You are working on a national climate policy. A rooftop solar project. A provincial change in making community solar projects more affordable. You name it.

At some point you’re likely to wonder, “The scale of the climate crisis is huge! Is my tiny piece enough… is it right-sized against the size of the problem… is it worth it?”

We hear you.

The problem is huge. Your piece is one amongst many. And your piece will not be enough.

Look, let’s just be honest:

1. Nothing you will do is enough to solve the problem.

According to the IPCC in 2023, we need to build 1.5TW of solar and wind capacity every year by 2030 to keep us on track for 1.5 degrees and to phase out fossil fuels. In 2022, the world only added 295 GW of renewable instalments (266 GW on solar and wind) — so the scale is huge: increasing the installed capacity of solar+wind by 6 times annually.

And that doesn’t speak to all the many other things that need to be addressed: reducing methane leaks, making major changes in transportation and agricultural sector, building a revolution in how we distribute energy, developing storage technology, and on and on and on.

No person can make all of these changes. No group, small or large, is powerful enough to make it all happen.

For those who grew up with the image of Superheroes or action heroes who saved the world, this can be a painful starting point. But better to accept reality than to fight it.

2. Show gratitude for people working on the parts of the problem you can’t.

We have a choice. We can be overwhelmed that we can’t do all the things, or we can see ourselves as part of a bigger network working on this big problem. To do that, we need to practise gratitude towards those doing work you aren’t doing.

A campaigner described how she had unwittingly chosen the path of overwhelm. “I was raised by the generation of Holocaust survivors who told me, ‘Never again.’ I took it personally, as if I had to stop every genocide. Every time I read a newspaper article, I felt like I had to personally do something. It’s disabling—it killed me inside and had me wracked by guilt.”

The alternative path is one of appreciation. There are hundreds of different aspects of taking on the climate crisis. Notice and appreciate the people who are doing the work you can’t. Send a thank you note to a solar installer. Cheer on your fighting intrepid journalists. Get involved with your local protestors risking arrest. If you can’t even muster that, at least send a prayer or invocation of love to their work.

Because we are doing our best together.

3. That’s why you have to be part of a community.

You are part of a whole. The fabric of community is woven with appreciation and exchanges. So all that gratitude makes it easier to join with others to help make impacts beyond our small effects and to build the world we want.

Climate activist Alva Feldmeier explains:

The transition we are working on is so much more than just adding renewable electricity, transition and storage, it’s about people being more connected and part of the changes in their own community and neighbourhoods. It’s not just about reducing emissions, but how can a community self-fund community gardens, build their own resilience, and inspire each other to live out a new interwoven culture.

This is why community needs to be at the heart and centre of it — and that can start at whatever level you’re working at. Building ties and webs.

Because even if your act is purely personal (like putting solar on your rooftop), you can still more out of individual action by giving presentations to your community of faith or civic group about what you did, persuade others to join you, write letters to the editor about its benefits, and — yes — even finding like-minded others to make it easier for others to put solar panels on their houses, too.

4. Always look for system change opportunities.

Climate activist Daniel Hunter tells of when he realized the power of systems change, not just individual change. “Every week our church had styrofoam cups and we threw them away. Maybe one-hundred cups a week. At first, I brought my own reusable glass cups to save the environment. But I wanted to make a bigger change.”

When he found a group of like-minded in the church, they convinced the whole church to stop offering styrofoam and instead wash their cups. They still do this decades later which easily stopped over 150,000 styrofoam cups from being wasted — far more than his individual change. “Structural change is almost always way more effective than personal change,” he concludes.

Many people start with individual change — like him — and that led to getting more involved. All movements start small.

Professor and climate activist Edward Carr says it this way: “Individuals have a limited ability to transform how they live on their own—a single consumer’s purchasing decisions will not shift the cultivation techniques of a global agribusiness. While we all have a role to play in addressing climate change, that role must include, and perhaps even emphasize, transforming these structures.”

So, yes, work at whatever role you can — and always keep eyeballing how your role can inform, shape, resist, fight against, and implement better system changes.

5. Let your work be the catalyst for even more solutions

History is a funny business. What can seem impossible can become later thought of as something everyone does. Your work does not end with the success or failure of your projects. If you’re situated in a broader community, your actions are an inspiration, a lesson, a way of acting that others are observing and learning from.

You can improve your chance of being a catalyst by being open about your successes and failures. Be honest. Don’t gloat, but don’t underestimate the power of you fighting for your project or your successful project will have on others. People are inspired and hopeful for what is possible because of the work that you are doing and may indeed start their own project! So share your story wherever you can.

(Share your stories at OurOwnPower.org!)

And lastly, whatever part of the good work you’re up to…

6. It’s extremely important that you do it.

Nobody else will do what you do.

Do your part whatever level it is. Share it with others. Express gratitude for others doing their parts.