By Abby Huseth, Shanti Devins, Susan Teitelman, and Amy Cilimburg

On July 10, the Held v. Montana case, the first constitutional climate case ever to go to trial, went before the Montana Supreme Court. Hundreds of Montanans packed the Helena courtroom and viewed the live stream at watch parties across the state. The formal language and process of court proceedings could not dim this extraordinary moment in history: the highest court in our state was a platform for how the climate crisis is impacting all of us, through the stories of 16 amazing Montana youth.

Though the case has yet to be decided, it’s already making an impact. The Held youth have brought to a larger stage the reality that climate change is not a future problem -- we’re experiencing its effects now. Stepping outside on a mid-July day like today here in Missoula, that seems more obvious than ever. A relentless heat wave combined with smoke from a fire burning just miles away makes for a visceral experience of climate change. On days when we feel trapped under this hot, gray dome, it can feel oppressive. How can we stay sane, get perspective and keep acting with hope?

Here are some ways our team is responding this summer, and ideas for what to do if you’re feeling the effects of the heat and smoke, too.

Abby
I’m a parent of two boys aged six and three. I was pregnant during the awful smoke season of 2017, when we didn’t know as much about how to stay healthy. Every summer since, the first whiff of wildfire smoke brings me back to that place of anxiety I felt for weeks on end in 2017. It’s hard not to think, what kind of a parent am I if I can’t protect my children from the very air they breathe?

It helps to remember that multiple things can be true at the same time. I can feel the weight of climate impacts AND keep taking action on solutions. I can recognize and process emotions like fear and grief AND be grateful for those doing good work all around us. Kids are a good model for holding these multiple realities: just this morning my oldest asked me if the air quality was “in the orange”, because he knows his outside play time at school will be limited if so. Moments later, he informed me that his latest Magna-tile creation was an electric RV that had a fan to blow the smoke away AND solar panels to charge. (My proud heart was bursting.) This summer, I’m working to hold these multiple truths at once: this is hard, AND it won’t last forever.  My experience is unique, AND it helps to talk about it with others and realize I’m not alone. I feel sadness about the world my kids are inheriting, AND a deep sense of hope as all generations band together to build a livable present and future.

Shanti
Last summer, I remember this moment while watching the Held v Montana district court trial. The expert on the stand was testifying to how detrimental our climate could be for today’s youth if we didn’t act now, and the ways youth would be impacted because of the warming that’s already occurred. I burst out crying. I had taken a pregnancy test the morning before and it was positive. I was overjoyed to be carrying this little life – we wanted a baby badly - but hearing that testimony was more than I could bear in that moment. My career was centered on the climate crisis, but becoming a parent amplified everything. Suddenly it seemed almost unbearable, but at the same time, I’d never felt so proud and committed to my work.

Our team of dedicated women is small, but mighty. And our efforts are supported and expanded by so many others in our community leaning in, working toward a better future for us all. BECAUSE IT IS STILL POSSIBLE. We have amazing solutions available right now, like getting off methane gas (aka “natural” gas) in our homes and switching to efficient, electric appliances. We can take advantage of tax incentives for rooftop solar, weatherization or adding a mini-split heating / cooling system. We can show up to planning meetings to advocate for climate smart solutions and tell our representatives this issue is a top priority. There is so much we can do to improve our immediate health and comfort and the future for our children. We just have to do it. Please join us and get involved today.

Susan
Here in Missoula, this is the 12th day above 90 degrees, with no respite in sight. The air is filled with wildfire smoke and the Norway Maple in my front yard is thirsty for a drink. To stay cool, I’m running a window air conditioning unit in my living room. It’s admittedly not the most energy efficient solution, but a necessary measure to protect my physical and mental health during these hot summer days.
 
In my work over the past year, I’ve learned about the upward trends of extreme heat in Montana, the negative health impacts of wildfire smoke, and the dire effects of heat and drought on our urban tree canopy. But I’ve also learned that humans and animals, cities and natural ecosystems, are incredibly resilient. We have in our hands, and are helping to shape, solutions to the impacts of climate change.
 
In my corner of the local climate world, my colleagues and I have created an Extreme Heat Toolkit to help the Missoula community prepare for increasing heat events; we’ve told hundreds about the resources at MontanaWildfireSmoke.org and have distributed dozens of HEPA air purifiers so folks can clean their indoor air; and we’re working to grow our community’s tree canopy - which will ease the Urban Heat Island effect - through our Trees for Missoula program (hint: water your trees please!). So, while some days I still feel overwhelmed by the climate crisis, the larger part of me is filled with perseverance and purpose. Every day I get to go to work with a rad group of climate comrades who are working to build a resilient Missoula.

