The young Swedish climate change activist, Greta Thunberg (https://www.ted.com/speakers/greta_thunberg) had been ‘speaking truth to power’ for a nearly a year before the authorities took her seriously. By standing outside the Swedish Parliament and boycotting school on Fridays Greta attracted millions of supporters around the world. She found an audience of people weary of political inaction over climate change and determined to change this. Even though governments may claim that climate change policies are unrealistic unless the general public make the issue a priority, the reality is that the intractable problems of accelerating climate change and ecosystem collapse will not go away without immediate and decisive political action.
You don’t have to stand outside your parliament building to get the conversation moving and policy change happening. All you have to do is pick up your smartphone, use your keypad or attend a local council meeting and make your feelings about disruptive climate change and environmental collapse known to your local politicians. If you’re in any doubt about what you can achieve, remember it’s the community that decides who gets elected.
Even if your efforts don’t initially change your politicians’ point of view, at the very least it makes them aware of the significance of the issues. Someone once said that when a politician receives 5 letters/emails on the same subject from different people, s/he pays attention.
How best to get your point across will depend on several things, including how comfortable you feel about speaking to people in authority. A phone call can be the most effective way to communicate quickly but it’s unlikely you will get to speak to the politician directly and if your argument is complex, a letter or email beforehand may bring better results. Your political representatives have thousands of constituents & countless issues competing for their attention, so help them to prioritise your concerns about resilience by being well prepared for meetings.