social action

The Serviceberry book coverIn Robin Wall Kimmerer’s book, The Serviceberry, she uses beautifully simple language to make some profound points and state some deep truths and observations, about: modern-day greed, hoarding, exploitation, and purely transactional interactions vs. reciprocity, giving, sharing, connection, “enoughness,” sufficiency, ecological economics, and gift economies.

One thing that I have found in my own life is that giving and sharing makes me feel really good (and I mean good as in happy and not just as in virtuous). I’ve also found that giving is somewhat addictive, in a good way. The more you do it, the more you want to do it. And giving anonymously often feels the best, even when you don’t know who the recipients of your gifts will be or how the gifts will affect their lives. It just feels satisfying and right.

Throughout the book, there is some repetition of the main themes (where Kimmerer uses different words to convey similar ideas), which I think can be helpful in allowing some of the concepts to really sink in. It’s a fairly short book; but if you don’t read the whole thing, I’ve pulled together a few excerpts that I think are among its many highlights, presenting some of Kimmerer’s best distillations of her primary points.

(Note: The page numbers listed below are from the hardcover version of the book. They might differ in the paperback version.)

“Whatever your currency of reciprocity—be it money, time, energy, political action, art, science, education, planting, community action, restoration, acts of care, large and small—all are needed in these urgent times.”  (p. 109)
[Note: Some specific examples of reciprocity and gift economies are listed at the end of this post.]

“Recognizing ‘enoughness’ [or ‘sufficiency’] is a radical act in an economy that is always urging us to consume more. Data tell the story that there are ‘enough’ food calories on the planet for all 6 billion of us to be nourished. And yet people are starving… “ (p. 12)

“Climate catastrophe and biodiversity loss are the consequences of unrestrained taking by humans.” (p.12)

“Why…have we permitted the dominance of economic systems that commoditize everything? That create scarcity instead of abundance, that promote accumulation rather than sharing? We’ve surrendered our values to an economic system that actively harms what we love.” (p. 25)

“In a gift economy, wealth is understood as having enough to share, and the practice for dealing with abundance is to give it away. In fact, status is determined not by how much one accumulates, but by how much one gives away.” (p. 32)

“Let’s remember that the ‘System’ is led by individuals, by a relatively small number of people, who have names, with more money than God and certainly less compassion. They sit in boardrooms deciding to exploit fossil fuels for short-term gain while the world burns. They know the science, they know the consequences, but they proceed with ecocidal business as usual and do it anyway. …They’re all thieves, stealing our future…” (p. 71)

“I lament my own immersion in an economy that grinds what is beautiful and unique into dollars, converts gifts to commodities in a currency that enables us to purchase things we don’t really need while destroying what we do. The Serviceberries show us another model…one where wealth and security come from the quality of our relationships, not from the illusion of self-sufficiency.” (p. 72)

“Thriving is possible only if you have nurtured strong bonds with your community.” (p. 73)

“In ecological economics, the focus is on creating an economy that provides for a just and sustainable future in which both human life and nonhuman life can flourish.” (p. 74)

“…Natural selection favors those who can avoid competition. Oftentimes this avoidance is achieved by shifting one’s needs away from whatever is in short supply, as though evolution were suggesting, ‘If there’s not enough of what you want, then want something else.’ This specialization to avoid scarcity has led to a dazzling array of biodiversity, each species avoiding competition by being different. Diversity in ways of being is an antidote.” (p. 76-77)

“…scientific evidence is mounting that mutualism and cooperation…play a major role in evolution and enhance ecological well-being, especially in changing environments.” (p. 77)

“It is manufactured scarcity that I cannot accept. In order for capitalist market economics to function, there must be scarcity, and the system is designed to create scarcity where it does not actually exist.” (p. 79)

“It was previously unthinkable that one would pay for a drink of water; but as careless economic expansion pollutes fresh water, we now incentivize privatization of springs and aquifers. Sweet water, a free gift of the Earth, is pirated by faceless corporations who encase it in plastic containers to sell. And now many can’t afford what was previously free.” (p. 80)