Amy
I’ve a confession to make. On a cool fall day, I love hiking in post-fire forests. In a past life, I worked on field studies to understand fire ecology, especially the birds that flock to burned forests. It’s lovely – the new growth, the cool beetles, the morels of spring.  At the same time, come July my mood shifts, and I fear the extreme heat, the fires, and the gloom of smoke. The more we learn about the dangers of breathing dirty air, the more concerned I am for the health of all of us (please read about the baby monkeys). This is the 9th year I’ve spent my summer watching the forecasts and angling for cleaner, cooler indoor air for everyone (check out Be Ready for Wildfire Smoke). It all feels scary and hard to hold. Yet that is what we are asked to do right now –– nod to the past (fire is a natural part of our landscapes), show up for today (let’s help those most vulnerable have a shot at a healthy life), and know that the future is not yet written.

Right now, I hold a jumble of conflicting feelings in my head and heart. Furiously clicking on the fire/smoke map for updates, on the weather app for a better (cooler!) long-range forecast. Today I was thinking that living under a heat dome is sort of a metaphor for these times. And the truth is, our collective actions can actually whittle down the edges of the dome, shrinking it, and they can poke holes in the dome, holes that ripple and grow. And we have to take such actions now, this year and next. Because later just might be too late.
 
Our hot takes during this hot summer: it is about connection and action and taking a deep breath whenever the air allows. Talk about your feelings and give Grounding a listen. As author and activist Bill McKibbin often advises: yes, take action around the contours of your life, and yet the most important thing an individual can do is be less of an individual -- join together with others in movements large enough to make a difference. Stay safe this summer and join us in building an impactful movement.

by Amy Cilimburg, Sarah Coefield, and Kerri Mueller

After a lovely, slow start to summer, it’s suddenly taking a turn— extreme heat advisories are in effect this week and some even had their first smell of wildfire smoke last weekend. As temperatures rise and fire danger increases, so too does the likelihood of smoke filling our valleys. That means it’s time to get smoke ready!

While wildfire smoke and heat often go hand in hand, this week, it’s just hot. Given the current heat advisory, please do what you can to stay healthy during these coming hot days: stay hydrated, adjust your activity levels, cool your home at night as best you can, and check in on your friends and neighbors. Heat can be deadly, and we need to work together to keep everyone safe.

Now on to fires and smoke—welcome to our fourth annual Wildfire Smoke Ready Week July 8-13. Every year, we dedicate a week to promoting preparedness in the face of increasing wildfire smoke. Human caused climate change is bringing longer and more intense fire seasons, yet there are ways we can prepare and stay healthy. In addition to being on the airwaves and on social media (#wildfiresmokeready), you can find us on:
-          July 10 at Out to lunch at Caras Park
-          July 12 at the Missoula Public Library (2-4 pm)
-          July 13 at both Farmers Markets

Why do we care so much about smoke? For those of us who’ve lived through past fire seasons, we know what it’s like. The air physically feels different. The smoky air is laden with fine particulate matter and volatile organic chemicals.

These components can cause a multitude of health effects, ranging from less severe (irritated eyes and nose, headaches, coughing) to more severe (reduced lung function, worsened asthma attacks and COPD symptoms, increased likelihood of heart attack and stroke, increased susceptibility to infectious disease, and increased hospitalizations and deaths.)

The most harmful ingredient in smoke is fine particulate matter 2.5 microns in diameter and smaller, known as PM2.5. These tiny particles can travel deep into your respiratory tract and even pass into the bloodstream, initiating a systemic inflammatory response. Not good!

While smoke is bad for everyone, children, teenagers, older adults, pregnant people, people with heart and lung disease, and people who can’t avoid exposures, such as outdoor workers and people living outside, are at greater risk of health impacts. That’s a lot of people.

For those who can go indoors when smoke rolls in, that’s a great first step to protect your health. Unfortunately, smoke still makes its way inside our homes and businesses. It enters via doors, windows, cracks, vents, and commercial HVAC systems. The longer a smoke event drags on, the more likely smoke will move indoors.

The good news is the fine particles in smoke can be readily filtered from indoor air!

