Tip 9: Avoid outs:

Dropping Out or Burning Out

While the planet is breaking all-time records of heat and destruction, climate movements have seen a drop out of activist participants, culminating in burn out. Dropping out of climate change activism presupposes that you have joined in or become engaged, as in prior tips. Those tips hopefully incentivize, as they create a value of want: I want to get out of fossil fuels, I want to ride a bike more, etc.  In the current times, reducing drop out is crucial. Why do people lose motivation? Review what motivated many to work on climate change in the first place.

Action Motivators and Inhibitors. Y.C.M.A.D. = You Can Make A Difference.

Recall Tip 4 from Marshall Ganz, in the context of climate change and what motivates an activist.

Urgency overcomes inertia; anger, apathy; hope, fear; solidarity, isolation; Y.C.M.A.D., self doubt.  So the first question is, what reverses the process?  Subverting the action motivators of urgency, anger, hope, solidarity, and Y.C.M.A.D.? Recall that from inside our hearts, our brains, or with our hands, we overcame the messaging of the wealthy fossil fuel opponents who claim  that climate change is a hoax, is “woke”, is doubtful, is concocted, is not important. This requires constant attention.

Be wary of poor or weak leadership. If we organize, we must promote and demonstrate good management and leadership skills. Set clear goals and expectations, practice good listening skills, acknowledge efforts made by others, communicate openly and with transparency, ask for and give constructive feedback, and respect rules and the democratic process.

Beware of excessive leadership. In contrast to the foregoing, micromanaging or overcontrolling or distrust can squelch individual initiative and creativity. Rather than impart encouragement, such leadership imparts disrespect or treats the individual as taken for granted. Better to hear, “what you are doing, is just amazing,” rather than, “why do you not do it like I do?”

Support those who are new. Discounting the head over heels enthusiasts, when a new volunteer steps up, it is hardly with a rush of certainty but with hesitation and timidness. The newbie has thoughts, “who are these people?”, “do they really mean it?”, or sometimes critical ones like, “why does that person put others down?” What this means is, we should take care of our new volunteers by treating them as close friends, make them feel comfortable and trusted, and work with them as mentors. Those action motivators need to be strengthened. Fostering above urgency, hope, solidarity, you can make a difference by explaining difficult realities, such as we are new and learning, we know climate change is real, but how do we get others to feel it is real, can we really expect people to drop whatever they are doing and join, why is the long haul important to keep in mind?

Check in often with the new volunteer. Ask what his or her thoughts are about something being discussed. Ask leading questions, seek to get to know the person, get feedback, and seek to improve on what people say, and avoid prejudging the person. Someone new does not think like you, so try to think like them and of ways that they can discover more. Lecturing turns off the new person from speaking up.

Be careful with those high emotion motivators like anger, or fear. Climate deniers and the continued neglect of emissions provoke a legitimate anger, for example. But such anger can lead not to change, but also to desperation, frustration, lashing out, and testing the other motivators. Anger can challenge solidarity feelings: maybe you do not think the person working with you does enough, does not care enough, does not eat veggie-burgers, or does not act like you. Recognize the feeling.

Avoid over-expectation. Many of us begin with the view, “we can fix this overnight,” only to realize that the power of the opposition is so widespread, their wealth so enormous, and our movement is so full of new ideas. We have to not be over-expectant. A gap between an organization's stated values and its actual deeds can lead to a sense of anger, betrayal and disappointment. When we think of “yes we can”, think of what those smart goals are that reduce over expectation.

Entrust others with responsibility. Ask the volunteer to help once you know the areas they want to work in. Ensure the volunteer has the training and skills to achieve the desired goals. Work side by side with them letting them take the lead: empower them!

Strike a mental balance with your emotions. Feeling the action motivators such as fear, anger, or urgency can easily escalate to obsession, rage, desperation, or even violence. We may collapse in tears, frustration, sleeplessness, feel drained, helpless, detached, feel cynicism/alienation, experience reduced performance (difficulty concentrating, procrastination, decreased output). A counterbalance would be to seek thoughtful, rational, and basic motivation, which is a deep part of our psychology, the need for survival. I can make a difference, and feel solidarity with family, people, next of kin who can help to stabilize those feelings. The reality is, we should have fun, but not expect that we will be high, sense any urgency, feel anger, or exuberation all of the time. The latest research shows dopamine helps value future rewards, encouraging patience and long-term thinking, often in balance with serotonin which moderates impulses. Dopamine does not promote strictly rationality, but balances immediate desires with potential future gains and effort. Dopamine responses encourage understanding, long haul patience, core values that we can make a difference. They deserve a special place here.

Strike a physical balance with our motivation. We may feel strongly that climate change, as a looming disaster, calls for 24-7 volunteer work. But the number of hours we commit to should be regular and limited, and not keep us from pursuing other regular enjoyable pursuits, such as meeting friends, working out, enjoying music, cooking, eating good food, writing poetry, or enjoying laughter with friends. “Regular and limited” means working for reducing climate impacts as a standard routine, but not tiring over-hours. The latter should not dominate our life, morning, noon and night. Rather, make a timetable to set a number of activist-hours, such as 4 PM to 8 PM, every weekday, and avoid working irregular night hours or numerous weekdays devoted to meeting after meetings.

Ask what slows us or me from reaching specific goals. In 2026, research into performance psychology categorized action demotivators as specific forces or situational factors that decrease the "value of want" for a particular action. This value overlaps with many of the suggestions here.

Beware of two psychological states that derail action. These can occur with spirit-sapping anti-action, that veers away from the SMART goals. For example, there is anti-action when an activist moves in the opposite direction of what is expected, rebelling against a prescribed goal. In this context, rebelliousness can lead to isolation, i.e. people not in your group think you have gone too far: for example, if you want to block traffic or pedestrians from crossing bridges or streets. Then there is Meta-action with its focus on the process of acting or over-analyzing rather than performing the action itself.

In looking over these subtips, do note that “dropping out” is one major risk, but that “burn out” is more extreme. This can result in a sudden, “I do not want this anymore.” Symptoms can include a depressive funk, or severe emotional, physical, and mental exhaustion, which can last a long time. So what slows the drop out will slow the burnout too!

We should take care to help our fellow activists fight on, as each one stepping forward deserves endless praise, support, and hugs.