Open the refrigerator and there’s a climate policy question staring back at you.

Is that container of leftovers still good? What does “best if used by” actually mean? And should that food end up on the dinner table — or in the trash?

It may not sound like the kind of question that belongs in a conversation about the future of the planet. But during New York Climate Week, environmental advocates are making the case that climate policy is increasingly about these seemingly ordinary decisions — and about the much bigger choices being made around them.

Katherine Nadeau, deputy executive director of Environmental Advocates New York, says the effects of climate change are no longer something that can be separated from daily life.

“Climate change is affecting each and every one of us,” she says, pointing to wildfire smoke, extreme heat and the temperature swings New Yorkers have experienced.

For many people, another sign is arriving in the mailbox: the insurance bill.

As the climate becomes less stable, Nadeau says the insurance industry is adjusting to increased risks. Flood maps are changing, and those changes can affect what people pay to insure their homes.

“These types of things that you might not think about as climate issues are showing up in our pocketbooks right now,” she says.

The same is true of decisions about energy and development.

Across New York, communities are confronting questions about renewable energy projects, utility costs and the rapid growth of data centers. Nadeau says those facilities can require enormous amounts of energy and water, while also creating local impacts such as noise from cooling systems.

For her, the question is not simply whether New York can meet its climate goals. It is how those decisions get made — and whether communities have enough information and opportunity to participate.

On the other end of the scale is food waste.

Confusing date labels can lead people to throw away food unnecessarily, Nadeau says. Once food reaches a landfill, it produces methane, adding to climate pollution while also taking up space in New York’s increasingly limited landfill capacity.

“Think about your own refrigerator at home,” she says.

That refrigerator, an insurance bill, a utility bill and a proposed data center may seem like completely different things, but Nadeau says they are increasingly part of the same conversation.

“We’ve got to talk about the big things,” she says. “We’ve got to talk about data centers. We’ve got to talk about utilities. We’ve got to talk about renewable energy. And we’ve got to talk about the small things.”