Here’s how we can all take measures to protect ours and our loved one’s health when smoke rolls in (all this and more is updated regularly on montanawildfiresmoke.org):

1. Stay alert for changing conditions. Check local air quality monitors online at fire.airnow.gov and check often! Look outside; if you can’t see five miles, the air quality is unhealthy.
2. Reduce outdoor activity levels. The more physically active you are, the more air you breathe in, and the more smoke you’ll breathe into your lungs. Slow your roll a bit to cut some of your exposure and be creative with ways to stay active inside clean indoor spaces.
3. Clean your indoor air! There are several ways to clean your air and they all come down to filtration. Also, be sure to keep your indoors cool. Heat is immediately dangerous. If you don’t have air conditioning, that may mean opening your windows at night and letting smoky air inside. Once your home has cooled, close doors and windows and filter the indoor air.
4. Use HEPA portable air cleaners (PACs). Have at least one PAC and keep it in the room where you spend the most time. Make sure the PAC is sized appropriately for the room it’s in and does not generate ozone. If it’s in a large room, you’ll need a pretty beefy PAC or more than one. Close doors and windows to that room and run the PAC on the highest setting you find tolerable. Be sure to replace the filter when it gets dirty. You may need to change the filter more often than recommended during a smoke event.
5. Make your own air cleaner with a box fan and furnace filters. Got a newer box fan lying around and some duct tape? Use it to clean your indoor air! Get a high efficiency HVAC filter (ideally MERV 13). Attach the filter on the back of the box fan, and you’re set. A basic DIY fan/filter is good for a room that’s about 150 ft2. Check our website for more tips on how to build your own air cleaner. Only use fans manufactured since 2012 (newer models have important safety features) and note these devices are noisier than HEPA PACs.
6. For whole house filtration, upgrade the HVAC filter in your central air handler. Select the highest efficiency filter your home HVAC system can handle (ideally MERV 13, but MERV 11/12 will still help). Keep the fan running for continuous cleaning. Note that some central air systems may not be able to use high efficiency filters. If this is the case, use HEPA PACs or DIY fan/filters to clean your indoor air.
7. For commercial HVAC systems, it isn’t as simple as upgrading the filter (although that’s an important first step!). Commercial HVAC systems have a lot of moving parts and functions that can let smoke indoors. Operators should follow ASHRAE’s “Planning Framework for Protecting Commercial Building Occupants During Smoke Events” found on our website here.
8. Consider using an N95 or KN95 respirator mask. Note that these are hard to size for children, and facial hair can prevent a good seal. Do not use a respirator if you have trouble breathing through it.
9. What about Pets? They too, are impacted by smoke pollution. Bring them inside and curtail their exercise when air quality is poor.
10. Be fire safe! Do your part to avoid human-caused fires. Make sure campfires are cool to the touch before leaving them, make sure you aren’t dragging chains on the road, and don’t flick cigarette butts into dry grass. Find more information at www.mcfpa.org!
11. Take care of your mental health. Smoke can be gloomy and overwhelming. Please reach out to someone close to you or a mental health professional to share your feelings and for help.
12. Take climate action. We know that the antidote to climate fear and frustration is to find ways to get involved: No one can do everything, but everyone can do something as we, collectively, make the energy transition, electrify our homes, shift our transportation system, add our voices for smart policies and new opportunities, and so much more. Check out Climate Smart Missoula’s Get Involved webpage.
    

Above all, don’t despair. Yes, fire season is on its way and smoke is an unfortunate part of most summers, but snow will fly and skies will clear. In the meantime, we know how to keep ourselves, our loved ones, and our communities healthy. And we can take action to stay healthy and do our part to reduce fossil fuel pollution!

Breathe safe!

Amy Cilimburg is the executive director at Climate Smart Missoula. Sarah Coefield and Kerri Mueller are Air Quality Specialists with Missoula Public Health. 

by Abby Huseth

Today, on the Summer Solstice, I'm aware of how special early summer in Missoula is. The deep green hillsides; the crisp, cool mornings; the scent of lilacs lingering; the bitterroots unfurling on the North Hills and carpets of balsamroot like pure joy in plant form: I cherish these signs of the season, partly because they don’t last long.

I’ve been holding onto this early summer feeling - the momentary sense that all is right with the world - even as I know that all is not right with the world. One look at recent headlines reminds me that our planet is running a fever. Deadly 120-plus degree records in India, heat domes in Mexico and Texas, sweltering heat worsening the already dire conditions in Gaza - these are some of the acute symptoms, but the chronic symptoms are widespread too.

Over the past year, the average person has experienced an entire extra month of hotter temps because of climate change. And the complex interactions between global heating caused by the climate crisis and natural El Niño and La Niña cycles mean the rest of the summer is likely to bring even more wild and extreme weather.

Right now in beautiful western Montana, it feels a bit like the calm before the storm. Here at Climate Smart Missoula, this summer we’re taking advantage of our local calm to accelerate efforts to help our community prepare for climate extremes, as well as take action to cut the carbon pollution that’s causing these extremes in the first place. To continue the medical analogy, we know we need to treat the physical symptoms (like hotter temperatures and more wildfire smoke) as well as the underlying causes (existing inequalities and our dependence on fossil fuels).