“The Indigenous philosophy of the gift economy…has no tolerance for creating artificial scarcity through hoarding. In fact, the ‘monster’ in Potawatomi culture is Windigo, who suffers from the illness of taking too much and sharing too little. It is a cannibal, whose hunger is never sated, eating through the world.” (p. 81)

“An economy based on the impossibility of ever expanding growth leads us into nightmare scenarios. …It is an engine of extinction.” (p. 85)

“…the grinding system…leaves most of us bereft of what we really want: a sense of belonging and relationship and purpose and beauty, which can never be commoditized.” (p. 90)

“An investment in community always comes back to you in some way.” (p. 88)

“…the infinitely renewable resource of kindness…multiplies every time it is shared rather than depreciating with use.” (p. 91)

 “This transition from exploitation to reciprocity, from the individual good to the common good has been seen as a parallel to the transition that colonizing human societies must undergo, from hoarding to circulation, from independent to interdependent…if we are to thrive into the future.” (p. 100)

“The…economy of extractive capitalism, of abusing the gifts of Mother Earth, is a crime against Nature. I believe that theft is punishable by law, and we need to elect leaders who believe in the rule of law.” (p. 102)

“I’ve begun to think that berry-picking is the medicine we need to create a legion of land protectors.” (p. 104)

Kimmerer provides some specific examples of gift economies in action:

  • “…I routinely ask students if and how they participate in gifting networks. I learn about active circles of freecycling, repair cafes, donated mugs in the coffee shop replacing disposables, clothing swaps, the Buy Nothing movement, and campus free stores, where dorm room necessities are passed among generations of students…” (p. 45)
  • “They quickly cite access to open-source software and the existence of Wikipedia…where knowledge is freely shared on digital platforms in an information commons.” (p. 46)
  • “…I take a field trip to go foraging for videos on gift economies and find them everywhere. I learn about mutual-aid societies, alternative local currencies, money-free work exchanges, cooperative farms, peer-to-peer lending…” (p. 47)

Elsewhere in the book, she also mentions shared garden produce, free food pantries, Little Free Libraries, public libraries, lending libraries, and local Master Gardener programs and offerings.

I hope this inspires you to think about other examples of gift economies and reciprocity that you see around you or that you could create around you. We should all encourage and support these types of efforts in our own neighborhoods and communities.

 

Related posts:

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January 29, 2026
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The Pacific Northwest (PNW) region is typically defined to include Oregon and Washington, and British Columbia (Canada) and the northernmost section of California are often included, as well. Some people also include other states that are in the wider northwestern section of the country, such as Idaho, Wyoming, Montana, and Alaska.

The Pacific Northwest “bioregion” (an area defined by natural boundaries, such as watersheds, topography, geography, climate, or ecosystems, rather than by arbitrary state borders) also can be interpreted in different ways. To some, it includes parts of Northwestern California (from Humboldt County north), Western Oregon and Western Washington, to Western British Columbia—west of the Cascade mountains; this bioregion is characterized by a lot of rain between fall and spring, and it includes some temperate rainforests. But others draw the lines differently and include Idaho and other areas in the bioregion. This region is sometimes called Cascadia. Bioregionalism is a philosophy that encourages people to organize themselves within and live sustainably within their bioregions. (Here’s a recent article from Resilience.org on “Bioregioning.”)

This listing includes some organizations that cover the whole PNW region, as well as organizations that are focused on specific issues within the states of Oregon, Washington, or the province of British Columbia (BC). (Each section below begins with groups that address issues across the PNW region or even across the West, followed by groups in specific states.) For now, the listing has a disproportionate representation of groups in Oregon (as it’s the state I’m currently most familiar with), but over time, I’ll be adding more groups based in Washington and in BC. While there are also countless local organizations in the region, for the most part this listing doesn’t include local or city/town-based initiatives; it does include a few multi-county regional groups.

Note: This is not a comprehensive listing, and I am not personally familiar with all of the groups listed here. If there are additional organizations you’d like to recommend, please mention them in the Comments.

