Climate Club Starter Pack 🌱

Your first steps towards everyday climate action

Welcome to the Climate Club starter pack! Here are climate actions that you can set and forget, but will continue to have an impact, no matter where you’re at in your climate journey. 

If it’s your first time taking climate action, welcome 💚 If you’ve already done some of these, welcome back to you too! It’s a good chance to check in on the basics, or share with a friend so they can take their first steps into collective climate action too. 

💌 Encourage a company 

• We all use multiple products over a day, and these are often made by companies who might need a nudge to make their products sustainable. Pick a company whose products you use and encourage them to level up. This makes it easier for everyone in the community to make sustainable choices - by ensuring that there are sustainable options to pick! Use this quick template to start a conversation with a company, and show them that consumers (you!) care about sustainability when choosing what you use. 

💭 Move your conversations

• Lots of friends and whanāu gatherings coming up mean a great chance to talk about climate change. Here’s a quick guide on how to talk about climate change to friends and family (see deeper dive guides here). Learn one of these rules and try it over BBQs!

💸 Move your money 

Did you know that your savings could be funding fossil fuels companies? It costs nothing to ensure that your money is not invested in fossil fuels. By divesting our personal funds from the fossil fuels industry, we stop their means of expanding.

• Check that your bank explicitly rules out investing in fossil fuels. If you’re already with a bank that has divested from fossil fuels, amplify your impact with some of the suggested quick actions further down the page.
  Action: Make sure your savings aren’t funding fossil fuels with 350 Aotearoa’s Fossil Free Banks resource

• Collectively, we have over $86b in KiwiSaver funds - a mind-boggling amount of collective power that can be shifted away from fossil fuels, to halt their proliferation. Moving your KiwiSaver and investments out of funds that invest in fossil fuels could be the most effective action you take.
  Action: Use Mindful Money’s handy guide to check if your Kiwisaver and/or investment funds still invest in fossil fuels, and what funds they recommend

👯‍♀️ Bring a friend along 

• Caring about climate change can evoke a lot of emotions. That’s why it’s important to do it with others. In addition, helping other people get involved with climate action can be one of the most impactful things you do! Ideas:

  • Share Climate Club with a friend

  • Start a casual book club to read & discuss some heavier books together

  • Invite a friend to a movie screening

  • Watch a doco with your flat or family.

• Create space to discuss feelings that might arise. Here are some prompts for vulnerable conversations about climate change:

  • When's the last time you felt really connected to nature?

  • What motivates you to care about the environment?

  • What emotions come up when you think about climate change?

  • What would fair and equitable solutions look like?

📚 Some quick reads 

• We’re big on systemic action here, and you might be wondering why we’re not focussing on lifestyle actions (e.g. recycling). Here’s a quick primer on why we think systemic and collective actions are so important, and why we think it’s the best place to put our energy. 

• These holidays are a good time to think about what your niche in the climate space could be. We love this neat quiz on where your unique skills are best suited in the climate space. At the end, it also has suggestions of actions you can take! 

🧘🏽‍♀️Keeping it sustainable (for you)

Sit up tall, unclench your jaw, and take a deep breath. Getting into a new space can feel overwhelming, but there are communities and common practices to support you to contribute effectively, in a sustainable way:

• Regular meditation (here’s a couple guided meditations!) or going for walks

• Getting out into nature 

• Therapy

• Taking breaks from screens & social media

• Finding a community of other folks who care about the climate 🤝

Just remember that we’re glad you’re here, and what the climate needs is not all of us doing climate action perfectly, but lots of us doing what we can. Share this post with a friend so they can start taking action with you!

Thanks for taking action! 💖 Join us at Climate Club for weekly emails of 5/15/30 minute systemic actions, made for busy people who want to do something about the climate.