For us, that means collaborating with partners to host our annual Wildfire Smoke Ready Week (July 8-13), sharing resources to help everyone and especially those most vulnerable stay healthy when smoke arrives in our valley. To volunteer or learn more, contact Amy.

It means working with local government partners to release Missoula’s first ever Heat Action Plan and equip social service agencies, health providers, and the public with locally-oriented strategies to deal with extreme heat.

And it also means knocking on doors and learning from folks in neighborhoods that currently have fewer trees, so that regular community members are empowered to be stewards of a healthy urban forest and share more equitably in all its climate and health benefits. To help or learn more, reach out to Susan and Trees for Missoula.

As far as addressing the root causes of climate chaos, summer is also a great time for planning and action. Sitting here at my desk, I’m typing on a computer entirely powered by the sun thanks to the solar panels on our roof, and our new super-quiet heat pump (also solar-powered!) is keeping our small office pleasantly cool.

As summers get hotter and smokier, it’s clear we’ll need more options for Missoulians to find cool, clean indoor air, without making climate pollution worse. Through our collaborative Electrify Missoula campaign, we’re helping residents and businesses make a plan to get off fossil fuels and improve indoor air quality and comfort by electrifying their appliances. We’re also excited to begin planning, with Missoula County, the creation of a new “one stop shop” for electrification resources so that more of our community can make this transition.

And yes, we’ll need more (eventually all!) of that electricity to be powered by renewable sources. Now’s a great time to call a local solar installer and explore that option for your home or business. We’re also grateful to our City and County for their persistence with the Green Power Program, which will bring Missoula another step closer to our goal of 100% clean electricity by 2030. And here at Climate Smart Missoula we’re continuing to expand our Footprint Fund which supports energy efficiency and clean energy projects for our low-income neighbors, and which you can support today!

These are just some of the local climate solutions that can help our community weather the weather and become healthier over the long term. We hope you’ll join us and put climate action on your list this summer. Connect with us by stopping by our open house today, signing up for our e-newsletter, or attending upcoming events (including a Missoula watch party for the Montana Supreme Court hearing of the landmark Held v Montana youth climate case on July 10th!).

As we keep climate action on our agenda this summer, let’s not forget one more critical aspect of long-term wellbeing: mental and emotional health. Reading those headlines and considering the scale of the climate crisis and global challenges can feel overwhelming. Finding ways to take action right here in our own backyard can help!
Personally, I’m also planning to spend every moment I can enjoying the beauty of this special place I get to call home. And I’m resolving to hold onto that feeling of gratitude for all that is right with the world: it’s the best inspiration I’ve found to keep fighting for a livable future and healthy community.

by Susan Teitelman

April is Earth Month, which gives us special reason to reflect on the significance of the abundant nature that surrounds us. Even though I’m lucky enough to do work protecting and advocating for the natural world as part of my day job, I still get excited every year to have an entire month devoted to engaging with community members around trees, flowers, rivers, and landscapes that surround us. 

Over the decade I’ve lived in Missoula, I’ve had the good fortune to become immersed in our forests, mountains, and meadows to study our local and regional flora. Through my botanical education, I’ve found that plants serve as connectors: they are tools to understand broader ideas and disciplines like history, culture, geography, climate science. 

Ultimately, plants connect us to place. Engaging with western Montana’s plants and ecosystems has deepened my sense of place and engendered the responsibility to be a steward of our environment – and especially our local plant life.

Now, through my work at Climate Smart Missoula and our organization’s newly acquired Trees for Missoula program, I have been thinking a lot about our urban forest in particular - the importance of trees for climate resilience, and the overarching benefits that trees offer our community.

Conventional wisdom and lived experienced has taught us that trees are “good.” And it turns out there is also a growing body of scientific research that substantiates this claim. Our urban forests offer us:

• Climate benefits - trees aid in carbon sequestration, ease the urban heat island effect, protect against extreme weather, reduce stormwater runoff and energy use
• Ecological benefits - trees improve air quality, provide habitat for birds, bugs, and wildlife
• Social and health benefits - trees improve physical and mental health, reduce stress, provide spaces to recreate, and improve the aesthetics of our community
• Economic benefits - trees attract shoppers to commercial districts, increase property values, and decrease utility bills
  

Missoula is no exception when it comes to deriving benefits from trees: our urban forest plays a significant role in keeping our community cool, healthy, safe, and climate resilient. Unfortunately, much of our urban tree canopy is struggling and too many of our trees are in poor condition. Several factors contribute to this, including damage from insects and wildlife, pathogen invasions, and human errors in planting and pruning. Lack of watering is another main concern, as trees must be sufficiently hydrated to survive in Missoula’s semi-arid climate. 

