2018 is now yesteryear. Literally. The highlight for me was all the traveling. I took in the historic city streets of London, soaked in an Icelandic lagoon, walked the stony roads of Ancient Rome, and traversed the hills of Lisbon. Four countries and a dozen towns later, I get to reflect on the delicate balancing act we’re playing in a world of rising tensions, temperatures, and technologies.

My wifey and I saw Portugal’s capital roar to life every night, with bustling activity, outdoor eating, and street performers. We passed one dilapidated building after another in Rome, a city filled with endless tourists and the odd local, making it feel like one giant outdoor museum. We drove through the dreamlike mossy landscape of Iceland. Strolled around charming little Reykjavik. Waddled through high tide in Venice with water past our knees, admiring the city’s former splendor and last gasps as Mother Nature takes her away.

These European adventures were at once a joyous dive into different cultures and a somber confrontation with the changes of time. It’s had me dwelling more on what we humans have done and are doing to the planet. Not that my anecdotal reflections count as scientific evidence, but we often need to be hit right in the face with something to truly realize it. Even when all the science is clear.

It’s a wonderful world – in places. But this isn’t the time to fall back on old ideas and the status quo. We’re also not going to die just yet, so nor is it the time for defeatism. We need to be talking more and more about this, encouraging newer and better technologies, and electing the most progressive politicians. We’re on the cusp of powerful yet clean energy sources, as well as revolutionary AI and automation.

But right now, we are clearly losing the climate change fight. We’re going to need to collectively bounce ourselves off the ropes and leap into a Rocky-style comeback. We have to stop treating climate change like a background threat we’d rather not speak of, and more like the serious threat it is right here before us. Less like Voldemort in the early Harry Potter books, and more like the nose-less bastard waging the Second Wizarding War.

Climate change should be at the top of our newsfeed every single day. The more we talk about it, the more we can help each other figure out what steps we can take and life changes we can make. We can do this folks. Cue the Rocky theme.