Tom Bateman of Rockport is professor emeritus with the University of Virginia’s McIntire School of Commerce.   

We feel frustrated, angry, powerless and “stupefied” by the chaos surrounding climate change: hostile politics, coverups, lies, misinformation and conversations stymied by disagreement. Cutting through the noise can help us leave confusion behind, bypass roadblocks and solve our climate problems.

Fundamental truths and encouraging news offer common ground for launching successful climate action. Contrary to long-running disinformation campaigns, climate experts are virtually unanimous in accepting these six “key truths”: climate change is real, it’s on us, experts agree, it’s bad, people care and there’s hope.

Why hope? We have the necessary knowledge (climate data and scientific consensus on causes, effects and solutions) and technical tools (alternative energy sources, mitigation and adaptation technologies and systems thinking).

Moreover, we — as individuals and as a species — can capitalize on our untapped abilities and capacities for successful climate action. We think about our long-term future (but only sometimes), make wise decisions (when we really try), collaborate (when seeing the need) and make changes that forge better futures than the ones we’re heading toward (when we initiate action and keep eyes on the prize).

When we wisely apply our extraordinary capabilities, we will successfully manage climate change.

In the nonhuman natural world, some species adapt by evolving at rates far faster than previously thought possible. Scientists long understood evolution as a slow and gradual process of genetic change. But they recently discovered an additional path: evolution can occur through brief bursts in fast-changing periods like now.

We humans, too, can evolve more quickly — behaviorally, culturally and intentionally — by strategically changing how we think and behave.

An intentional, rapid-evolution mission to address our climate crisis is daunting but feasible. We’ve made vital progress despite extreme temperatures, rising electricity use and higher industrial consumption. Solar and wind power are growing faster than carbon emissions and now meet all new electricity demand. The door is open for reaching drawdown by starting and sustaining a steady decline in fossil fuel use.

Progress, when the word spreads, is a powerfully motivating asset. Here’s further progress: growing majorities in the United States want the government to prioritize global warming and clean energy, enact reduce carbon-caused pollution and rejoin the Paris Climate Agreement (which just met in Brazil, without the United States).

We will mobilize more productive climate action when we:

1.    Rethink responsibility. We will fail if we collectively don’t take on more responsibility for building the future we need. Responsibility is about more than blaming guilty parties, although accountability for damages is a worthy objective. Beyond that, more of us need to accept shared responsibility for our own future.

Routine, unthinking short-termism is hurting us badly. We can change that mindset by embracing this George Bernard Shaw quote: “We are made wise not by the recollection of our past, but by responsibility for our future.”

2. Become more proactive. “We should’ve been more proactive” is a frequent refrain — so common that it seems trite. However, the climate crisis underscores the importance of that lesson. At a minimum, being proactive means starting tasks sooner rather than later. More broadly, it’s about acting on behalf of our future by addressing problems before they escalate and seizing opportunities before they close.

The window of opportunity for productive climate action is still open. Even if we miss an announced target, further reducing emissions and increasing clean energy use will help our future climate. Continual, responsible proaction is a world-class virtue, driven by thoughtful future-mindedness.

3. Persist without backsliding. Urgent climate action is crucial, but not enough. Steadfast persistence is imperative. Fleeting actions — dabbling, taking baby steps and making progress only to plateau or backslide — won’t deliver what we need.

After doing something righteous — even routine actions like recycling — we often give ourselves license to slack off. We need to replace that default with strategies that will sustain our climate efforts throughout the long haul ahead.