This story was originally published by Grist and appears here as part of the Climate Desk collaboration Over the course of the past 12 months, evidence of humanity’s blind hurtle toward climate catastrophe piled up: ice sheets crumbled, wildfires swept the world, and we learned one million species face extinction. But that’s just half of the story. In a video produced by Time magazine, Greta Thunberg — whose rapid transformation from lone climate striker to Person of the Year is proof on its own that 2019 was a momentous year for climate politics — says not all is lost. “We’re often told about these negative tipping points, things that we can’t change,” she said. “There can also be positive tipping points, like when people decide they have had enough.”

Voters and scientists started to align. Individual climate scientists have defined the current state of the environment as an “emergency” before, and so have some governments in places like New York City and the United Kingdom. In November, 11,000 scientists took things up a notch by banding together to declare a climate emergency in the science journal BioScience. As my colleague Miyo McGinn explained, this was no ordinary climate emergency. “For one thing,” she wrote, “it’s peer-reviewed. It’s also the first time so many scientists have directly told the public that the current state of the climate constitutes a crisis, rather than letting their data speak for itself.” The public seems to be listening to scientists’ repeated warnings. Recent polls show climate change is a top issue for Democratic voters and even some Republicans. A May CNN poll showed that 82 percent of voting Democrats (including left-leaning independents) consider climate change a “top priority.” A Harvard poll showed that likely voters between 18 and 29 are in favor of climate policy even if it negatively affects the economy. A Gallup poll, also from this year, showed most Americans worry about climate change “a great deal” or a “fair amount.” And finally, recent surveys show young Republicans are beginning to sound like Democrats when it comes to the planet. “Republicans and Democrats between 18 and 38,” my colleague Kate Yoder wrote, “might as well be in the same party.” To be sure, it’s not all roses and sunshine. In mid-December, Greta Thunberg departed Madrid by railroad, after more than two weeks of negotiations at the U.N. Climate Change Conference ended without a consensus. A week before the COP25 dispersed, scientists announced that CO2 emissions had once again risen to a record high. Which is to say things will get worse before they get better. But get better they will. I feel comfortable making that wildly optimistic prediction because I actually do believe that nothing and no one can hold a candle to the burning conviction of millions of angry kids. Here’s to a furious 2020.