Climate change requires collective action
I write as temperature records are being pulverised across much of the northern hemisphere.
Meanwhile, the rain we recently had in East Anglia has been a huge relief, but so far it’s too little too late for our farmers, and food growers at large (of whom I’m one).
If we dare to look up, then we all know it: the situation is profoundly scary, out of control.
It demands an effective response.
The Government’s own Climate Change Committee has recently said it plain: This country is completely unprepared for the coming climate impacts.
Unless we start preparing, then within a generation half our roads and rail links will be threatened with inundation.
And that’s just for starters.
Meanwhile, the dust is settling over a major change in the UK’s climate landscape: Just Stop Oil has…just stopped.
The roadblocks are gone, the hi-vis jackets folded away.
For three years, they shouted what many were privately whispering: this is an emergency and we are not acting nearly fast enough.
But now, with their departure, a space has opened.
Not just for new tactics but for a new story.
From Extinction Rebellion and Greta onwards, protest shook us awake.
It widened the conversation and demanded we look at what’s coming.
Yet for many, protest was a language they didn’t speak.
Too loud, too risky.
And so a silent majority remained: watching, waiting, knowing.
Knowing that climate breakdown isn’t just a future threat but a growing reality.
Knowing that the system we live in cannot hold.
Knowing that something must change and soon.
But still, they stayed quiet.
Not because they didn’t care but because they didn’t know how to respond.
They are not alone.
YOU are not alone.
Recent research shows 89% of people want stronger climate action, but less than 10% are actively involved.
This spiral of silence has kept us stuck.
Now, with protest paused, there’s room for something different.
For most people, the thought of what will be needed to stop climate decline is completely overwhelming and leads to fight, flight, or freeze.
But the thought of doing something they’re good at to try to protect the ones they love is compelling.
Adapting to our emerging, dire climate reality is not failure; it’s the honest, necessary response to decades of delay.
It’s about facing the truth and choosing to care anyway.
This is about legacy.
The steps we take now will shape the world our children inherit.
What we build today is the foundation for their tomorrow.
Adapting isn’t giving up.
On the contrary.
It’s stepping up to the reality we face.
It’s honest, practical, powerful.
And it’s something we can all do.
In every street, every town, people can come together and ask:
What does our place need?
What will our children wish they had?
What can we do to prepare?
This isn’t just about surviving.
It’s about creating community, joy, and resilience.
It’s about finding beauty and meaning, even as the world changes.
Growing food locally (for example, as the greater-Norwich-based ‘Farmshare’ initiative do, together), making homes resilient (lowering bills in the process), and building stronger networks of care.
This moment belongs not just to activists, but to all of us as citizens, as neighbours, as people who care.
Not waiting for leaders, but being the leaders we need now.
If you see what’s coming, you’re not alone, you are already ahead and with that foresight comes the chance—and the responsibility—to help shape what comes next.
Living well now, while building resilience, is an act of courage and of caring.
This is the invitation: not just to protest, but to participate.
Not only to resist, but to reimagine.
Not so much to fight against what we don’t want as to champion and create that which we do want.
There’s no single path forward, only the questions that help you find your own, along with everyone else:
What does your place need? What are you good at? What brings you joy? What can you offer?
According to the Russian writer Alexei Yurchak, revolutions happen in two stages: the first stage is when everyone realises that something is wrong; the second stage is when everyone realises that everyone else realises it as well…
That second stage is the opportunity presenting itself to us all at this moment.
As soon as the false belief that each of us is alone in our deep concern vanishes, the sense of relief and release will be palpable, and the #climatemajority will be heard loud and clear.
The Climate Majority is already here. It’s you. It’s me.
It’s all of us — stepping forward with courage and care, finding joy in connection and standing up for what we believe in and what we love, together.