Lessons from a Marathon: How We Can Survive the Climate Crisis

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At mile 15 (24 km) of my marathon last Sunday, my stomach was in knots. My knees started to ache. Up until this point, cheering crowds, endorphins, support from a wonderful running group, and sheer adrenaline had kept me feeling buoyant with each step.

But now at mile 15, my body began to really feel the miles—and the most painful realization was that I had more than 10 (16 km) to go. 

I was running the Wineglass Marathon (26.2 miles, 42.2 km) from Bath to Corning, New York—which in a car takes about 25 minutes, most of it on a highway.

How, I wondered, could I carry my body another 11 miles (18 km)? When training, I hadn’t run over 21 miles (34 km), so of course I knew when that 21-mile marker came and I still had 5 miles (8 km) to go, I might truly be in trouble. 

But then I remembered everyone around me was in the same race--pushing for the same finish line. A member of my running club and a friend was right there by my side, helping to keep me motivated and strong. And I kept just picturing myself at that finish line, a medal being placed around my neck. I also pictured my goal time: under 4 hours. 

Of course entirely different scenarios also kept playing out in my head: I would drop out of the race, right then and there. Or, I would make it across the finish line, but my time and pain would continue to increase with every mile, so I wouldn’t even come close to beating my first marathon time. 

But I kept telling myself to trust in my training, and that true personal growth comes through challenges—through trusting that you are stronger than any demanding circumstance you face.

Society’s Defining Moment 

The more I think about how we can deal with the climate crisis, the more I see it as similar to running a distance race like a marathon. 

I feel like as a society, we are at mile 15 right now when it comes to creating a healthy future for future generations--including our children and grandchildren. 

We certainly have many miles to go and it’s hard to see ourselves at any sort of finish line that doesn't involve worst-case scenarios.

Reaching our goal of avoiding the worst case scenarios of climate change is looking grim: atmospheric carbon dioxide levels peaked in May to the highest levels ever recorded.

And right now the world is gaining carbon dioxide at an alarming rate—comparable to a speeding freight train, scientists reported via The New York Times in 2018. A rather encouraging three-year plateau ended in 2018 when emissions rose 1.6 percent.

The current administration's decision to leave the Paris Climate Agreement also really makes our situation seem bleak. This was the first transparency-based agreement among the world’s nations to reduce greenhouse gas emissions and tackle climate change. The U.S. withdrawing from the agreement allows other major polluters like China and India to slacken their initiatives to curb emissions all while claiming they are leading the charge since they did sign the agreement (foreignpolicy.com). 

Just like I’d trained for my marathon, I feel like the Paris Climate Agreement was like the basic foundation the world needed to stay somewhat on top of the climate crisis. 

This type of international cooperation certainly seemed to help with the Montreal Protocol, which is credited with successfully helping to repair and prevent future damage to the hole in the ozone layer. Without this treaty, going outside for even just 5 minutes in some places could result in a sunburn (National Geographic). 

Grappling with the Impacts

Right now, we are just starting to feel the sting of the climate crisis. And it’s only going to get worse according to many studies, which I believe is a reality we must accept. A recent Scientific American article reports scientists have been underestimating the pace of climate change’s effects for years. This means the oceans are acidifying quicker and temperatures across the planet are rising more than previously thought.

I often read this and many other reports and think this problem is still too far off to truly worry about...right? Unfortunately I find myself having to remember we simply haven’t reached a major tipping point yet that could change everything: 2 degrees Celsius. This rise in the Earth’s average temperature is what the Paris Climate Agreement aimed to bring countries together to prevent. 

While right now it seems a rather pleasantly cool fall has cloaked my home in Western New York, I’m trying to remember what passing that 2 degrees threshold could mean in the years to come.

As NASA points out, climate change’s effects haven’t been uniform across the globe. In some areas, we’ve already passed the 1.5 degree threshold of warming. 

However, there are some things that can be expected around the world: one of them is more hot days.

Here are some other impacts of 2 degrees of warming (NASA): 

• At 2 degrees of warming, deadly heatwaves such as the one that killed around 3,600 in India and Pakistan in 2015 could become annual 

• Twice as many megacities around the world today would become heat-stressed 

• About 61 million more people in Earth’s urban areas would be exposed to severe drought (compared to 1.5 degrees of warming)

• Heavy rainfall and tropical cyclones would become more common—and on the opposite end of the spectrum, so would deadly wildfires 

• 18 percent of insects (including necessary agricultural pollinators like bees), 16 percent of plants, and 8 percent of vertebrates would see their range cut in half 

• Trees at the southern limits of boreal forests would die off 

• More than 70 percent of Earth’s coastlines would experience sea-level rise above 0.66 feet (0.2 meters), causing not only damaging flooding and beach erosion, but also the salinization of fresh water supplies

• Coral reefs and the incredible biodiversity they support would disappear

The list could of course go on, but for a moment I’d like to focus on a recent additional realization from the National Audubon Society: around 400 species of North American songbirds face extinction from climate change’s heat pressures forcing them to relocate to cooler regions. 