The organizations listed here are organized into the following categories:

  • General Environmental
  • Climate and Energy
  • Land Conservation and Stewardship
  • Animal Protection
  • Societal Wellbeing and Social Justice
  • Media and Information Resources

This post is a work in progress. More organizations will be added to the listing over time.

 

General Environmental

Oregon:

Washington:

British Columbia:

 

Climate and Energy

Oregon:

Washington:

British Columbia:

 

Land Conservation and Stewardship

Oregon:

Washington:

British Columbia:

 

Animal Protection
(wildlife + farmed and domesticated animals)

Oregon:

Washington:

British Columbia:

 

Societal Wellbeing and Social Justice

Oregon:

Washington:

 

Media and Information Resources

Oregon:

Washington:

British Columbia:

 

Related Posts:

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October 31, 2025
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The Goldman Environmental Prize is the world’s largest and most prestigious annual award for grassroots environmentalists. Some people refer to it as the “green Nobel.” Goldman Prize winners are models of courage, and their stories are powerful and truly inspiring. “The Prize recognizes individuals for sustained and significant efforts to protect and enhance the natural environment, often at great personal risk. Each winner receives a financial award. The Goldman Prize views ‘grassroots’ leaders as those involved in local efforts, where positive change is created through community or citizen participation in the issues that affect them. Through recognizing these individual leaders, the Prize seeks to inspire other ordinary people to take extraordinary actions to protect the natural world.” Over the 36 years that the Prize has been awarded, there have been 226 recipients of the prize.

This year’s prize recipients (representing each of the six inhabited continental regions of the world) are:

  • Laurene Allen—USA: “When one of the largest environmental crises in New England’s history was exposed in her own community, Laurene Allen stepped up to protect thousands of families affected by contaminated drinking water. Laurene’s campaign pressured the Saint-Gobain Performance Plastics plant—responsible for leaking toxic forever chemicals into community drinking water sources—to announce its closure in August 2023. The plant’s closure in May 2024 marked an end to more than 20 years of rampant air, soil, and water pollution.” (Support/follow: National PFAS Contamination Coalition; Laurene Allen on BlueskyMerrimack Citizens for Clean Water)
  • Mari Luz Canaquiri Murayari—Peru: “In March 2024, Mari Luz Canaquiri Murayari and Asociación de Mujeres Huaynakana Kamatahuara Kana—a Kukama women’s association for which she serves as president—won a landmark rights of nature court decision to protect the Marañón River in Peru. For the first time in the country’s history, a river was granted legal personhood—with the right to be free-flowing and free of contamination. After finding the Peruvian government in violation of the river’s inherent rights, the court ordered the government to take immediate action to prevent future oil spills into the river, mandated the creation of a basin-wide protection plan, and recognized the Kukama as stewards of the river.” (Support/follow: Huaynakana Kamatahuara Kana on Facebook; International RiversInstituo de Defense Legal)
  • Carlos Mallo Molina—Canary Islands: “Carlos Mallo Molina helped lead a sophisticated, global campaign to prevent the construction of Fonsalía Port, a massive recreational boat and ferry terminal that threatened a biodiverse 170,000-acre marine protected area in the Canary Islands. Proposed to be built on the island of Tenerife, the port would have destroyed vital habitat for endangered sea turtles, whales, and sharks. In October 2021, because of the campaign, the Canary Islands government officially canceled the port project. In lieu of the port, Carlos is now realizing his vision for a world-class marine conservation and education center—the first of its kind in the Canary Islands.” (Support/follow: Innoceana; Carlos Mallo Molina on LinkedIn)
  • Semia Gharbi—Tunisia: “Semia Gharbi helped spearhead a campaign that challenged a corrupt waste trafficking scheme between Italy and Tunisia, resulting in the return of 6,000 tons of illegally exported household waste back to Italy, its country of origin, in February 2022. More than 40 corrupt government officials and others involved in waste trafficking in both countries were arrested in the scandal. Her efforts spurred policy shifts within the EU, which has now tightened its procedures and regulations for waste shipments abroad.” (Support/follow: Association for Environmental Education for Future Generations; International Pollutants Elimination Network (IPEN); GAIA)
  • Besjana Guri and Olsi Nika—Albania: “Besjana Guri and Olsi Nika’s campaign to protect the Vjosa River from a hydropower dam development boom resulted in its historic designation as the Vjosa Wild River National Park by the Albanian government in March 2023. This precedent-setting action safeguards not only the entirety of the Vjosa’s 167 miles—which flow freely across Albania—but also its free-flowing tributaries, totaling 250 miles of undisturbed river corridors. The Vjosa ecosystem is a significant bastion of freshwater biodiversity that provides critical habitat for several endangered species. The new national park is both Albania and Europe’s first to protect a wild river.” (Support/follow: EcoAlbania and their YouTube channel)
  • Batmunkh Luvsandash—Mongolia: “Determined to protect his homeland from mining, Batmunkh Luvsandash’s activism resulted in the creation of a 66,000-acre protected area in Dornogovi province in April 2022, abutting tens of thousands of acres already protected by Batmunkh and allies. Home to Argali sheep, 75% of the world’s population of endangered Asiatic wild ass, and a wide variety of endemic plants, the protected area forms an important bulwark against Mongolia’s mining boom.” (Support/follow: The Nature Conservancy’s work in Mongolia)

