Now that everyone has headed home following the Paris climate talks, it's time to analyze, discuss and figure out next steps. As Bill McKibben wrote, "This agreement won't save the planet. It may have saved the chance to save the planet (if we all fight like hell in the years ahead)."  

Although a group of 195 nations agreed to a landmark climate agreement, it's up to all of us to ensure that governments uphold their stated goal of allowing the earth's temperatures to rise no more than 2 degrees Celsius.

Here in the US, Republicans in Congress are making every effort to block the administration's plan to force steep cuts in greenhouse gas emissions from US power plants. Rep. Jeff Duncan (R-S.C.) was quoted as saying he wished Obama took the threat posed by "radical jihadists" such as the Islamic State as seriously as he takes what Duncan called a "pseudoscientific threat" posed by climate change.

If Washington is peopled with officials who insist that climate change is a "pseudoscientific threat", activism can not rest.  

A few years ago, students from various universities started pushing for their institutions to divest from fossil fuels.  That movement has gone global and today portfolios controlling an estimated $3.4 trillion have dropped coal or all fossil fuels from their holdings. Closer to home, MIT students have been engaged in a sit-in for over 50 days now, protesting MIT's refusal to divest from fossil fuels. The group, Fossil Free MIT was mentioned in Science Times/NY Times article published today.  Geoffrey Supran, one of leaders of Fossil Free MIT, talks about how the divestment movement "...is helping to reframe the climate change narrative at the highest levels," and the influence is reciprocal. "The promises made at Paris now only vindicate our movement, they light a fire under it."

We all need to light our own fires of activism--whether it's figuring out ways to lower your carbon footprint; joining a local activism group ; or here, at MIT, joining the students in the hallway outside of President Reif's office.  It's time for all of us to get up and do something.