What difference does a year make?

 In Opinion

Well folks, it’s been a long, strange trip from last January, when we started this challenge, to this month. Never in a million years did we expect a pandemic to unfold in real time as we took on this project, and we’re hoping that we are seeing the tail end of COVID-19 as we wrap up the year. This month, we hang up our skates (or not) and take a long look at what we’ve accomplished in the past 52 weeks.
Don’t forget about the last challenge from March, to sign up for the 30 Days of Cycling challenge, where you commit to walking or biking somewhere every day in April. You can sign up at 30daysofbiking.com.
And now, on to the final two challenges! 

April 7: This week, re-measure your carbon footprint using the calculators you used before:
• Climate Hero: climatehero.me
• What Is Your Foodprint? foodprint.org/quiz/
Or, if you’ve been very good, you’ve been tracking with the North app this whole year.
Take a look at the results from last April. Have things improved? Stayed the same? What is different from the first time you measured?
If you’re still keen after that, you can play Overlord of the Universe with interactive simulations to address the biggest climate challenges we face. Climate Interactive has a ton of tools you can play with, as well as workshops and games. You can select different scenarios on a sliding scale (say, green buses) and it will measure in real time, the effect it would have on the climate. It’s pretty cool, and if you have a few minutes to spare (like sitting at home for the umpteenth day) give it a try at www.climateinteractive.org/tools/#simulations. It’s also an excellent resource for the classroom, or at home learning.

April 14: Commit to another year of climate action! We’ll be honest. We don’t yet have all the details about what 52 Weeks 2.0 looks like, but we’re pretty sure it will continue in one form or another. We’ve had some super feedback from people keen to keep going. Sign up to follow another 52-Week Climate Action Challenge as an individual (good) with a group of friends and family (better), with a community of friends, family, neighbours, and colleagues (best).
It doesn’t have to end here, and we are interested in hearing from you about where we go next. We are pretty sure a book is in the works, with updated challenges, links and summaries to help you get where you want to go faster. 
We are building our community, adding new challenges and exploring other options. So if you want to keep going, great. You’ll be getting more information on how to do that in the coming weeks. 
If you thought about it but never got around to joining, now’s your chance. If you want to stay updated on what comes next, you can subscribe at bit.ly/52WeeksofClimateAction.
We hope you have enjoyed these challenges, and have been reading our weekly in-depth blog posts. Thank you for being part of the adventure. There is so much more to say, do and learn on this journey. We’ve only touched the tip of the iceberg (remember those?). We hope you feel more empowered to take climate action, and to expect the change necessary from all systems around us, to ensure our futures are bright, clean and optimistic. 

52 Weeks of Climate Action was created by Sherri Jackson and Laurel Hood. Sherri is a writer, speaker and musician. She is the candidate of record and communications coordinator for the Simcoe-Grey Greens. Laurel Hood, is a retired secondary teacher, transportation lead for the Collingwood Climate Action Team, and volunteer coordinator for the Simcoe-Grey Greens.

 

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