How to deal with burnout on a burning planet

This one isn't about home upgrades or rebates — it's an advice column on climate burnout, so there's nothing here about your house or savings to act on. Still, if you've ever felt worn out by climate news while trying to make your own home more efficient, it may be worth a read.

A therapist answers two readers: one who has worked in sustainability for 24 years and feels beaten down, and one who is 31 and has twice backed out of climate canvassing because it feels pointless. Both are stuck between pushing harder and giving up. The therapist's advice is that no one person can match the scale of the climate crisis alone, and trying to do so leads straight to burnout. Progress often happens slowly and out of sight, through years of groundwork, so judging your own effort against the size of the problem isn't a fair measure.

She offers a practice called "Even As," where you name a hard truth and pair it with something else that's also true — for example, "I'm exhausted by years of pushing, even as I still feel needed in this work." The idea is to hold both feelings at once instead of forcing yourself to pick one, and to remember that your part is one piece of a much larger, collective effort rather than the whole burden.