Climate change is an existential threat, for sure. And I get why people beat the drum so loudly about how f*cked we are and how we need to move a lot more quickly than we’ve been moving. Both are true! But so much of climate communications focuses on the downside: sea level rise, wildfires, famine, forced migration, flooding, disease, etc. There are certainly some people for which this messaging will resonate. After all, I came into working in climate from a place of fear 5.5 years ago. But largely, the the feelings that this messaging conjurs are either apathy (i.e. its too late, so why bother trying) or panic (i.e. we need to lay in front of rush hour traffic and sabotage existing pipelines). I would argue that the feelings we should be cultivating are those of stoic determination. And that the best way to foster those isn’t by scaring or guilting people, but by painting a vision of the future that is worth working towards together. Urgency, yes. But urgency via optimism vs urgency via panic. To me, working towards a world of energy abundance is the only answer. A world with less hunger. A world with more housing. A world with less sickness. A world with more jobs and upward mobility. If you want someone to reach the summit of a mountain, don’t spend the whole time they are climbing reminding them of how far they are from the ground and how high the stakes are if they don’t make it to the top. Talk to them about how amazing it is at the summit and how worthwhile a pursuit it is to try to get there. This is not only the best way to get a true global movement assembled, it’s also the best way to try to avoid all of those dire consequences we’ve been constantly reminding people about.