Choking.

As COP26 begins, the world is nowhere near where it needs to be in cutting emissions

Dust storms in China. Record temperatures in Moscow. Catastrophic flooding in Turkey. You might think that this year’s extreme weather events would help energize world leaders into taking the climate crisis as seriously as say, Greta Thunberg.

Instead, most of them are still acting like Joe Manchin.

Sorry, kids.

When Climate Action Tracker released its September 2021 analysis, only one country, The Gambia, was rated as having “overall climate action that is consistent with the Paris Agreement 1.5˚C warming limit.”

According to Niklas Höhne, of NewClimate Institute, a CAT partner organisation, “Anyone would think (governments) have all the time in the world, when in fact the opposite is the case.”

It’s 32 years since TIME’s Planet of the Year issue sounded the alarm about “Endangered Earth.”

The latest TIME cover says it all: “Last call.”

In today’s Sunday edition of CNN’s “5 Things” podcast, Bill Weir, CNN Chief Climate Correspondent, notes: “as billion-dollar storms become daily,” one might think that countries would “up their pledges.” Instead, he says, we are entering the “the Golden Age of Greenwashing.”

What can we do about it?

As Anna North wrote for Vox in August, 2021: “In recent years, there’s been growing awareness of the outsize role that big companies and government entities play in climate change.” Amid the global pandemic, North notes that climate despair is on the rise. One December 2020 study found that 40% of Americans feel helpless and 29% feel hopeless about climate change.

At a time when individual actions can seem pointless, North writes:

Putting pressure on elected officials is one of the most important collective actions people can take. People can urge their representatives in Congress, state legislatures, and city governments to support climate investments, public transit, and clean energy standards, for example. The Natural Resources Defense Council has a guide to lobbying your legislator.

But because giving up on climate at the individual level is not an option, North also suggests getting involved in communities to multiply your impact — and help stave off despair.

At a time when the cost of doing nothing is simply too great, it’s time to be like The Gambia. Do what we can for the planet while we wait for the rest of the world to catch up.