Crucially, tree wells – the traditional way trees are planted in urban and suburban settings – limit trees from reaching their full growth potential. Lack of species and age diversity is another concern. The infamous Norway Maple, imported and popularized by Francis Worden in the 1870s, accounts for a fifth of our total street tree population! These trees are now degrading due to old age as well as drought and development. Let’s replace them with the right species, planted right.

Though the challenges to our urban forest may appear dire, there are so many ways we, as a community, can change its trajectory. On an institutional level, we must include climate resilient, species-diverse, and native trees in our future urban forestry management plans. Incorporating trees that are heat and drought-tolerant and pest-resistant will go a long way toward building a healthy and long-lived urban forest. 

We can also advocate for the infrastructure our trees need to thrive. A key piece of infrastructure is suspended pavement – a technology that provides the necessary underground space for tree roots to grow and thrive – that can be installed instead of traditional tree wells. This allows trees to grow larger, provide more shade, and ease the urban heat island effect. Can we make this standard practice in Missoula?

In other parts of the country, urban areas are getting creative with their green infrastructure, combining landscaping with restoration projects or adding incentives for green roofs. Enhancing local landscaping requirements or options to incorporate trees, native plants, or greenspace is vital as we consider the best ways to be resilient to the impacts of climate change. Projects like Montana’s first suspended pavement system at the downtown art park and Missoula County Extension’s Rocky Mountain Gardens, which will feature native trees and food forests, are inspiring examples of the innovative nature-based climate solutions we need more of in our community.

Here at Climate Smart Missoula, via our Trees for Missoula program, we’re pursuing new projects to expand our community outreach and engagement efforts and advocate for tree equity in Missoula’s underserved neighborhoods. With the help of our community partners, our goal is to ensure that all Missoula residents can benefit from tree-lined streets and access parks and green space.

We all have a role to play in growing and maintaining a healthy urban forest. You can do your part to build climate resiliency by planting (and mulching and watering) a tree or by planting a food or native plant garden – or both. Containers on a balcony count too! If you’re thinking of planting your own tree, the Approved Street Tree list published by Missoula’s Urban Forestry Department offers a wealth of information about species, planting, and maintenance. 

There are many opportunities to learn about trees and engage with like-minded community members year-round, and especially during Earth Month. Climate Smart Missoula is co-sponsoring several upcoming events with our community partners, and we hope you’ll join us: 

• Run for the Trees, April 20 – 10k, 5k and 1 mile fun run options – all participants receive a tree seedling!
• Trees for Climate Resiliency, April 25 - part 2 of our Spring Shift Series (RSVPs appreciated!)
• Urban trees tour with Providence St. Patrick Hospital, May 2
  

Bookmark our calendar for climate and tree-related events this Earth Month and all year long. To learn more about urban trees and climate resiliency and to get involved with our programs, visit Trees for Missoula.

by Amy Cilimburg

The meadowlarks are singing on the North Hills. The days are both blustery and lighter. It feels almost normal here in western Montana - but of course, it’s not normal. The seasons have shifted, and not in the ways we expect.
Shift. Such a simple word. So much is shifting, it’s unsettling. So much needs to shift, urgently.

I look beyond our valley and see a scarily low snowpack, see photos of Texas on fire in February, learn that the 2023 Canadian fires are still burning, and that last year the world experienced the hottest year in the modern temperature record.  Scientists have reportedly shifted from “concerned” to “freaked out” that the oceans are so warm, the waters so low, the temperatures so high.

Recently author and climate activist Bill McKibben wrote:
"[I]t was 70 degrees in Chicago yesterday, in February—which was also the day that the Windy City decided to join other American cities in suing the fossil fuel industry for damages. But that was just one of a hundred heat records broken in the course of the day, from Milwaukee to Dallas (94 degrees). But it wasn’t a single day of heat—it’s been an almost unrelentingly warm winter, with by far the lowest snow coverage for this time of year ever recorded (13.8 percent of the lower 48 as of Monday, compared with an average of more than 40 percent) and with the Great Lakes essentially free of ice.

It’s one thing to anticipate and even enjoy the normal twists and shifts of our weather, and quite another to always be asking – is this shift normal or unprecedented?

What can we do when the world beneath our feet seems to shift in ways big and small?

At Climate Smart Missoula, we are seeking out the people, ideas, and actions that move us from gloom and despair to hope and action. And we’re tracking these movements and consistently shifting our actions to meet this moment.

In the world of climate action, a lot has already shifted. We’re no longer debating “carbon neutrality” goals decades away: we’re figuring out how to stop building new fossil fuel infrastructure today and meet climate goals by 2030.

