In the wake of recent months’ often dire news on projected climate change impacts, optimism and hope in “solutions” can inform, hearten, and guide us. So long as those emotions are grounded in pragmatism and reality.

One good recent piece along these lines is “Climate Change Policy Can Be Overwhelming. Here’s a Guide to the Policies that Work,” by David Roberts in Vox. A lucid description of an insightful tool and book by energy analyst Hal Harvey, and including an interview with Harvey, Roberts’ slightly long piece is well worth the time to read. It will be useful both for those who can affect policy and those seeking to influence policy-makers. As Roberts notes, Harvey’s book is a “compact but detailed how-to guide for developing energy policies that have real impact …. The results are oddly heartening, or at least clarifying.”

A lighter but also interesting and useful piece is based on the Washington Post’s asking activists, politicians, and researchers about climate policy ideas that offer hope: “Here are 11 Climate Change Policies to Fight for in 2019.”

Both of these pieces refer to Project Drawdown. More on this influential and worthwhile work at another time.

This series is curated and written by retired Colorado State University English professor and close climate change watcher SueEllen Campbell of Colorado. To flag works you think warrant attention, send an e-mail to her any time. Let us hear from you.