This isn’t a race. That was the advice given to me years ago by climate fiction writer and environmental nonprofit founder Jeff VanderMeer. VanderMeer was speaking to me about having resilience as a writer, about fighting the long fight long-term and never giving up on your work. If anything, writing was—and continues to be—a marathon.

What else takes a very long time and requires us to continue to press forward in the face of great odds? Justice. Resilience and endurance are skills we have perhaps never needed more than now. And this week at the Climate Justice desk, we examine momentum. How do we stay energized and ready? How do we keep going? 

From mental health repercussions to financial burdens to strained nonprofits, we look at what happens when the worst-case climate scenario keeps happening to communities, giving them little to no time to recover. Next, we hear from Amy Marquis on how nonprofits are successfully pivoting to meet the evolving needs of their communities during crises, from Trump’s rollback of DEI initiatives to the LA wildfires. Empathy has been a talking point for politicians lately, but it’s a necessary skill for humanity to survive. Finally, even amid a seemingly endless war, climate defenders in Ukraine know protecting their environment is an urgent step to saving it.

Dr. Alison Stine,
Climate Justice, Senior Editor