Climate change is going to require collective action, but how can individual

actions make a difference? On a new episode of LifeKit, we're walking you through

what sort of climate-friendly choices can make an impact in your life and

the lives of others. Listen to LifeKit, part of NPR's Climate Week, wherever you

get your podcasts.

I had breast cancer and it was in my lymphatic system, so I had to go through a

pretty strong regimen of chemotherapy and radiation therapy. I think

anybody who gets a life-threatening disease like cancer is a very fearful

time of your life. You know, it's learning how much it's spread and I remember

one day saying to my doctor, I said, I can't do this anymore. You know, I just, I

couldn't get off the couch. I couldn't do anything. And I got to that point where I

understood, you know, why end of life is the end of life, right? It's really hard

to carry on sometimes. And my doctor, Dr. Malpas, said to me, he said, Suzanne, just

hang on because this next drug, you'll feel better. And that was taxal, pack the

taxal, which is derived from the Pacific U-Tree. And these trees grow all around

me and the forest around me. And so then I started it and I did start to feel

better. At the same time, I was making friends with my other chemo buddies. We're

all really good friends still. And we all had double mastectomies and we all

had this treatment. So it was the togetherness with the tree. It was the

togetherness with my friends. And then my children too. And I used to take my

children out to the forest just when I was, you know, in that part of the

treatment, I could hardly walk. I was so exhausted. But we would go to the

...