Social Superpowers

Social Superpowers are those that help us build connections and trust with others. These connections can help you learn about climate change and what to do about it, as well as helping you cope and feel better when you feel overwhelmed. It’s all about collaborating and working together to make positive change.

You can use your Social Superpower to create close ties (like with your family and friends), connecting with people from different groups and backgrounds or linking with people or organisations in power (e.g., your MP or local Council).

 Some examples of young people putting their Social Superpowers into action are:

 

  • Getting support from friends, family and professionals when climate change is making you feel down.
  • Joining forces with others to promote positive change (e.g. by joining or creating environmental groups).
  • Using your communication skills to help others understand and do more about climate change.
Social Superpowers
Actions

Climate change is a complicated problem. To tackle it, we need all sorts of people working on all sorts of actions, big and small.

By taking on one (or more!) of these climate actions, you can use your Climate Superpowers as an agent of change at home, your community and beyond. Each action will also help your superpowers grow even stronger!

So, how do want to use your superpowers today?

In these pages, you’ll find ideas, tips, and resources to help you with your chosen actions. We’ll suggest special actions that we think you’d ace, based on your superpowers.

When you complete an action, you can return here and share notes with other young people who are about to take on a similar action in their own lives. Let’s dive in!

Start by choosing which type of action you’d like to explore first:

Use Your Social Superpowers to Learn About Climate Change

Use your talent to connect with other people and organisations to learn more about climate change. 

Ask a friend or family member to tell you about their experiences with climate action.

Look for young activists and youth-led organisations at events and on social media.

Find organisations that give advice and training to help you talk about climate change with people who have different views.

We all know that talking about climate change with people who are still sceptical can be quite challenging. There are no magic answers, but the following sites offer useful tips and can help you feel more supported to express your voice with family, friends and others.

Talking about climate change by Climate Action Australia

How to talk to family and friends about climate change by Ocean Generation

How to have a connected conversation about climate change by The Nature Conservancy Australia

Use Your Social Superpowers in Everyday Life

You can use your Social Superpowers to connect and collaborate with other people in your everyday life (friends, family, classmates).  In this way, you can also use your skills to help others along their own journey to discover their Climate Superpowers.

Share this Climate Superpowers website with friends and others who would like to discover their own climate superpowers.

Post about climate action on social media.

Talk to your family or friends about why climate action is important to you and encourage them to also take action.

Use Your Social Superpowers for Self-care

Use your ability to connect with others to take care of yourself when you’re feeling overwhelmed by climate change.

Connect with other young people who care about climate change, and get inspired by positive stories of making change.

Seek out support to deal with climate anxiety and stress. Make use of resources and services for children, young people and families.

Talk to someone that you trust about how you feel about climate change.

Do something fun with your friends or family. It doesn’t have to be related climate change at all – it just needs to be something you enjoy doing!

Use Your Social Superpowers to Transform Society

Social Superpowers give you the powerful ability to connect, communicate and collaborate with others.

Use the power of public speaking: talk about climate change in class presentations, school assemblies and rallies. Your voice is powerful!

Join the environmental group at your school/uni/work. If there’s no group yet, you can create one! Ask for tips from young people who are part of existing groups.

How have others used their superpowers?
All
Everyday Actions
Learning Actions
Self-Care Actions
Transforming Society Actions
Learning
Social Superpowers
Recently, with the Strikes 4 Climate, we did trainings and introductions about climate justice.
Everyday Actions
Social Superpowers
My grandmother, she doesn’t really understand climate change. But by relating it to how it will affect me and like my brothers, my friends… she can understand how the things that she does can affect us. Now, she collects all the soft plastics and sends me a message to say that she recycled them.
Learning
Social Superpowers
With people that don’t know about climate change, have a differing opinion, or don’t really want to acknowledge it, you can’t be like, ‘You’re wrong, this is happening, wake up,’ because they just shut off. And they don’t want to hear anything about it. I feel like it’s fear. It’s easier to live with the ignorance rather than to acknowledge, ‘Oh, my actions are actually causing harm.’ So you have to go with the little issues and be like, ‘Look, you can do this. Why don’t you try doing this?’ And start going from there, rather than going straight to the big issues. I found this really helpful.
Self-Care
Social Superpowers
I think going to the Strikes is really empowering. Getting together with all these other people and then listening to speakers. It definitely empowers.
Self-Care
Social Superpowers
Starting an environmental group at your school or joining an environmental group can really change things because you feel like you’re surrounded by people that also trying to make a difference.
Self-Care
Social Superpowers
With the internet there are various forums to talk with like-minded people.
Transforming Society
Social Superpowers
I spoke to the Council last year and talked to a few parents about how you can support your children. And I was amazed by how many parents just had no idea how stressful it is.
Transforming Society
Social Superpowers
Starting an environmental group at your school or joining an environmental group can really change things because you feel like you’re surrounded by people that also trying to make a difference.
Transforming Society
Social Superpowers
I had an environment group at my school. I was in charge of running it and organizing it. It still exists. We were pretty passionate about that. We had a couple of teachers who supported us. We organized to get recycling bins for every single classroom. And I know the committee’s still running, so there’s still people that are working towards a common goal, which is amazing.
Transforming Society
Social Superpowers
A couple years ago another school was starting their environment group and came to our school to see how we were doing it. They wanted to get inspired by us. It was really nice to see that we’re helping other people start to take action as well.
Transforming Society
Social Superpowers
Go to other schools to see what you can do. Sometimes we go to events with other schools. I got to meet lots of new people. They have solar power panels. They go to the strikes as a school group. Their environmental captain was there… So we were just like, ‘Yeah, that’s what we need to do, just let us do it.’
Transforming Society
Social Superpowers
In year eight, we had a meeting about encouraging the canteen to be more sustainable. And a big part of it was that reusable and more sustainable resources are usually more expensive. So it’s a decision. I have to make that decision as well. When I go out, do I want to buy this? And sometimes it’s hard.
Learning
Social Superpowers
I learned about climate action from young speakers at the Strikes.
Learning
Social Superpowers
I originally learnt about climate change in a brief conversation at school. I then researched it on social media, and found some further information and some people that were experts or activists on climate change.
Learning
Social Superpowers
I have learnt from my friends because I wasn’t educated in climate change. They are passionate about it.