Thousands of Brooklyn residents attended the New York City Climate March of 2014. If you're concerned about potentially devastating global climate change, one of the best actions you can take is to join a research or advocacy organization that's already working on this issue. Here's a list to consider.

To go the big-picture route,  connect with one of the major national or international organizations advocating at the governmental and UN level for saner global climate polices.

Included in this category, for instance, is  Al Gore's group, the Climate Reality Project which trains leaders from around the world on lobbying for reduction of carbon emissions and other earth-friendly policies.

Some of the organizations on this list, like Greenpeace and the Nature Conservancy, have been around for decades and are household words.

Others may be unfamiliar to you. For instance, the US Climate Action Network networks civic organizations together on this issue. EarthJustice focuses on strengthening environmental laws. 

Some are more geared to business, others to local governments. For instance, Ceres pulls together for profit and nonprofit entities — investors, companies and public interest groups — ito expand the adoption of sustainable business practices. A parallel idea has powered organization named Local Governments for Sustainability, which  is concerned specifically with helping local governments make changes in the direction of sustainability/

25 Local Environmental Organizations in Brooklyn

SIGN UP HERE: MAJOR ORGANIZATIONS DEDICATED TO CLIMATE CHANGE POLICY

The following list of national organizations is based on recommendations of over 120 scientists, and published by Philanthropedia, a division of Guidestar, in 2012. These leaders in US climate advocacy reflect a range of perspectives— the environment, energy use, and sustainability — as well as a variety of approaches from conservation, education, research and policy to  advocacy.

What You Can Do:  From your laptop in Brooklyn, you can sign up for action alerts, newsletters, learn about local meetings, read their information sheets and attend events. You might want to become a member. And you can also start your own Meet Up group, dedicated to bringing the national message back here to your Brooklyn nabe. Of course, you can also give money.

1. Natural Resources Defense Council (NRDC)
2. 350.org
3. Union of Concerned Scientists
4. Sierra Club Atlantic Chapter
5. World Resources Institute
6. Ceres
7. Environmental Defense Fund
8. National Wildlife Federation
9. Center for Climate and Energy Solutions (C2ES)
10. Greenpeace
11. US Climate Action Network
12. ICLEI-Local Governments for Sustainability
13. Climate Solutions
14. Earthjustice
15. The Climate Reality Project
16. Friends of the Earth
17. Center For Clean Air Policy (CCAP)
18. The Nature Conservancy

Most of these organizations are based in Washington, not of course in Brooklyn. But you can do a lot electronically, by getting educated, through social media, by writing and lobbying your elected officials, and standing up to be heard. After all, climate change is one of the grave challenges of this generation.