Climate Column: Making the future fun again
NATASHA JULIANA
ARGUS-COURIER COLUMNIST
April 27, 2026
Auggie Stiltz and Raelyn Covington, Cool Petaluma’s AmeriCorps fellows, promote Cool Petaluma and Future Fest at the Butter and Egg Days Parade and Festival in downtown Petaluma, April 18, 2026.
When you think about the years ahead, are you filled with excitement and wonder, or anxiety and fear?
If you read the news (and clearly you do), the latter is most likely your default. But if you focus on your own community, you can find many reasons to be hopeful.
It is in this spirit that I’d like to recommend Future Fest, a Cool Petaluma climate action festival coming to the Petaluma Community Center on Sunday, May 3. This event will connect you with local resources, inspire you with student-led projects, entertain you with crafting and storytelling, and nourish you with local food.
To make the most of Future Fest, it is valuable to go into it with a mindset of curiosity. Our current climate crisis can easily send us into a state of panic, which can shut down our ability to problem-solve and think creatively.
We’ve all heard that action is the antidote to despair, but first we have to figure out what to do. To open one’s mind to the world of positive possibilities, I offer the following three steps.
Step one: Recognize that change is inevitable
Do nothing, and a road devolves into a string of potholes. Do something, and a road can be transformed into a tree-lined oasis, allowing kids to walk and bike safely to school.
Change can mean returning to age-old traditions, like the city of Petaluma’s grazing program that uses sheep to mow the parks. Change can also mean embracing new technology, like the array of solar panels now floating on our wastewater treatment pond.
What we don’t want is more climate “change” because that is throwing out of balance the life-sustaining systems of this planet upon which we depend. If you’ve been watching the extreme weather patterns wreak havoc across the globe, you know what I mean.
Step two: Use your imagination
In an ideal world, what would your neighborhood look, sound, smell, feel and even taste like? Make this your next kitchen table conversation, and see what you can dream up.
Just last week, Cool Petaluma’s two AmeriCorps fellows, Raelyn Covington and Auggie Stiltz, gave a presentation about climate action at Sonoma State University. During their talk, they invited the class to brainstorm their ideal neighborhood. Soon, the whiteboard was peppered with ideas — edible landscapes, more flowers, more wildlife, less noise pollution, safer paths for walking and biking, free everything (they were told to dream big), more opportunities for kids to get odd jobs and care for the community, lots of “third spaces” for people to hang out in.
Together, the wishes of these young people began to paint a bigger picture of what the future can look like.
We’ve done this same exercise countless times in various settings, and the answers are nearly universal: Most people want to live in a safe, nature-filled environment where they know their neighbors and feel connected.
“Community is the bedrock on which everything else is built,” explained Covington.
Step three: Do something
The future is built by those who participate. Are you in?
If the answer to that is yes, then I’ve got a place to start.
If you, like me, want to make the future fun again, then Future Fest is the place to be this Sunday, May 3.
For five years now, this annual Cool Petaluma event has reinforced our belief in the power of community-led climate action. With over 50 exhibitors sharing their climate solutions, eleven classrooms showcasing their sustainability research, and dozens of guest speakers presenting their knowledge, the Petaluma Community Center will be brimming with a positive, can-do spirit for you to tap into.
By the end of the afternoon, you’ll have discovered an array of options for action that will not only improve your life today, but will protect the future for generations to come.
Please help spread the word, grassroots-style. RSVP to enter to win great door prizes, and invite your friends and neighbors to join you. For more go to coolpetaluma.org/futurefest2026.
“You probably don’t have a big enough Band-Aid to fix the whole world,” explained Stiltz in his presentation to SSU students. “What is up to you is taking any action you can to make your world a little better.”
Natasha Juliana is Campaign Director for Cool Petaluma. She can be reached at natashaj@coolpetaluma.org.