Eco-anxiety is defined as “a chronic fear of environmental doom” by the American Psychological Association. In 2021, the Global Study on Youth Mental Health and Climate Change by Lancet Planetary Health surveyed young people aged 16-25 years and found that almost half, 45%, said climate-related stress affected their daily lives.

They also found that 59% are “very or extremely” worried about climate change, that 75% believe “the future is frightening,” and that 83% think “people have failed to take care of the planet.”

Autumn is here. The light is slowly fading, the leaves are just starting to drop, and the 8 a.m. and 3 p.m. traffic has returned to a dull roar.

In the spirit of back-to-school time, let’s take Cool Petaluma’s five-part framework and assign a little bit of homework for all of the adults out there.

I took the Plastic Free July Challenge and it was harder than I thought it would be. This global campaign has collectively prevented more than three billion pounds of plastic waste over the last five years — more than all the world’s biggest cleanup efforts combined. And as they say, an ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure.

It’s officially summer — the season for taking a break and enjoying the great outdoors. While much of the country has been hit hard recently by unnatural disasters — dangerous heat domes, repeated tornadoes, catastrophic flooding, and golf ball-sized hail — here in Petaluma we have been blessed (knock on wood) with wonderful weather.

Fossil fuels have been instrumental in creating the world we know. So, why must we wean ourselves off them as the basis of our energy? For brevity, we’re going to concentrate on oil and leave gas and coal out of the conversation.

The Butter and Egg Days Parade always falls very close to Earth Day, so it was exciting that this year’s theme was “Greener Pastures - Sustaining Petaluma's Future - Celebrating Petaluma’s march towards a brighter, eco-conscious tomorrow!" In the Argus Courier, Marie McCusker of the Petaluma Downtown Association elaborated, “We believe that the parade's message aligns with the values and interests of Petaluma’s ongoing commitment to climate action.” Yes, please!

After two historically wet winters, memories of past droughts may have dimmed for some. But Mary Lindsay clearly remembers the summer of 2022. “We were in a colossal drought, so the grass in our backyard looked terrible,” she said. “It was common knowledge that grass lawns don’t make a lot of sense in California, but I just didn’t know what to do with our yard.”

By Naomi Crawford, taken from her Launch (ette) Zine, available at her shop Lunchette.

When it comes to climate action, Food Waste is low hanging fruit. (pun intended)

I sat down with Annie Stuart and Marie Kneemeyer, co-leaders of 350 Petaluma’s zero waste action group, to understand some of the issues surrounding food waste, and to see if we as a community can’t put an end to it.

Are you old enough to remember when smoking was normal? Can you imagine a future where pulling up to your friend’s house in a gas car is as unacceptable as walking in the door and lighting up a cigarette?

There are eight billion people on this planet. What is a fair distribution of our finite resources? And what is fair to future generations – our unborn children, grandchildren, great-grandchildren? At the same time, life keeps speeding up.