I didn’t start my science career with a focus on climate change impacts. In fact, apart from throwaway comments in the conclusion text of manuscripts, I avoided climate-related research. My interests were directed at what I perceived to be more tangible consequences of environmental change. However, it has now become painfully obvious that we don’t just need science to detect, track and untangle climate impacts in freshwaters, but we also need science to guide climate change mitigation and adaptation. In my presentation, I start in the frozen north, highlighting complexities in ecosystem responses occurring in boreal and Arctic freshwater ecosystems to environmental and climate change. I will then outline how we are already adapting to climate change to protect freshwater ecosystems in Melbourne, with a focus on platypus, and the challenges we still face. Finally, I will focus on gaps in how we monitor rivers globally and the implications for adapting to change.