Where just a few years ago the roadmap to a livable future seemed diffuse and unclear, today there’s consensus that an efficient, electrified world – buildings, transportation, industry, powered by clean energy -- is how we get there.

This is where you come in. Eager to engage, learn, and act? Maybe there’s a concrete and immediate shift you can make for yourself, your family, or your business, like:

• Getting around more sustainably - by feet, pedal power, transit, an e-bike or even an EV
• Powering your home or business with more electric appliances, energized by solar
• Growing a garden, planting a tree, helping a neighbor, composting together
• Moving your money out of fossil fuels, and
•  Paying it forward so our lower income neighbors can benefit from home and efficiency improvements. Our Footprint Fund is ramping up and designed to do just that!

If you like the sound of these practical actions, Climate Smart Missoula has three upcoming opportunities to get involved and accelerate our shift toward a brighter future – we're calling it our Spring Shift series:
v  March 29: Solar (for residents, nonprofits, and businesses)
v  April 25: Trees, our Urban Forest and Climate Resiliency
v  May 18: Electrification
v  Details, time, and location of each event can be found here.

At the same time we make these everyday, tangible shifts, we can also pave the way for bigger systemic shifts that are needed. For you that might mean:

• Joining us at Climate Smart or other climate groups and lending your skills and energy
• Pestering elected leaders who don’t want to stick with fossil fuels—ask them to shift and tell them why
• Uplifting the voices of those who are at the margins and making room for them at the table
• Working to elect leaders that are willing to multi-solve our most pressing problems
• Lending your voice in support of building a climate-forward community, with Our Missoula and other planning efforts, even when the solutions are controversial.
  
  

These are incomplete lists. These can be hard things to do. And some of these things might mean stepping out of our comfort zones — being brave, approaching problems with challenging new insights, and advocating for the imperfect. But when these collective shifts accumulate and trend in the same direction, they create a wave.
The climate crisis invites us all to shift our mindset. We must act knowing that all our fates are intertwined, no one’s immune, and there’s no opting out of dealing with this fast-changing world.

Thankfully, we’re not alone – and there’s plenty of places to find inspiration to make these shifts and stick with them. Noted climate author, scientist and advocate Dr. Ayana Elizabeth Johnson has been a true inspiration to us for years – we've watched and re-watched her TED talk: How to find joy in climate action and love her Climate Action Venn Diagram. In July 2024, she comes out with her new book: What if we get it right?

Why this question, and why this needed shift in thinking about the climate crisis? Ayana Elizabeth Johnson tells us:

“This is what I know: there are innumerable possible futures. I know we each get some say in which future we’ll collectively have and a chance to help build it. I know that every tenth of a degree of warming we prevent, every centimeter of sea level rise we avoid, every bit of nature we protect and restore MATTERS. I know that our actions add up. This is an invitation to find your role if you haven’t already, encourage others. Averting climate catastrophe – this is the work of our lifetimes."

Simply put, we are asked to acknowledge the urgency of climate change and act where we, individually and collectively, have agency to shift course.
So, join us this spring – at one or all of our Spring Shift events, or by finding more new and creative ways of making your own shifts. Together, let’s accelerate those shifts that will bring us that much closer to the future we want, and the next generations deserve.

I’ve been soaking up every drop of sunshine we’ve had on the crisp, cool days of the past few weeks. It feels like the transition to this shorter, darker season has been harder than usual, maybe because the physical darkness mirrors so much of what fills the headlines right now: needless death and suffering in war, greed and shortsightedness in our national politics, dire and urgent warnings about the future of our home planet. 

It can feel heavy, even as we’re surrounded by holiday cheer on the radio and in shop windows. 

But amidst so much hard news, I’ve also found sources of light and wisdom in diverse places - from Indigenous leaders like Robin Wall Kimmerer, to smart climate communicators like Katharine Hayhoe and Rebecca Solnit, and even Pope Francis. These voices offer hope that a different future is possible, and that we can all take steps today to create the conditions for that future to emerge. 
As we head into the holiday season, I’ve been thinking about how to apply this hopeful wisdom. Here I offer a few practical strategies and suggestions for navigating this tricky time of year. I'd love to hear yours!

5 practices for a more climate-friendly holiday season (and life)

1. Prioritize relationships

I’m a parent of two young kids, so it feels weird to admit that I sometimes feel isolated. But the structure of our lives often gets in the way of building community. This holiday season, can you find a way to prioritize investing in important relationships or building new ones? That might include relationships with family, friends, and acquaintances, and it also might mean relationships with the natural world. Can you reach out to that friend or neighbor who you haven’t seen in a while? Can you spend an hour in your favorite quiet place outside, with no agenda? Strengthening our connections builds personal resiliency as well as community resiliency.  

