Panic to Progress: How the Gravity of Our Climate Crisis Is a Tool for Change

By Melina Galacatos, Online Editor

   This past summer, I took a trip to New York to visit some of my family and spent a few days walking through Manhattan. I saw a clock from the sidewalk. I could not tell what it was for; there was nothing obvious that told me what it was. A Google search for “big timer in Union Square” led me to the Climate Clock website. 

Blueprint graphic by Cameron Powell

   I discovered that the Climate Clock is a billboard-size clock created by Climate Clock teams that was first displayed on Sept. 19, 2020, on a building in Union Square in New York City. 

   The New York City Clock is among multiple timers displayed in cities worldwide, and on the Climate Clock website. At the time of the clock’s unveiling, the team of activists, scientists, and researchers behind it estimated seven years and 102 days to make a substantial enough change to see a positive impact. They focus on fossil fuels and claim that right now is the only time in which we have to prevent irreversible climate change. 

   The Climate Clock organization argues that if we do not make significant enough changes by the time the clock hits zero, many aspects of climate change will become irreversible. The fear I felt when I saw the bright red numbers was panic that individually, I was running out of time.

   However, the website provided opportunities to embrace this panic by including examples of preventative steps.

   A survey by The American Psychiatric Association found that American adults are more stressed and anxious in 2024 than they were in 2023. Among the contributing factors, the organization listed was climate change, with 57 percent of adults having concerns. Given the high and ever-increasing rates of anxiety, it seems that many are ready to act on combating climate change.

The simple, stopwatch-like visual evoked a sense of urgency and fright, but it was curiosity about the problem that inspired my motivation to take action. 

   The large amount of anxiety about climate change in America shows that it is a common response to our ever-changing world, but the Clock project reveals that this response can be a valuable tool for change. 

   For example, when I am stressed about doing well on a test or assignment for school, I deal with that stress by studying. Doing something directly related to what is making me worry improves my chances of getting a score I am happy with. Similarly, the Clock is a tactic to make individuals respond to the climate crisis with action: making an effort to change what is within their control.

   The Clock says we are running out of time, but leaves the question of what we are running out of time to do. The website details various issues our planet faces that need to be addressed along with information about organizations and resources that address them. It also focuses on “lifelines” such as renewable energy, Indigenous land sovereignty, and loss and damage. This information addresses the question of how and leaves it up to individuals to choose how they will act.

   Small actions from many individuals and groups accumulate over time, and even if our movement is late, or running out of time like the clock says, doing nothing is not a solution. As students and citizens, we are taught about climate change, from the news and in school. Even so, it is hard to miss the environmental damage in our communities that often goes unchanged. It is hard to miss trash on the ground on the Acalanes campus, or on the side of the roads as we drive to school. Instead of brushing these things off as we often do, we must actually consider these faults in our community. 

   Beyond picking up our wrappers and being sure to sort our recycling and trash, turning to organizations larger than our local community is another step towards making more substantial changes. Whether by writing to leaders in lawmaking and education to improve large-scale awareness and sustainability efforts, any action is progress. 

   If people apply the same stress-driven productivity we use for our work and studies to the environmental protection movement, we can make further progress inside our workplaces and schools through panic-driven progress.