Finding our way forward in the climate crisis

This week, I’m delighted to welcome fellow climate Katharine, Katharine Wilkinson, as guest editor of Talking Climate.

🌍 Good news: The lawyers who contributed to the landmark International Court of Justice climate ruling reminds us how every one of us has unique gifts to bring to climate action.

⚠️ Not-so-good news: Young people are carrying an enormous emotional burden as climate impacts intensify, with many feeling fear and uncertainty about the future.

💚 What we can do: We don’t have to answer this question alone! Katharine's new book, Climate Wayfinding, and the accompanying program helps us move from climate anxiety and uncertainty toward courage, community, and action.

Find a Climate Wayfinding reading group here.

Thank you to Anne Cloud with ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Voice Over for the Planet⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ for narrating this edition of Talking Climate. 

Music by Bradley Myer.

This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠www.talkingclimate.ca

Transcript

SPEAKER_00 0:04

Welcome to Talking Climate with Catherine Hayhoe. Each episode, we explore how climate change is affecting the people, places, and things we love, and what we can do to make a difference. From science to solutions and stories that inspire, you're in the right place for real talk about real change. This week, I am delighted to welcome another climate Catherine as guest editor of this newsletter. Dr. Catherine Wilkinson, who I've known since she published her first book, Between God and Green, about climate change and evangelicals, all the way back in 2012. Catherine is also co-editor of the best-selling anthology of women's voices, All We Can Save, to which I also contributed. She co-founded and leads the All We Can Save Project, co-hosts the podcast A Matter of Degrees, and writes the newsletter Human on Earth. She is, in short, one of the most vital voices in the climate movement today. I can't wait to read her latest book, which Bill McKibben calls invaluable, Climate Wayfinding, Healing Ourselves, and the Planet We Call Home. Why climate wayfinding? Because we are living in a world where maps increasingly no longer work. Quite literally, as shorelines slip between rising seas, glaciers melt away, and places we love go up in flames. But this is also true internally and societally. Many people feel lost or stuck in this liminal, unsteady time. Climate wayfinding asks the questions I hear everywhere. How do we navigate lives of meaning, belonging, and contribution? How do we move through ache to action? Catherine has said that this is a magnificent time to be alive, because we truly can make a difference with our actions. I agree, and I can't think of a better guide for the journey. Take it away, Catherine. Good news. Last July, the International Court of Justice issued a landmark climate ruling, declaring that nations have a binding legal duty to protect the climate. Many talking climate readers will know this piece of good news, but I'd like to bring it back up so I can share two key morals of the story. When Jennifer Robinson and I were in graduate school together as Rhodes Scholars at Oxford, she was emphatic. I'm a human rights lawyer, not an environmental lawyer. We'd have long heated discussions about it at our local pub. But then fast forward to 2024, and Jen was a core part of the legal team for the pioneering climate case that went before the ICJ, now a full-blown climate leader, among many other things. Her story is a reminder we all have gifts to bring to the work of mending our planet. As I write in Climate Wayfinding, each of us is a node of possibility for healing the climate crisis, whoever we are, and whatever we've got to give. The ICJ story is also a reminder about the powerful role climate education has to play. The bold idea to bring the world's biggest problem to the world's highest court grew out of a classroom at the University of the South Pacific. With social change, we tend to focus on the big visible wins, like the moment in The Hague when the landmark opinion was read. But we must invest in the small, quiet spaces where change begins. A climate-centered classroom is one of those places. Not so good news. Young people are feeling the emotional weight of the climate crisis, and they aren't alone in that. As more and more of us encounter climate impacts firsthand, our distress continues to grow. In 2025, my friend Dr. Britt Ray and her co-authors published the results of a survey of nearly 3,000 young people in the U.S. According to Time, they found that approximately 20% of them were afraid to have children, worrying about bringing a new generation into a steadily warming world. That figure jumped to over 30% among young people who had experienced a severe weather event firsthand. Young people have been given heaps of information. What's often lacking is orientation. We owe it to the generations inheriting our planetary mess to help them move from isolation to connection, from doubt to possibility, from ache to action. What you can do. Often we hope someone will come along and answer it for us. But I believe the most powerful answers don't come from a punch list. They come from deeper exploration and navigation, especially in community. We need to cultivate the kind of climate community where we can hold that question, what can I do? And our other big wonderings about what it means to be human on Earth. We need spaces to work our way into meaningful answers that reflect our unique values, superpowers, contexts, and interests. With Climate Wayfinding, there's a group experience built right into the book. Learn more and sign up to lead a reading group in your community, workplace, classroom at the link in the show notes. Together we can look inward with care, outward with curiosity, and forward with courage. That's how we'll find our way. Thank you, Catherine. I especially appreciate your reminder that climate action isn't about having all the answers right away. It's about finding our way forward together with courage, community, and hope. If today's edition resonated with you, I highly recommend checking out her new book, Climate Wayfinding, along with the Climate Wayfinding program and reading groups designed to help people move from isolation to action in community. You can also explore the All We Can Save Project, listen to her podcast, A Matter of Degrees, with my fellow Canadian Lee Stokes, and subscribe to our newsletter, Human on Earth, for more reflections like these. You can also find Catherine on Instagram and LinkedIn. If you're looking for a place to start, her work is a great reminder that meaningful climate action begins by asking what your unique gifts are and how you can use them to help build a better future. Thanks for listening to Talking Climate, narrated by Ann Clown. For more resources, links, and actions you can take, check out the full newsletter at www.talkingclimate.ca. Thanks for being here. And remember, every climate conversation counts.