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Photo: Daniel J. Cox / Natural Exposures
Polar bear standing on ice floe, sniffing the air

Climate Actions—18+

Taking climate action is easier than you might think!

We all have a lot going on in our lives, but taking climate action is easier than you might think! Follow the links below to learn about great ways you can help protect polar bears and the planet. (Tip: Bookmark this page so you can come back to it each time you want to take action for polar bears.)

Marissa Krouse holding a vote for polar bears sign
Photo: Devon Albeit Photography

Vote for Polar Bears

Voting for candidates that support climate action is the single biggest way you can help protect polar bears and the planet. Explore our resources for being an informed voter and making your voice count!

Vote for Polar Bears
Healthy polar bear standing on broken sea ice
Photo: BJ Kirschhoffer / Polar Bears International

Polar Bear Advocacy

Elected officials want to know what you think! Whether it’s calling and writing your federal representatives or attending local events like city council meetings, you have the power to advocate for polar bears wherever you live.

Polar Bear Advocacy Toolkit
Polar bear mom and her twin cubs walking on freezing sea ice - BJ Kirschhoffer
Photo: BJ Kirschhoffer / Polar Bears International

Talk About Climate

Did you know that talking about climate action with as many people as possible is one of the most powerful ways to take action for polar bears and the planet? Be an example in your communities by talking about the importance of reducing emissions and sharing all the great things you’re doing!

Talk About Climate
Photo: BJ Kirschhoffer / Polar Bears International
Top down view of ice and slush on a dark ocean

A Climate-Friendly Workplace

Making your workplace more sustainable is a great way to build positive climate change, especially if you’re in a leadership role. From office upgrades to tweaking operations and policies, there are many ways to build a climate-friendly workplace. Check out the options below to see what might be best for your organization!

  • Improve your workplace's energy efficiency
    • Work towards LEED certification of any buildings your company might own.
    • Encourage your workplace to transition to EnergyStar appliances that use less energy.
    • Look into running your workplace from renewable energy by pursuing a Power Purchase Agreement or looking into Renewable Energy Certificates.
  • Encourage sustainability measures
    • Make sure all paper and wood products your workplace uses are certified by the Forest Stewardship Council (FSC). It's easy, just look for the FSC logo.
    • Create a Green Team or Sustainability Committee to audit your organization’s emissions and start planning on ways to reduce emissions.
  • Consider the commute

    Encourage your company to create incentives for employees to take public transportation, carpool, or bike to work instead of driving.

  • Create a culture of philanthropy and volunteerism
    • Help establish a company volunteer program that partners with local environmental organizations.
    • Encourage your company to donate to nonprofits that advocate for and act on climate change.
Photo: Brian Ashworth
Person on bicycle in city

Act in Your Neighbourhood

Our neighbourhoods are our closest communities to home. And it turns out that there are many easy ways we can make them more climate-friendly.

If you're part of a neighbourhood association, then working directly with them is the best way to make change happen. If you don’t, look up who represents you on your local council or go directly to your local leaders and ask them to help turn your neighbourhood into a more sustainable one.

The actions below are excellent ways to get started!

  • Encourage fewer car trips
    • You can make our communities more fun to live in while reducing emissions by encouraging your neighbourhood to build out bike and pedestrian infrastructure that connects areas where people live to local businesses, community centers, parks, and more.
    • You can also advocate for expanded public transportation to connect your community to neighbourhood resources. Find out who determines your local public transit and attend a public meeting to share your suggestions.
  • Promote shared green space

    Public input is an important part of local land use planning and regulations, and you can advocate for the expansion of green space in your neighbourhood. Community gardens promote sustainable agriculture, reduce runoff, and create critical habitats. Public parks regulate water cycles and local temperatures while supporting biodiversity and connecting people to nature. Planting new trees reduces air pollution.

  • Encourage sustainable yards
    • Allow and encourage native plants and wild lawns. Not only do these use less water and fertilizer, they provide habitat to local wildlife like pollinators and birds while helping reduce carbon emissions.
    • Allow and encourage homeowners to leave grass clippings and fallen leaves on their lawns (they return nutrients to the soil and save on fertilizer instead of rotting and emitting greenhouse gasses in landfills!).
    • Encourage electric mowers and leaf blowers that don’t use fossil fuels.
    • Start or join a community garden
Photo: Handcraft Creative
Alysa in a Classroom with School Kids - Handcraft

Climate Action at School

Whether you’re a student yourself or invested in the schools in your community, you can help encourage schools to take climate action.

If you’re a student, here’s a tip to get started: Learn more about school policies on student activism and make your voices heard. Share information, a petition, or flyers with more information in your school AND create a presentation on your experiences.

If you’re not a student, try talking directly to the administrators at your community’s schools or bring up climate action at a school board meeting.

Here are some places to get started:

  • Reduce emissions from school facilities

    — Find out what type of energy your school uses for heating and cooling. If it is based on fossil fuels, challenge your school to use less energy. Also work with school administrators to research renewable energy options like a Power Purchase Agreement or Renewable — Energy Certificates.

    — See if your school can become LEED certified.

    — Encourage your school to transition to EnergyStar appliances that use less energy.

    — Make sure all paper and wood products your school uses are certified by the Forest Stewardship Council (FSC). It’s easy, just look for the FSC logo.

  • Reduce transportation-based emissions

    — Make your school idle-free for cars and buses.

    — Influence a transition to electric bus fleets at school.

  • Reduce food-based emissions

    — Encourage your school to adopt a composting program.

