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| Dr. Katharine Hayhoe speaking to WPC by Zoom |
"Wildfires across Georgia and Florida destroy more than 50 homes and force evacuations," reports NewsNation today, Earth Day 2026.
What? I thought those were the wettest places in the country.
Dr. Katharine Hayhoe, an atmospheric scientist at Texas Tech University, reports that though most people are worried, only 8% are activitated to slow down climate change.
Most of us don't know what to do besides work to reduce our own personal "carbon footprint." We hear the bad news, and we don't think we can do much about it.
"The harder people try, often the more discouraged they get," Dr. Hayhoe says. "But we can't afford to give up."
"I believe that together we can fix this," she continues. "The best weapon against climate change is hope."
Here are things that you can do:
1) Talk to someone about climate change.
Educating others at the grass roots level is extremely important. "You don't have to be a scientist to talk to others," she says. "You can talk with others when you're a hairdresser, a plumber, a person on a bus, a neighbor talking to a friend."
But don't start by asking someone, "Do you believe in global warming?"
Start with, "Wow! The weather seems to be getting weirder." Most people will respond with examples of their own. "The key to having a real discussion is to connect over shared values like family, community and religion," she says.
Stick to facts and local examples.
⇒Low-income neighborhoods in the same city are 15% hotter.
⇒Climate change is profoundly unfair.
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⇒The richest 1% produce 14% of the carbon emissions into our atmosphere.
⇒The poorest 50% produce only 7% of the annual carbon emissions.
2) Work on your own personal carbon footprint.
⇒your use of your car
⇒your airplane travel
⇒your use of plastics (which come from crude oil). For example, insist on powdered detergents instead of those in plastic jugs.
3) Use what you're good at.
Whether it's science, business, teaching, construction, homemaking, medical work, writing or social media, in any walk of life, you can make choices that slow climate change and serve as an example to others. And you can talk with others.
4) Look at Dr. Hayhoe's website.
Read one of her articles. Maybe even subscribe to her newsletter. Good things are happening. Know about them.
5) Listen to one of her TED talks.
You will see good news about the progress we are making, and you will learn more about what you can do.
Dr. Hayhoe also works for the Nature Conservancy as Chief Scientist. She grew up in Toronto, Canada, and her undergraduate majors were physics and astronomy.
"I only travel in person when I can bundle events," she says. She also told us about empty planes being flown to preserve an airline's allocated slot at a busy airport or to service a low-use city. Read this article on airline slot guidelines.
Her husband is a pastor, Andrew Farley. See the biography on her website.
Among her books is A Climate for Change: Global Warming Facts for Faith-Based Communities. "It untangles complex science and tackles many long-held misconceptions about global warming," her site says.
Thank you to Westwood Presbyterian Church in Los Angeles for sponsoring the Zoom lecture that allowed me to gain hope about the problem of human-caused changes in Earth's atmosphere. See the full lecture with PowerPoint slides on WPC's YouTube channel.
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| Jake Putich moderating Zoom with Dr. Hayhoe |
Special thanks to Jake Putich, Director of Faith Formation and Creation Care at Westwood Pres, who knew about Dr. Hayhoe's work and planned this event as part of Creation Season at our church.
He is also leading an Ecotheology Reading Group accessible by Zoom. Its purpose is "to deepen our understanding of what it means to be caretakers in the garden of creation," writes Jake.
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