2. Don’t be afraid to go deeper and speak the truth

At a time of year when many of us are gathering together - sometimes with people we don’t know, sometimes with people we know too well - it can be hard to get past the small talk. How can we use these conversations as an opportunity for deeper learning and relationship-building? In the context of the Thanksgiving holiday, maybe that starts with talking about the Indigenous tribes whose land you’re on and sharing something you’ve learned about their history and present, or talking with kids about the real story behind the holiday. With the release of the latest National Climate Assessment and the upcoming COP 28 global climate summit in the news, it’s also a natural opening to have climate conversations. There’s still a huge perception gap between how many people are concerned about climate change and how many of us talk about it regularly. Start with the personal reasons why you care, and go from there - there are lots of great resources available to help. 
3. Re-think the need for stuff

The emails about Black Friday deals seem to come earlier every year. Most of us don’t need more stuff, but there’s a time and place for thoughtful gifts. Can you focus on quality over quantity, locally made or grown, used instead of new? Can you seek out experiences instead of things, or donate to a cause on someone’s behalf? Don’t underestimate the value of a good book, too - with so many good climate books out there these days, there’s one for anyone on your list, and they can always be donated back to the public library. With kids, navigating gift giving can be especially tricky, but I’ve had great luck with secondhand toys and items through my local Buy Nothing group and other online sites and swap groups. 
4. Start with gratitude, and let it motivate you 

In the depths of Covid, someone suggested I jot down three things I was grateful for everyday. It was such a simple thing, but it forced me to shift my attention from being solely focused on challenges to looking for positives. Starting with gratitude helped relieve some fear and anxiety and made it easier to take action when so much felt out of my control. When it comes to responding to the climate crisis, this practice can be especially powerful. Being grateful for all that we have and love can free us to act, which in turn gives us hope. That action might take the form of direct service, making changes in your personal life (going electric or choosing to drive or fly less are particularly high-impact individual actions), supporting organizations working on issues you care about (Giving Tuesday is coming up - consider supporting us and other nonprofits!), or all of the above.

5. Celebration and joy are essential
Especially at this time of year, it’s helpful to be reminded that two things can be true at the same time. We can feel grief and anger about the injustices and suffering in the world, and we can also take time to do things that bring us joy. In the climate world, we’ve found that coming together with our community and celebrating wins along the way is essential to building momentum for the long haul - and there are definitely wins to celebrate! At Climate Smart Missoula, we came up with 23 highlights of local climate action in 2023, and we’re looking forward to celebrating these plus some amazing community members who’ve stepped up as climate leaders at our annual Year-End Celebration and Smarty Pants Awards on December 14. 

Turns out, the holiday season might be the perfect time to consider what values can help us build a more vibrant, equitable, and climate-safe world, and practice putting them into action. What would our world look like if relationships were our highest priority? How much time and energy would we gain if we had an economy based on consuming less and sharing resources? What might change if we were unafraid to have truthful conversations about climate and racial and economic injustice and inequity in our daily lives?

With this shift in perspective, I’m looking forward to this season as a time to re-set and recommit to building a livable and vibrant future for my family, community, and world. I hope you’ll join me! 

-Abby Huseth

We’re SO excited to finally be walking the walk when it comes to electrification and clean energy! In the past few weeks, we’ve added solar panels and a new mini-split system (both of which were generously donated as part of a home upgrade) at our office, AKA the Little House.

We’ve now got solar humming on our roof and a quiet, super efficient heat pump keeping us cool on hot afternoons. Check out this fun video of the moment we switched on our solar and started putting clean electricity back on the grid.

Big SHOUT OUTS to Orion Thornton with Onsite Energy, Kevin Depuy, Dwight Thomas, Rick Craig, and the folks at Pete’s Electric and Anderson’s Plumbing & Heating for getting us wired up and connected! A ton of donated community time went into this, and we’re so grateful.

The other day, I logged on to social media and saw a BBC headline that, just a few months ago, I probably would have scrolled right past. This time, I stopped and clicked.

“Cyclone Gabrielle: Three dead after New Zealand declares state of emergency.”

My heart sank. Just a couple months ago, my family and I were nearing the end of a two month sabbatical in New Zealand. After we returned, we saw the news about the terrible rains and flooding in the Auckland region in January, and now here was Cyclone Gabrielle: more destruction right on the heels of the previous storms. This felt personal; we’d just spent three days in the hard-hit Hawke’s Bay area staying with local friends, and I recognized place names that were now literally under water. Wairoa. Tarawhiti. Te Puia. Esk Valley.  

This string of climate-supercharged storms that has severely damaged New Zealand has kept the small island nation - and the lessons I learned from my two months there last fall - at the top of my mind.