In other words, two thirds of our incredible songbirds are at risk, or are at least expected to flee their native ranges to find cooler temperatures. I personally don’t want to even imagine a world without the beautiful, high-pitched and lyric calls of these delicate creatures filling the forests where I grew up. 

Why There’s Hope 

Luckily, if we can keep the Earth to only 1.5 degrees of warming, around 76 percent of North American songbird species would be more secure and around 150 species saved from extinction (Audubon Society).

I think the key is having a vision. Luckily, there are many great thinkers on this right now, such as author and founder of 350.org, Bill McKibben, who recently wrote in an article titled: “Hello From the Year 2050" what the world might be like in 2050 if we avoid the worst of the climate crisis.

One of my favorite lines is about how having to deal with mother nature’s wrath might change the overall sentiment societies have around the world about development: 

“What’s changed most of all is the mood. The defiant notion that we would forever overcome nature has given way to pride of a different kind: increasingly we celebrate our ability to bend without breaking, to adapt as gracefully as possible to a natural world whose temper we’ve come to respect.”

Just imagine if this perspective could spread across the globe now! 

What We Can Do Today

I think making connections in our communities and setting an example of this thinking now is a great place to start. We can support politicians who pledge to work with nature (here’s a great guide of where the 2020 Democratic presidential candidates stand on climate change), we can eat much less meat, we can grow more of our own food, and we can buy less new or choose more sustainable products (like these). 

While these efforts may seem like a drop in the bucket, I think there can be incredible impacts from communities making these changes and then inspiring others by sharing their experiences and insights worldwide via our globally interconnected media. 

But of course the true magic and widespread change must come from real human connections. 

Creating and supporting community gardens (such as the Homeless Garden Project) now may not prevent 2 degrees Celsius of warming, but it can help communities cope with any food insecurities and other major challenges that extreme weather will bring (The New Yorker). 

McKibben writes in the book WorldChanging, “The future isn’t one person in one electric car, or a solitary shopper in a giant Walmart buying a marginally greener product. The future is car-sharing clubs. The future is the farmers’ market, the fastest-growing part of the U.S. food economy. On a rapidly urbanizing planet, community is key.”

I couldn’t agree more with this. As I passed runners during my marathon, even after mile 15, I tried to tell as many people as possible: “Great job. Keep it up.”

I honestly expected some runners to react unkindly, perhaps exasperated that they might have to respond with a “thank you,” when struggling for breath to continue on in the race.

But almost every time I noticed people smiled and seemed to look stronger--and they wished me the same. 

Just like it can help runners push through the hardest miles in a marathon, I think building community spirit is one excellent way we can all play a part in being ready for the climate crisis storms on the horizon.

As Jonathan Franzen writes for The New Yorker: 

“There may come a time, sooner than any of us likes to think, when the systems of industrial agriculture and global trade break down and homeless people outnumber people with homes. At that point, traditional local farming and strong communities will no longer just be liberal buzzwords. Kindness to neighbors and respect for the land—nurturing healthy soil, wisely managing water, caring for pollinators—will be essential in a crisis and in whatever society survives it.”

Envisioning—and Creating—a Better Future

I crossed the finish line of my marathon in under 4 hours: 3:52:27. Honestly, if you’d told me at mile 21 of that race that I’d finish in that time, I’d have told you it was certainly impossible. 

And McKibben writes in WorldChanging during an Earth Day talk 20 years ago, solar power was “still something for a few ex-hibbies who were handy with a wrench.” 

But in just the last 10 years, solar has experienced an average annual growth rate of 50 percent, according to the Solar Energy Industries Association. 

There are many more examples I could list, but the point I’m trying to convey is that we must focus on getting through the tumultuous times by coming together and holding fast to ways we can avoid the worst-case scenarios for the planet. I think the best way to achieve this may be focusing on our progress, rather than how much father we have to go.

I believe since we as humans got ourselves into this climate crisis mess, if we come together as a supportive world community, we can get ourselves out of it—we just need to hang onto the vision of making it a reality, no matter how tough things get.