Climate Optimism: Celebrating Systemic Change Around the World (Environmental Sustainability, Doing Good Things, Book for Activists)

By Zahra Biabani

A Guide on Climate Optimism and Environmental Sustainability 

"If you want to be part of the solution, this book is for you.” ―Kip Pastor, founder and CEO of Pique Action

#1 New Release in Sustainable Business Development and Environmental Policy

Zahra Biabani, a climate activist focused on hope and action, wrote this book to help readers learn why we need to and how we can  stay optimistic in the face of the climate crisis. People are doing good things for our planet all over the world…. it's time we highlight it!

Change the way you think about the future. The fate of humanity can be daunting, but we don’t need to live in that space. First, we need to change our attitude in order to implement nature based solutions that help mitigate climate change. Good news: there are numerous encouraging environmental trends that will change the way you think about how we can protect the planet. 

Get to know Zahra Biabani, a climate activist, influencer, CEO, and writer. Zahra’s content focuses on climate hope, optimism, humor, and doing good things. After unexpectedly establishing a career as an online sustainability educator and influencer her junior year at Vanderbilt University, Zahra decided to jump head first into the waters of entrepreneurship and authorship. Climate Optimism is her way to spread hope in the world.

Inside, you’ll find:

• A comprehensive review of the most promising  climate solutions 
• Practical advice to change the way you think and feel about climate change
• Two years worth of good news from the “Weekly Earth Wins” series 
• Interviews with activists in the Global South working on projects that further environmental sustainability

If you liked Not Too Late, Apocalypse Never, or Unsettled or books for activists centered on environmentalism like A Field Guide to Climate Anxiety, The Intersectional Environmentalist, or Sustainable Badass, you’ll love Climate Optimism.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Mango
• Release date: Apr 11, 2023
• ISBN: 9781684811595

Zahra Biabani

Zahra Biabani is a climate activist, influencer, CEO, and writer. Her content focuses on climate hope, optimism, humor, and action items. After unexpectedly establishing a career as an online sustainability educator and influencer her junior year at Vanderbilt University, Zahra decided to jump head first into the waters of entrepreneurship and authorship. Her startup, In the Loop, is the first rental clothing company for vetted sustainable and ethical fashion brands. 

Book preview

CLIMATE

OPTIMISM

CLIMATE

OPTIMISM

CELEBRATING

SYSTEMIC CHANGE

AROUND THE WORLD

ZAHRA BIABANI

FOREWORD BY CHRISTIANA FIGUERES

Copyright © 2023 by Zahra Biabani.

Published by Mango Publishing, a division of Mango Publishing Group, Inc.

Cover Design: Megan Werner

Cover Photo/illustration: guoquan / stock.adobe.com

Layout & Design: Megan Werner

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Climate Optimism: Celebrating Systemic Change Around the World

Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication number: 2022950400

ISBN: (p) 978-1-68481-158-8 (e) 978-1-68481-159-5

BISAC category code NAT011000, NATURE / Environmental Conservation & Protection

I dedicate this book to my dad, who has always wanted to write a book. This book carries your love, generosity, and care for me—which has in turn fostered my love, generosity, and care for the planet through the pages. And to my mom, who has always been my cheerleader. Your enthusiasm for life has inspired my enthusiasm for saving the planet.

CONTENTS

FOREWORD

MY WHY

PART I

WHY OPTIMISM AND WHY NOW?