Click on each recipient’s name to read a longer profile—or watch a brief video—about their remarkable efforts and achievements.

Posts on Goldman Prize winners from previous years:

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April 21, 2025
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“Hoard food and it rots. Hoard money and you rot. Hoard power and the nation rots.
— Chuck Palahniuk

“Wealth among traditional people is measured by having enough to give away.”
— Robin Wall Kimmerer

“If a man has an apartment stacked to the ceiling with newspapers, we call him crazy. If a woman has a trailer house full of cats, we call her nuts. But when people pathologically hoard so much cash that they impoverish the entire nation, we put them on the cover of Fortune magazine and pretend that they are role models.”
— Lester B. Pearson

 “Earth provides enough to satisfy every man’s need, but not every man’s greed.”
— Mahatma Gandhi

“He could end world hunger. Instead, he chooses to starve children.”
— A hand-made sign at a recent protest


Shocking Facts and Stats

  • In 2024, total billionaire wealth increased by $2 trillion (source), and some billionaires are on track to become trillionaires in coming years.  Over the last decade+, there has been a growing concentration of wealth at the very top, particularly among the top 1% (source).
  • Note: A billion is 1,000 times more than a million (i.e., it takes 1,000 millions to make a billion). And a trillion is 1,000 billions
  • In 2023, the average CEO-to-worker pay ratio for S&P 500 companies was 268-to-1, meaning CEOs earned 268 times more than the average worker, a significant increase from the 1960s when the ratio was around 21-to-1. It would take more than five career lifetimes for workers to earn what CEOs receive in just one year. (source)
  • Billionaires often make the equivalent of many millions of dollars per hour in earnings (including stock investments).
  • While millionaires and billionaires’ wealth has skyrocketed in recent decades, and the cost of living (including housing cost) has gone up, the U.S. federal minimum wage has stayed at $7.25 per hour since 2009; that is now a poverty wage. A full-time minimum wage worker makes only about $15,000 per year, which was the federal poverty line in 2024. If that person has even one other person/child to support, they are living well below the poverty line and cannot meet their basic needs on that wage. (Some states have passed higher minimum wages. In California, the minimum wage is currently $16.50/hour, as of 2025. That is still not an adequate, living wage in California. Per MIT’s Living Wage Calculator, a single California adult with no one else in their household would need an average $18.66 per hour to meet their basic needs.)
  • In 2022, the living wage (the wage needed to meet basic budgetary needs, such as housing, food, childcare, and transportation, plus taxes) for one worker in a family of two full-time working adults and two children ranged between $18.75 and $40.16 per hour, for the lowest and highest cost U.S. counties, respectively. (source)
  • Billionaires contribute a million times more carbon (a greenhouse gas that causes global heating AKA climate change) to the atmosphere than the average person. 125 of the world’s richest billionaires invest so much money in polluting industries that they are responsible for emitting an average of 3 million tons of carbon a year. (source)
  • The use of private jets by ultra-wealthy people (even for very short trips) has increased substantially. And studies show that private jets emit 5-14 times more carbon dioxide per passenger than commercial airplanes. Some private aircraft models emit more carbon per hour than an average person produces in a year. (source)