    — Encourage your school to adopt a 50% plant-based cafeteria that both helps the planet and provides nutritious food options.

  • Advocate for environmentally friendly finances

    — If your school has an investment portfolio, encourage them to divest from fossil fuel-related assets.

Photo: Gerrit Wesselink
Colourful houses in Uummannaq, Greenland

Make Your Home Climate-Friendly

— If you’re able to, try to run your home at least partially off of renewable energy. This can be done through Power Purchase Agreements, buying directly from renewable companies, or installing solar panels yourself. If you do so and live in the U.S., you might be eligible for tax credits. And once you do so, tell your friends and neighbors! The best way to make other people act is to show them how it’s done!

— Making your home more energy efficient can be simple yet impactful. Make sure all your appliances are EnergyStar certified, and consider following EnergyStar guidelines for an energy efficient home. One great way to do so is by installing heat pumps to more efficiently regulate your home’s temperature.

— Switch from a gas stove or heater to an electric stove or heater.

— Find out if your city offers composting programs that are free or of an affordable price point for your household. Alternatively, consider if backyard composting could be a viable solution for your household.

— Limit your meat consumption—most importantly beef—and increase the number of fruits and vegetables you eat. When you do eat meat and fish, make efforts to buy them from sustainable sources.

— Reduce your consumption overall—from clothes to homeware to electronics. Before buying something new, consider second-hand and refurbished options. Get creative about how you can repurpose or reuse what you already have. If you need to buy something new, research companies with strong sustainability practices and shop locally whenever it’s feasible.

— Make climate change a regular topic of conversation in your household.

Photo: Anne Nygard / Unsplash
Stock market image showing NASDAQ numbers - Anne Nygard Unsplash

Climate-Smart Finances

Whether you’re just starting out on your financial journey or have been investing for years, you can make your dollars speak for polar bears and the planet.

Divesting from oil and gas companies is a powerful way to make your voice heard through action. Our planet needs to rapidly move away from fossil fuels and removing investments from oil and gas companies helps market forces shift towards renewable energy. TIP: Your investments might be supporting fossil fuels without you knowing! Mutual funds and other aggregated investments might include companies that support fossil fuels. Make sure to research each company in which you’re investing.

Green investing is the other side of the coin. Supporting companies that advance renewable energy and other climate-positive industries helps ensure our economy grows in a sustainable way. Check out things like green mutual funds and other tools along with investing in individual companies yourself.

Additionally, consider using community credit unions or eco-friendly banks for your daily banking needs, as they are often arranged to support local communities and larger sustainability goals.

Need a place to start? Explore the resources below:

— What is Climate Investing?
— Carbon Collective’s Sustainable Investing Guide
— Find a Green Bank

Two polar bears sparring near a frozen lake in Churchill - BJ Kirschhoffer
Photo: BJ Kirschhoffer / Polar Bears International

Become a Teacher

Do the adults in your life know where the energy in your home or school comes from? Do they know that composting can help the planet by reducing emissions from food waste? What about different energy-efficient appliances like refrigerators and dishwashers? Or how important it is that they vote for candidates that support climate action?

Well, YOU can teach them how by encouraging them to find out! Then, visit the Take Action and Education Center parts of our website to learn more about ways everyone can take climate action and learn more about polar bears and the sea ice they depend on.

Mother polar bear with 2 coys walking on ice in dim light
Photo: Dmytro Cherkasov

Become a Mentor

Help younger generations become active community members! Policies have intergenerational impacts and deserve intergenerational engagement.

Talk with young people about what it means to contribute to society, the importance of voting, and solutions that support a healthy climate and a future with polar bears. Encourage young people to learn about school policies and student activism and to share their ideas with their peers, parents, teachers, and administrators.

Can you help them write letters to elected officials? Or brainstorm ways to make their schools more climate-friendly? See what they’re most passionate about and support them in reaching their ambitions.

Additionally, you can help young people navigate difficult feelings surrounding current environmental and social issues. Climate warming and the loss of treasured wildlife are painful realities to face—that pain can be a generator of great strength if we allow ourselves to feel it and come together as an intergenerational community to seek solutions.

Photo: Kt Miller / Polar Bears International
Overhead view of a polar bear on an ice floe - Horizontal Hero - Kt Miller

Create Your Own Content

Make your voice heard and speak on behalf of polar bears! Spreading the word about climate action is crucial for bringing more people into the fight to protect polar bears and the planet.

  • Write a Letter to the Editor

    Submit a letter to your local or regional newspaper. Letters to the editor are important advocacy tools because they can reach large audiences and are often monitored by elected officials. Keep it short, focused, and reference previous articles in the publication, if possible. Climate XChange has tips here!

    Check out these examples:

    Example #1
    Example #2

  • Submit a Guest Essay

    If you have expertise on a certain issue, write and submit a guest essay to a print or online publication. Also known as opinion editorials (op-eds), guest essays are an opportunity to share your opinion—supported by your expertise and evidence—with a broader audience. Scientists are far from the only people with authority to speak on climate change so add your unique experience to the climate conversation.

    Check out these examples:

    Example #1
    Example #2

  • Post on Social Media

    While social media is prone to echo chambers, it can still be an important platform for sharing ideas and talking about the challenges polar bears and people face. Use your channel(s) to share why you care and collaborate with a larger community. Key elements of an effective post include a clear call-to-action, emphasis on solutions, and inclusion of an image when possible. Follow Polar Bears International's channels for ideas and inspiration.