INTRODUCTION

CHAPTER 1

INFORMATION OVERLOAD

CHAPTER 2

NEGATIVITY BIAS

CHAPTER 3

THE PRIVILEGE GAP

CHAPTER 4

FAILURE OF IMAGINATION

CHAPTER 5

ECHO CHAMBERS

TAKEAWAYS FROM PART I

PART II

LOOKING BACK TO LOOK FORWARD

CHAPTER 6

THINGS AREN’T ALWAYS AS THEY SEEM

CHAPTER 7

LET’S TALK ABOUT EARTH WINS

CHAPTER 8

CLIMATE OPTIMISM IN THE COURTROOM

CHAPTER 9

STARTING A MOVEMENT

CHAPTER 10

CHANGE IN THE MARKETS

PART III

CLIMATE OPTIMISM AROUND THE WORLD

NOTE

CHAPTER 11

SHE4EARTH—SOUTH AFRICA

CHAPTER 12

PROJECT EIM—PHILIPPINES

CHAPTER 13

ECONOMIES OF PEACE—PAKISTAN

CHAPTER 14

ECO-LUSION—KENYA

CHAPTER 15

PLANTING HOPE—PALESTINE

PART IV

YOUR ROLE

CHAPTER 16

WHAT YOU CAN DO

ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

REFERENCES

FOREWORD

BY CHRISTIANA FIGUERES

Optimism is not the result of a success; it is the necessary ingredient to address a challenge if we want any chance of success. Optimism is not blind to reality. It is not oblivious to the hard facts. Optimism is a choice, and I have applied it many times as the input to tackling my personal and professional life challenges. The historic Paris Agreement on Climate Change would not have been achieved if my colleagues and I had not intentionally applied a stubbornly optimistic approach to the negotiations, even when most people thought it was impossible to get all the countries of the world to agree, and we had no way of knowing whether we would succeed.

This book is a brilliant, down-to-earth reminder about the importance of that mindset today. It shows us that distraction, doubt, and despair are heavy burdens we can no longer afford to drag, that transformational change in the world starts with each of us and how we show up in the world.

Underneath the grief and the anger we all harbor a hunger for healing. Zahra’s stories, and her keen grasp of the lesser-known trends within environmentalism, show us that healing is possible: it starts with bravely facing the hard facts of the climate crisis and humbly moving toward reconciliation and restorative justice.

When I look to the future, I think of how my goddaughter Zoe, who is eleven years old, and her peers will look back at this moment and be appalled at how close we came to losing the Amazon, the ice caps and glaciers, and the coral reefs. I expect she and her friends will laugh at how ludicrous our old-fashioned ideas were: digging up ancient fossils just to burn them, clearing natural forests to just grow other plants, or killing animals just to eat them. They will be incredulous that our cities were once filled with loud vehicles and toxic fumes, that we scraped the sea bottoms and paved over wetlands.

But my goddaughter and her peers will also marvel at all we collectively achieved in such a short space of time when we finally woke up to the consequences of our doings. They will be amazed at how we transformed entire systems for the benefit of everyone, especially the most vulnerable.

And they will be grateful for all the disruptors, of all stripes, sizes, and ages, who pushed and pulled us, inspired us and admonished us, and ultimately helped us to move into responsibility at the speed and scale we needed.

The path to that future may seem difficult or perhaps even impossible from where we stand right now. But impossible is not a fact, it’s an attitude, only an attitude, and our attitudes are firmly under our control.

The fact is, we can choose to change our policies, our technology, and our financial levers to protect life on earth. And we can do so powered by the conviction in our capacity to effect those changes and our capacity to heal. We can also be continuously inspired by the extraordinary efforts of so many of our fellow citizens around the world who are already working so hard for change, even as obstacles keep blocking the way.

Optimism is a candle in the darkness. It can brighten the minds of each one of us if we choose to light it. And as the Buddha said: brightness of mind is both the final goal of the path of enlightenment and also the first step. A bright mind is how we can proceed and meaningfully contribute to restoring the incredible web of life we are so fortunate to be part of.

Christiana Figueres

Founding partner of Global Optimism

Former executive secretary of the United Nations

Framework Convention on Climate Change (2010–2016)

MY WHY

Climate optimism: A framework based on the idea that we can restore the earth back to health, and in doing so protect the people that inhabit this planet.

A small percentage of humanity has slowly been poisoning our shared home, from the polluted groundwater below our feet to the tainted skies above our heads. For some, it’s easier to give in to the poison, accepting it as the new normal. For others, this poison has infiltrated deep into their countries, homes, families, and bodies. In a few years, it will be impossible for anyone to avoid the damage that this poison carries with it: increasingly intense natural disasters, more pandemics, hotter temperatures, and wars over depleting natural resources. So why pick up a book on climate optimism?

This book is for young people who are terrified for their futures.

This book is for climate advocates who tirelessly call for action but are run down from fighting what often feels like a losing battle.

