Dear Fellow Environmentalists: Stop Talking About Climate Change

If we want a thriving Earth, we should stop trying to “save the planet.”

I’ve long been an advocate for the Earth. As a door canvasser for Greenpeace, I spoke to countless people on front porches about sustainable forestry, the melting Arctic, and the impacts of genetically modified foods. I’ve marched against Monsanto and voted for the Green Party more times than I can count—and I recently published a children’s book to help the planet’s smallest humans connect mindfully and meaningfully with nature.

But in 2019, something began to shift. I started diverging from other eco-activists, rethinking how we were being taught to “save the planet.”

That September, millions of people around the world flooded major cities for a global climate strike. The turnout was extraordinary, but I sensed an underlying hollowness. It felt like watching a school of fish move in unison, guided by an invisible hand–only for the energy to fade as quickly as it came.

There’s beauty in the way fish and other lifeforms move in tandem as if guided by a higher power. But the march, to my …