Fuel Your Inspiration July 2026
- Jul 1
- 3 min read
Think Act Change
Plug-in solar can be for everyone, anywhere
No need to get frustrated in the fray to topple big oil and establish your solar rights: persist, like in this plug-in solar video, if you can. A balcony or an available spot outside your apartment or home can host a plug-in solar unit. Balcony solar has been surging in Germany, where the units collect energy for half the price of on-the-grid electricity. Read about what is happening in Canada and the rest of the world. Even in the US, where the government is foolishly trying to extinguish clean energy production, balcony solar is slowly but surely plodding ahead. Use your voice: If you run into barriers in pursuing your right to solar, pursue your right to gorgeous, free solar power. Write letters, arrange meetings to campaign your local officials, your local power company, and your local building codes department to get with a solar program! Demand lower prices from manufacturers. Let the media know what you’re doing, too.
Berlin's open-source platform shows a better city is possible
Giess den Kiez, or Water the Neighborhood, is Berlin’s citizen-centered platform that cares for urban trees. Take notes from the website of this open-source project to adapt this platform to your town or city. Mapped out neighborhood by neighborhood, Berlin’s trees are thriving as citizens water trees in their neighborhoods. Preserve your city’s trees to harvest fresh oxygen, habitats for wildlife, shade on hot days, and lush green for our eyes.
Amsterdam bans the outdoor advertising of meat and fossil fuels
Meat and dairy production, and fossil fuel extraction and burning, all cause filthy carbon pollution, so to emphasize its ambitious climate policy, the city of Amsterdam decided to stop promoting high-carbon lifestyles by banning outdoor advertising for those products. Other cities doing the same include Stockholm, Sydney, The Hague, and Florence. The bans emulate the very successful “no smoking” advertising campaigns in the late 20th century. Stay tuned to the European citizens’ initiative to ban fossil fuel ads at Ban Fossil Fuel Ads and initiate the same where you live!
Cars, get out of my bicycle’s way!
Getting involved in your urban development could improve life for you and your society. Read about Planes e.V., an environmental think-tank based in Berlin, which pioneered a project called Radbahn Berlin, transforming the unused space underneath an existing railway track into a dedicated bicycle pathway. This and other innovative plans are described on their website (which can be translated into 49 languages).
Hopeful: Heat-resistant super reefs and super corals
Bleaching and dying coral reefs in the world’s warming oceans are definitely one of the most painful results of planetary warming that we witness. There is, however, remarkably hopeful data emerging from recent science from Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution’s Anne Cohen. In addition, listen to Theresa Fyffe, Great Barrier Reef Foundation Executive Director of Impact, in a TED talk about three critical breakthroughs to protecting coral reefs.
The World Is in Our Hands
Talking to your children about the changing climate is not easy. Luckily, there are lots of books that can be of help, both fictional and educational.
The World is in Our Hands, a new children’s book by Steffi Fennelly, belongs to the first category. It is a richly illustrated book with a simple story about five friends who live in Sligo, Ireland. They have known each other since pre-school. Now they are starting secondary school. They are magically transported to the Arctic to help walruses who are about to lose their home. The melting ice threatens their food source and home. The children find out how hard the walruses’ lives have become because of the melting ice. They learn to have empathy with the animals, which drives them desperately to want to help them. They don't have any other means to do that than to appeal to grown-ups, their parents, politicians, and that's what they do, even if it's through magic or a fantasy figure.
The book gives children the perspective of how climate change is impacting animals, and empowers them to battle for a better future. The core message is that young people can make a difference in their world.
The story blends humor, imagination, and a message of hope through courage.
The book can be read aloud for children as young as age 3 and is recommended for independent readers ages 7 - 12. The colorful pictures and spacious layout make the book attractive and easy to read, even for children who are not avid readers.
A final thought
“The most reliable form of resilience is not individual wealth or distant institutions, but solidarity — the power of ordinary people to collectively meet their needs and determine the conditions of their lives.”
–Sarah Van Gelder, founding editor, YES! magazine
Comments