlist today at: www.getclimb.org
We did not have a choice in what time period, or country, or “era” we were born into. But we are here, now, and everywhere you look, those are your teammates as we climb these mountains.
More details on the Climb community below.
Thanks for being here,
Zach
What is Climb?
Climb is a global climate adaptation community.
Our mission is to provide individuals around the world access to support, research, and tailored, implementable solutions as it pertains to climate adaptation.
Through the 3 C’s: Community, Curation, & Connection, we help individuals and businesses build their climate adaptation plans, together.
Why Climate Adaptation?
Over the last 12 months, we’ve been behind the scenes researching, brainstorming, and building Climb. During that time, it became increasingly clear that our biggest challenge is now to BOTH mitigate and adapt to climate change. In our research, it was jarring how little was being done to help individuals, SMBs, and larger organizations begin to understand adaptation and build resilient, actionable, personalized adaptation plans.
So we created Climb to ensure no one climbs these climate change mountains alone.
How do I join?
The Climb waitlist is now live! Visit www.getclimb.org to join the wait list. We are live on October 8th!!
Why sign up now?
The first 100 to join the waitlist will be part of our founding Early Adapters, receive a special designation within the community and will be invited to a kick-off and community vision discussion as we near the launch.
What’s in store?
Climb brings together the latest climate adaptation resources, risk tools, analysis, expert voices (including speaker presentations) on topics such as mental health, physical location, finances, insurance, family planning, and more.
Through curation, connection, and community we will help you, individuals, and businesses, navigate the difficult decisions that come with life on a rapidly changing planet. This includes risk assessments, personal roadmaps, community support in identifying critical decision makers, guidance for businesses and much more.
Climb will help us address questions such as:
- what’s the current climate risk to myself, my family, my work?
- will I eventually need to or should I move?
- what are the biggest risks to my business and how can we begin to prepare?
- what is the latest financial advice as it pertains to climate risks?
- how can one make sense of all the latest data, reporting, and insights?
- how does climate change change family & legacy planning?
- what are the latest adaptation solutions and how can we identify implementable solutions?
Let’s start building our climate adaptation plans together.
We exist so no one has to climb alone. Join the waitlist today!
