The headlines this summer make it easy to feel as if nothing can be done: record heat and wildfires continue, while fossil fuel companies rake in billions. But feeling powerless is exactly the trap, and this week there's new science on how to avoid it. Read on! 🧠 Good news: Watching a short "prebunking" video helps people across the political spectrum spot debilitating climate doom for what it is, and share it less. 🛢️ Not-so-good news: The same fossil fuel emissions driving this summer's heat and wildfires are making their producers richer than ever, with Oxfam projecting that six major oil companies will earn a combined $45 billion in Q2 of 2026, nearly double their Q1 earnings. 🗣️ What you can do: Use your voice: talk about the unfairness at the heart of this story, where a handful of companies earn billions while families pay through higher bills, lost work, and worse health. When we change social norms, we activate societal tipping points. Your voice is more powerful than you think 💚 talkingclimate.ca/p/polluter…

Last year, when the U.S. administration terminated the first-ever National Nature Assessment, the team behind it refused to let the work disappear. Director Phil Levin and the entire author team — all volunteers — reorganized, built a new secretariat and advisory committee, spent months persuading foundations to fund the effort, then got back to work. This week, the result is here! The new Nature Record has just been submitted to the National Academy of Sciences for formal review -- and it's been opened for public comment, so you can read it too: naturerecord.org/ The report meticulously documents the many ways humans have degraded nature — on land, in lakes and rivers, in coastal wetlands, and in the ocean. But what I love most is that the report starts with a “Bright Spots” chapter. It highlights real-life successes, the conditions that helped them happen, and how treating each other with greater equity and justice can also benefit nature. Why does this chapter matter so much? Because social science research shows something important: while doom and gloom may get the most clicks and shares online, focusing only on the negative (without any positive information about solutions) can leave people feeling overwhelmed and powerless. When we pair the risks with information about solutions that work, people feel a greater sense of efficacy — and efficacy is what motivates us to act. Not only that, but when it comes to nature, there are so many solutions that work (and the report talks about them, too!). Restoring ecosystems can strengthen food systems, improve our physical and mental health, protect communities from floods, storms, and heat, support biodiversity, and even help draw carbon out of the atmosphere. Nature-based solutions are powerful. And the more we share stories of what’s working, the more we can build momentum for the work still ahead. Read more here: nytimes.com/2026/03/05/clima…