This book is for elders who have been fighting for change for as long as they can remember.

This book is for my future children, who are not responsible for the world they will be born into, yet will reap the consequences of our actions if we fail to act rapidly.

This book is for a seventeen-year-old me, impassioned to save the planet, yet overwhelmed on how to do so.

At the risk of coming off as exclusionary, let me also state who this book is not for.

This book is not for the political leaders around the world who have failed to heed scientists’ warnings and take adequate action to protect the planet and its people.

This book is not for corporate leaders who value sustainability as an afterthought and whose prioritization of profit over people and the planet have gotten us into this ecological disaster.

This book is not for members of civil society who are lukewarm on the issue of the climate crisis, claiming that it is a problem, but far less of a problem than scientists agree on.

Although it is in my best interest to sell as many books as possible, I want to make sure that nothing in this book gets misinterpreted, twisted, or abused by those in power who use my optimism as an excuse for inaction or delay.

I wrote this book because I believe that, in light of our dwindling resources, hope is an unlimited resource.

I believe that climate optimism is necessary for mobilizing change. I believe that climate doomism—a fatalistic view of our future centered on the belief that the earth is too far gone—is now so pervasive that it rivals climate change denialism. As said by Andreas Karelas, author of Climate Courage, people will choose not to believe in climate change if they believe there is no way to solve it.

I believe in the inextricable link between climate change and any social justice issue. To solve the climate crisis, we must actively work to dismantle systems of oppression that uphold injustices.

I believe in empowering and funding communities of color and Indigenous communities who are facing the brunt of consequences of climate change despite contributing the least to the issue.

I believe in love, the greatest of all things. When our love for our planet and its people supersedes our love for profit, earth will begin to heal.

I believe that good people can believe bad things and that climate change deniers are not inherently bad people; they just have been misinformed by the media and networks of disinformation.

I believe that we need to convince everyone of the urgency of the climate crisis to drive the political will and reform necessary to make a change.

I believe that you have a role in fighting the climate crisis and that if everyone who cared about the planet got involved in high-impact movements like those featured in this book, we would save our planet from catastrophic warning.

Finally, I believe our propensity to pioneer solutions is far greater than we realize. Movements within the larger environmental movement have the power to bring about great change for both the planet and its people. Though there is ample room and demand for involvement in these movements, there is a lack of awareness of them, as our dialogue around environmentalism too often focuses on sensationalized headlines and political quagmires.

ICYMI (in case you missed it) on the cover page, I will remind you of my name, who I am, and why I am writing to you.

My name is Zahra Biabani, and I am a youth climate activist from the United States (Houston, Texas, specifically).

I tell most people that I started my climate activist journey at a Climate Reality Leadership Corps Training in my hometown in 2016. This was my first formal foray into the climate space, but truthfully, my journey began in a less-than-wholesome way ten years prior.

At the start of each new month, the newest edition of National Geographic Kids would faithfully arrive in our mailbox. Something about this issue stirred me into action like no other had before. Moved by the compelling images of polar bears losing their homes to the greed and apathy of humans, I decided to go door-to-door in my neighborhood, telling people about their diminishing homes (melting ice caps) and collecting donations in one of my mom’s old shoeboxes (they were Dr. Scholl’s, I think).

My eight-year-old brain clearly did not hold onto that passion project for long, as a few years later I discovered the shoebox with fifteen dollars in donations in a corner of my closet at the end of the school year. Yep, little me accidentally stole money under the guise of charity work. I blame my short attention span.

After a short stint of obsession with animals, the latter bit of elementary school through late high school was marked by a commitment to various social issues. I made videos about mass incarceration, started the Democrats club at my high school, and went door-to-door campaigning for progressive political candidates with my mom, as I was too young to do so by myself.

I assumed that my interest in the melting ice caps had waned, but it wasn’t until I realized the connection between social inequities and climate change that my passion for preserving the planet fully flowered.

In the summer of 2017, I worked at a Social Services agency. I was volunteering at our food bank on an afternoon where the sooty clouds loomed low and the sky seemed to be grumbling at its mere existence. I remember a fellow volunteer speculating that despite the projections from meteorologists, this storm would be the same as all