If are worried about climate change and the endless talk feels pointless? Well you’re not alone. Constant headlines about conferences and targets, leaders making promises and nothing seems to happen. You lie awake at night worrying about this, a knot in your chest? It's too big, what can we do - well the answer is do SOMETHING, anything. You WILL feel better and it will help.

Global summits

COP30 is underway in Belém, Brazil. In the Amazon jungle, how appropriate. Delegate debate how to triple adaptation finance to $120 billion a year. They ask if countries are still on track to meet the Paris Agreement’s 1.5°C goal. This is important, don't get me wrong, Without COPs, there would be no shared framework and no government action at all.

The pace is so sloooow. Promises are made and not fulfilled. It always seems to fall short of the decisive action we need. How did we get those aerosols banned when they were making a hole in the ozone layer? We need some of that mojo now! Meantime emissions keep rising and the world starts to simmer. The summit itself was disrupted by a fire at the venue, irony piled onto irony. For those not in this bubble the whole process is distant and rustrating.

If you care about this world, the next generation this gets into your head. Worrying about climate change without any outlet can be debilitating. There's even a word for it: "eco-anxiety"!

Tomato seedlings and hope

The only way I’ve found to carry on is to do something myself. Clearing nettles with my sons, out in the fresh air. Planting tomato seeds inside the back door. Giving away seedlings to neighbours. These are small things, but they are also real. They turn worry into something positive.

Every spring we sow tomatoes, always way too many. Trays line the kitchen, long stems crowd at the window. By early summer we have hundreds and of course far more than we could ever plant ourselves.

So we give them away to our neighbours who take them gladly. It started in lockdown - I think people found gardening when there was not much else available. Sometimes it feels like the whole town is growing our tomatoes. . It’s an annual ritual now.

Small things like this can get bigger, we can make a change. Climate action isn’t only government policy, it’s sharing a plant, growing some food.

Doing something matters

This is what climate action looks like at the grassroots. At this level it isn’t just an idea. It’s children digging beds and being proud of what they grow in them,. It’s neighbours swapping compost and recipes. It’s residents planting wildflower meadows because they realise that bees are imprtant.

This helps he planet, more trees, more biodiversity, more food grown without chemicals, less air miles. It also helps us. It is one sure way to reduce the anxiety that comes from watching the cogs of governments moving ever so slowly. I am not sure which is more important but they both are.

COPs matter but so do your actions!

If you are worried about climate change, and frustrated by the pace of global action, don’t just sit there. Do something. Plant a tree. Share seedlings with a neighbour. Grow a plant, not a stomach ulcer.

This won’t solve the crisis by itself but it will make you feel better, and it will make a difference.

Digging for hope perhaps?