Personal actions are a meaningful antidote to climate despair. As we make changes to our homes, means of transportation, and food choices, we can see immediate results (instead of waiting for politicians to do the right thing).

Hope for Creation has developed a Climate Action Plan for Households tool to support people’s efforts to mitigate the climate crisis. The CAPH provides a checklist of possible actions organized into categories of: Energy Efficiency and Conservation; Electrification and Clean Energy; Food and Waste; Transportation; Land Use; and Education & Advocacy. Each category includes a list of possible actions with columns for assessing ease and cost of implementation and planning an action timeline.

For example, to reduce climate contributions from Food, I could “plan menus and freeze leftovers.” These actions would be moderate in difficulty and low-cost (or even save money) and could be implemented within a year. I might decide to try menu planning for one week a month at first then do it more often as I get better at it. For Energy Efficiency, a “professional energy audit” costs about $100-400, so it might go on my list of things to do after getting a tax refund. Meanwhile, I might get a “basic, no-cost energy audit” from Consumers Energy, which does not provide as much information but does include a free programmable furnace thermostat. For Transportation, I can learn about “electric vehicle options” this summer and then decide if an E-bike or car goes on my plan for this year or 2-5 years.

Developing a Climate Action Plan gives me a roadmap for living my values. Hopefully this tool will help lots of people take action so our individual efforts multiply and the cumulative actions across our community make a real difference. To learn more about household Climate Action Planning, check out the CAPH tool on the Hope for Creation homepage: https://www.hopeforcreation.net