Guest columnist Teresa Exner: Change is hard, but even imperfect change on climate saves lives

I can't remember when I started feeling anxious about climate change. It's been years.

I'm not sure that I have personally experienced it - yet. Our house was pummeled by hail two years ago. It sounded like baseballs crashing against the windows and walls. It may have been a rare storm. We had hail last year, too. The growing season has lengthened. What about all those flooded corn and soy fields in the Midwest?

It doesn't matter what I've personally experienced. I read. I listen to the news. Climate change affects me. I worry about scorching temperatures, the melting polar ice caps, rising oceans, the "hundred-year" storms that hit multiple times a year, farmers facing floods and drought, contaminated runoff and the impact of climate change on the poor around the world. How will this affect homes, the food and water supply, natural areas, the life of our planet? I have a son and daughter and other young people in my life. Why wouldn't I sometimes find my face wet with tears as the dangers rise?

Change is hard. It's time-consuming. It may initially be costly, and it can be inconvenient. It also saves lives. And it ameliorates stress, at least temporarily. That's why I'm a member of the nonpartisan group Citizens' Climate Lobby and make monthly calls to political leaders regarding climate change. That action is empowering, but I need daily doses of hope. I consider my fossil fuel usage when planning errands, outings and vacations. I've drastically reduced my family's use of petroleum products, researching alternatives to everything that comes in plastic. When I learned from several sources (NPR, National Geographic, the EPA) that only 9% of the plastics ever produced have been recycled, my anger welled. I started posting on social media and talking to friends and family about this.

I avoid reading articles about climate change at night. Even in the daytime, news about microplastics in the oceans, our food, the air we breathe and in the most remote places in the world is disturbing. Not only are these a danger to our health, they contribute significantly to climate change.

All I can do is ramp up my game. My husband and I joined a community solar farm and changed our investment portfolio to support green energy.

We began winter composting when I learned that food waste in landfills produces methane gas. Landfills are one of the U.S.'s largest sources of methane.

I learned that a gas dryer gives off a ton of carbon dioxide in a year. When our clothes dryer died, we didn't replace it.

Whenever I wonder if my efforts make any difference, I remind myself of the quote by Anne Marie Bonneau, The Zero-Waste Chef: "We don't need a handful of people doing zero waste perfectly. We need millions of people doing it imperfectly."

Preventing waste helps fight climate change. That's doable. And I'm not the only person taking action. There are so many others. That keeps me going.

When I talk to my adult daughter, Meggie, someone deeply concerned about climate issues, we swap ideas.

"How do you get by without paper towels?"

"What's that book you read on the carbon footprint of everyday things?"

"There's a climate change workshop online."

I'm always relieved to talk to someone who is actively fighting climate change in their personal life and through organized efforts.

And young people inspire hope. I am grateful that Meggie will always know I didn't make excuses. I cared and took serious action.

Action and prayer. Those are my tools. May they relieve my heavy heart, and maybe yours, too.

• Teresa Exner is an educator who lives in Wheaton.