Every week it seems like there’s a new devastating story about the impact or future impact of climate change and climate-fueled weather events. This week was no different. On Sunday, Sarah Kaplan covered a new study that found the average 6-year-old may live through roughly three times as many climate disasters as their grandparents. On Wednesday, Jason Samenow, Kasha Patel, Hannah Dormido and Laris Karklis reported on the record number of storms and hurricanes that have made landfall in the U.S. in the last two years and their connection to climate change. That same day, U.S. officials announced the extinction of the ivory-billed woodpecker and 22 other plant and animal species. Several were the casualties of a combination of habitat destruction and climate change. Reading stories like these week after week can feel overwhelming, and it can feel challenging to find hope. One place I've found hope recently is in reading about the people and visionaries working to address the climate challenges we face, some of whom are leading change in their own communities. This week’s lead story from climate reporter Tik Root features one of those people. Audrey Schulman is 58-year-old a writer from Boston whose quest to transition the city away from natural gas could reshape how Massachusetts and other states get energy. The organization she founded aims to replace the fossil fuel with a first-of-its-kind, utility-run geothermal grid. But people like Schulman aren't the only reason to have hope when it comes to climate change. So this week, I asked Post journalists who cover these stories every day to answer two questions. (You have my permission to skip straight to No. 2 if you want to feel more hopeful.) What do you wish people understood about climate change?Kaplan: “The thing I am constantly trying to remind people about climate change is that it’s not a single event, like a bomb going off. It’s not a threshold we pass or a cliff we fall over. It’s a process that’s already underway, and as long as humans continue to put carbon in the atmosphere that process keeps on going. Scientists have compared it to a patient who keeps ignoring his doctor’s advice to quit smoking. Stopping sooner could have kept him healthy, but now it’s at the point where the patient is seeing major organ damage. And as long as society continues along its current path, things are only going to get worse.” Root: “Not to start off too dark, but a couple of years ago my father was diagnosed with cancer (he’s doing better!) and his doctor told him that it was the start of a ‘lifelong relationship’ with his oncologist. That, I find, is a motivating analogy for how we might think about addressing climate change. There’s no easy way out, and no one answer. But every day people are vigorously and valiantly fighting cancer with a mix of short- and long-term strategies, community support, private industry, scientific research and government initiatives.” What gives you hope?Kaplan: “What motivates me to keep writing about this issue is that people can still choose how bad it gets. The fact that the future gets worse with each degree of temperature rise means that we can make it better with every degree we avoid. It will require tremendous effort to meet the 1.5 degrees Celsius (2.7 Fahrenheit) target. But scientists say it can still happen if nations invest in renewable energy sources, develop more sustainable agriculture and forestry practices, and switch away from gas-powered transportation, among other actions. And even if we miss the various targets that have been laid out, the fact remains that each ton of carbon not emitted means slightly less warming and slightly fewer disasters for the world to contend with. Seen through that lens, hopelessness is not an option. Everything we do counts.” Samenow: “Through improved weather forecasting, education, outreach and preparedness initiatives, we’ve actually made progress in reducing the toll of some extreme events. Efforts to make our infrastructure more resilient to weather extremes can go a long way toward reducing damage. Efforts to reach vulnerable groups, who are most affected by weather disaster but armed with the fewest resources to cope with them, is particularly important.” Root: “I’m relatively new to The Post and I honestly had no idea to what extent people actually cared about climate or climate solutions issues. But the response I’ve seen from readers in only a few months has been far beyond what I imagined. Every day we get incredibly smart questions, thoughtful feedback and strong readership for climate articles. After a story I wrote in June about how ditching grass could help your backyard thrive, I received emails from many folks talking about how they had started that process. I take that appetite to learn more as a wonderful sign of genuinely engaged interest, and possibly even change. (This week’s story about protecting your home from wildfires actually came from readers!)” | 
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