Our trip to New Zealand was something we’d dreamed about for years. I was eager to learn from the country itself. I’d heard so much about New Zealand’s “green” credentials, and it didn’t seem to be just a marketing ploy: days before we arrived there, the government had proposed a bold, world-first policy to reduce carbon emissions from their agricultural sector, the country’s biggest source of climate pollution and largest source of export income. I wanted to be in a country that was stepping up to the plate on climate issues, and this place seemed legit.

I also hoped the trip would give me some perspective personally. After two and a half years of juggling pandemic life and work with two small children, I was burnt out. I kept asking myself: Am I where I’m supposed to be? Does my work matter? How can I be a parent and spouse and colleague and daughter and friend and do it all well? I hoped my sabbatical time would give me clarity.

That’s not exactly what I got - at least not in the way I expected. 

On the climate front, I did learn that New Zealand really is, relative to us, ahead of the curve. Climate change is much less polarized there: refreshingly, the major political parties on both left and right agree it’s real, human-caused and urgent, even if they disagree on how to address it. They have ambitious conservation and ecological restoration goals and are actually making progress. The country is powered by over 80% renewable energy, and it’s a national point of pride to wear sweaters indoors to save energy. The country is also miles ahead of the U.S. in efforts to address its legacy of colonialism and redress harms done to its indigenous Maori people. After dissolving a former national park and restoring sovereignty over the region to the local iwi, or tribe, Te Urewera became the first natural resource in the world to be granted legal personhood status. Stunning.

But New Zealand is not a utopia. It’s a real place, with real problems. The cities are car-centric, built on floodplains, and full of aging infrastructure. Much of their rural population feels left out and left behind by urban policymakers. Racism and income inequality exist. And clearly they’re not immune to the ravages of climate disasters.

As for my personal hopes? New Zealand didn’t give me any firm answers there either. For the first few weeks, I felt unsettled. Instead of sabbatical giving me answers to my life questions, it seemed to train a giant spotlight on them.

Yet, as the weeks passed, I did get a lot more comfortable with my questions. And I started to realize that asking the right questions might be more important than having all the answers. Perhaps I shouldn’t be asking if I’m doing it all right?

Back home in Missoula, I’ve been thinking about how this lesson can inform our work on local climate solutions. Here are some of the important questions we at Climate Smart are asking:

How can we focus less on expectations, and more on opportunities?
Or put another way - how can we make sure that our plans have room for ambitious flexibility? Our recent Community Clean Energy Workforce Prize is a great example. Our collaborative Building(s) for the Future initiative strives for low-carbon homes and buildings, yet with myriad paths to get there, how to make progress on this effort has felt murky. Now we have more clarity - let’s say yes to electrification and no to methane gas. We know that a barrier to electrification is a robust and diverse workforce, and opportunities might come our way from new federal funding. Missoula County’s climate action program manager Caroline Bean had a wild idea that a small team of us should jump into a new workforce development effort focused on underserved women. We all took a chance, said yes to this new path, and it’s paying off.

How can we both act with urgency and be in this for the long haul?
The climate crisis is impacting us now, and every bit of emissions we avoid today matters. But we also need to change the systems that got us here in the first place. That means, for example, encouraging those who are able to electrify their homes and businesses, go solar or switch to an EV today, but also investing in long-term relationships with partners and working for a Missoula where abundant, affordable, and climate-friendly housing is the default and available to all.

What if we get it right?
This might be the hardest and most necessary question of all. One of our climate heroes, Dr. Ayana Elizabeth Johnson, asked it on a recent podcast and I can’t stop thinking about the power of this question. It can feel almost naive in the face of today’s climate realities. But if we can’t envision a livable future for our community, how can we get there? What will Missoula be like in 30 years if we make the right choices today?

Since I first read about Cyclone Gabrielle’s damage in New Zealand, I’ve been following the social media posts of our friend Jill McDonald. She’s a minister at a church in Hastings, the biggest city in Hawkes Bay. She and her family are okay, but they know many people in their community whose homes had been damaged or destroyed. Jill immediately jumped into action, opening her church for people to shelter in and charge their phones; connecting people who needed a place to stay with hosts who had spare rooms; creating a website to facilitate lending of backup generators for power. In a gesture of quintessential Kiwi hospitality, she’s even baking scones for people who stop by.

We don’t know exactly what the future holds here in Missoula, and I can imagine it will always come with its share of challenges. (Learning how to bake scones seems like a good idea, just in case.) But if we can stay curious and keep asking questions of ourselves and with each other, we can open doors and bring people in, navigating together towards the north star of an equitable, climate-safe community for all. 

-Abby Huseth