Climate Week Recap
Nature Positive, Communication as Solution, and Doing What Makes Sense
What a wild year for Climate Week in NYC! As I was headed to my first moderating gig, a broadcast with We Don’t Have Time at the Nest Climate Summit, I got a text on my phone from my neighbor back home:
“Are you watching this? Are you seeing what Trump is saying about climate?”
Of course, I wasn’t watching, and part of me didn’t want to know what was being said (because, honestly, haven’t we run out of surprises from him by now?) But I was glad she kept me in the loop, because with a president claiming that “climate change is a hoax” (isn’t that one getting old?) and throwing around terms like “green scam”, we really need to up our game in every possible way.
And that was also the overarching theme I approached throughout the week. We’re upping our game — and we’re coming together to do so! Old models of doing business are fading as the recognition of partnership and pledge-like collaborations can only strengthen positions and unlock possibilities for the future. I heard it everywhere, and it wasn’t with a “wouldn’t that be nice” kind of attitude — it was real.
Here are some highlights I picked up in the past few days!
Overarching themes this week:
Progress IS being made
Companies are coming together
Nature needs to be front and center
Communication isn’t a means to solutions, it IS a solution
Everything matters now, more than ever before.
And like I always say: optimism is a practice, let’s show up for it!
A big thank you to the following, who graciously extended me invitations:
We Don’t Have Time, for inviting me to moderate two panels for their Climate Hub livestream. See the full replay here.
Melissa Jun Rowley, for asking me to host a workshop on climate optimism at the inaugural Climate Mic Drop Summit.
Amazon and The Climate Pledge for an invigorating mingle on Tuesday night.
Business Insider, for inviting me to their breakfast event with panel discussions covering: The Resiliency Playbook.
The New York Times, for inviting me to this year’s Climate Forward, and giving me a seat at their annual Changemaker Lunch.
Heard at Climate Week NYC 2025
On Business Doing The Right Thing
“The best thing to do is the right thing, when it’s good for people and planet.”
— Jennifer Motles, CSO at Philip Morris International
I was surprised to hear Jennifer speak about their ambitious goal at PMI to make their company, a cigarette company, completely smoke-free by 2030. Her energy and optimism were palpable, and she humbly shared that she had recently been awarded “Chief Sustainability Officer of the Year.” I could see why, and her story at PMI truly speaks to the power of businesses to completely reimagine the role they should play in the world, and the value they can provide for all their stakeholders.
On the Nature Positive Ambition
“So the great choice is today, and the great choice is ours.”
The most uplifted I felt all week was probably when interviewing Marco Lambertini (WWF and Nature Positive Initiative) and Carlos Manuel Rodriguez (Former minister) on the Nature Positive ambition and their new book, Becoming Nature Positive. Our conversation together invited an expansive insight into a new way of doing life and business here on Earth, in a way we’ve never considered our relationship with nature before. We came to the conclusion that it isn’t just another buzzword, for it’s a paradigm shift, and one that inevitably needs to happen.
Here is the quote in full:
“Are we gonna continue business as usual (Nature Negative) or are we going to really embrace change, in an exciting and positive way, and great a transition, a great transition - maybe the greatest transition ever [...] The funny thing is that, not only is it possible, but it’s necessary, it’s the only way out. So the great choice is today, and the great choice is ours.”
— Marco Lambertini, Nature Positive Initiative
On Renewable Energy + China
“We should be in this game in a big way.”
— Jake Sullivan, National Security Advisor for President Joe Biden
The talk about China’s energy explosion into renewables was everywhere, and when asked about it on the NYT stage, Biden’s National Security Advisor Jake Sullivan had pragmatic answers. He said that the US shouldn’t just follow suit, but work with China to make an energy revolution happen. Momentum is building elsewhere in the world. The question is, can we work around our current clown in office to make sure we fuel that momentum with the commitment it deserves?
On the 10-Year-Mark Since Paris
On that topic, I love the speech that author David Wallace-Wells (who wrote The Uninhabitable Earth) said just following that fireside conversation:
“10 years ago in Paris, they said ‘What about china’, today we should say: ‘Where would we be if not for them?’”
— David Wallace Wells
Roles have shifted, narratives have changed, and realities have completely flipped on their ends, but one thing remains: the goal toward a liveable Earth cannot falter.
The danger now, as David W. W. so eloquently said, is that we’ve almost given in to the 2-degree target, as if 1.5 was an airy goal that came and went. But 2 degrees is still an ambitious target, and our only chance for meeting it (or hopefully, a lower one) is by firing on all cylinders today to make sure that’s the future we’re creating.
That is why we need to organize, innovate, and communicate stronger, smarter, and louder. We have to practice our optimism and recognize it just as such: a practice.
On Optimism
I shared it passionately in various conversations this week, and I centered it in my workshop on narrative shifts: we must understand that optimism isn’t a mindset, or even an attitude, it’s a practice. And it’s one we can get better at, for every day we show up and do our best!
We must also understand that communication is a powerful tool for change, but it’s no longer just a means to solutions — it is a solution! (As Bernadette Woods Plack said with such passion and conviction when she and I, awaiting our workshop to start, unpacked the reality we’re facing.)
When Trump says “climate change is a hoax”, we use our storytelling of real-life examples to prove the difference.
When he says the green revolution is a scam, we talk about solutions and how they not only work, but make lives, environments, and economies better.
When people around us talk about giving up, or are prone to pick up on the new climate denial surfacing, we muster the courage to speak up. For if we don’t bring truth and justice to the conversation, then who will?
The Biggest Takeaway
But perhaps the biggest takeaway I walk away with this year isn’t something I particularly heard in any conversation, but a feeling I’m noticing settling in. It’s that feeling of my inner fire, of my burning desire to do whatever there is to do to ensure a sane world for our children.
I was back with my kids on Wednesday night, having caught the 2 pm train by the minute so that I could make it home for dinner, and as I nursed my 9-month-old son, I looked down at him and saw the future curled up in my arms.
Holy crap, I thought, you’ll be living through all of it, won’t you?
No matter what we achieve to unlock today, it’ll be your lived future. And of course I’ve known this before, of course I’ve gone through that scenario over and over as I contemplated having children, but it just felt so real when I sat there, baby in arms. There’s a lot of big talk at events like Climate Week, as it should be! I always return feeling both smarter and more inspired, but nothing makes it more real than holding the actual future in your arms.
This is our life’s work, so let’s make sure it darn matters! Let’s make sure there’s hope for tomorrow as the future unfolds.
We are the hope. We are the optimism. It will show in our practice, and it will show in our hearts. Let’s not give up — let’s activate our fire, for every day counts, and every life matters.
This… is what we do.
Did we miss each other?
I am popping down to the city for one last event on Saturday, September 27th. I’ll be moderating the panel on the Role of Climate Optimism with Pinterest, Imagine5, and Cartoonist Tom Toro at this year’s Marketplace Of The Future.
Will you be there? Ping me and I hope to see you!
I watched a few of the sessions online. What a great week and it sounds like it was an inspiring and validating experience for you! I would love to be more involved. My book, Radical Wellness, shows how personal transformation and planetary healing go hand in hand. When we cultivate genuine wellness from our roots, we naturally become better stewards of our shared world. On Substack, I post pieces on wellness, sustainability, climate, connection, stewardship, and living with purpose.
Nicely put, "we must understand that optimism isn’t a mindset, or even an attitude, it’s a practice."