  • While most ultra-wealthy people feel that their wealth is entirely or mostly “self-made,” in reality about 60 percent of billionaire wealth comes from one of three sources: inheritance, cronyism and corruption, or monopoly power (source). [I would guess that much of the rest of their wealth comes from legal but immoral exploitation of workers— via low, non-living wages and unsafe working conditions—and/or rampant extraction of natural resources, illegal tax evasion and/or insider trading, plus the investments and compounding interest that wealth affords, of course (AKA “it takes money to make money”). And for a smaller set, their wealth could come primarily from their celebrity/fame, good looks, talent, or smarts. But nobody “earns” billions or millions of dollars through only their “hard work” or their intellect.]
  • In 1975, 90% of Americans shared two-thirds of all income. As of 2023, the 90% got just 45% of all income, while the richest 10% hoard the rest. The wealthiest have extracted $79 trillion from working people since 1975. In 2023 alone, workers in the bottom 90% lost $3.9 trillion to the top 10%—that amount would have gone into the paychecks of working people if income disparity was at the more reasonable level it was at after WWII. (source)
  • Since the 1980s, due to regressive economic/financial/taxation/regulatory policies combined with sheer greed on the part of corporations and individuals, there has been a “reverse Robin Hood” upward redistribution of wealth: trillions of dollars taken from the least wealthy (the many) by the most wealthy (the few). This has turned much of the “middle class” into the “working poor” and caused much higher levels of homelessness, while the rich have become richer.
  • Wealth disparity (AKA the wealth gap, economic or income inequality, or the unequal distribution of wealth) in the U.S. is now even worse than it was in 1928, right before the 1929 stock market crash and then bank runs, which triggered the Great Depression. (source)  [Current conditions and federal policies in 2025 are setting us up for another economic crash. We should be preparing for that.]
  • You can find more statistics, graphics, and reports on income and wealth inequality at Inequality.org.

We will also be publishing a companion post in the next few months: Generosity vs Greed: How the Super-Wealthy Could Be Super-Heroes.

 

Organizations 

Economic Policy / Political Groups:

Poverty Alleviation/Aid/Assistance:

Housing and Homelessness:

Labor Rights:

Affordable/Universal Healthcare:

Fair Finance and Consumer Protection:

Responsible Wealth / Shared Prosperity / Genuine Philanthropy:

  • The Giving Pledge
  • Lever for Change
  • Patriotic Millionaires
  • Millionaires for Humanity  [NEW]
  • Resource Generation
  • Bolder Giving
  • Yield Giving
  • Also read about: Trust-based philanthropy, No-Strings philanthropy, Open Call philanthropy, Community (AKA “community-led” or “community-based”) philanthropy, and Direct philanthropy or direct cash/direct giving approaches (a few direct giving orgs are listed in the Poverty Alleviation section, above).
  • We will be publishing a companion post within the next year: Generosity vs Greed: How the Super-Wealthy Could Be Super-Heroes. Also, we offer strategic advising services to individuals, foundations, or philanthropic organizations who would like guidance in identifying important groups and programs to fund.

New Economics & Ecological Economics:

Universal Basic Income (UBI):

 

Related Media/Articles/Resources

Books  

Some people to follow online: Robert Reich, Rev. Dr. William Barber, Rev. Dr. Liz Theoharis, Chuck Collins, Elizabeth Warren, Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (AOC), Bernie Sanders; Kate RaworthGabriel ZucmanNick Hanauer, Jason Hickel, Wendell Potter, Rutger Bregman, Joseph Stiglitz, Claudia Sahm, Kathryn Ann Edwards, Ai-jen Poo, Mike Elk, Liz Shuler, Katie Porter, Matthias Schmelzer, Robin Wall Kimmerer, Abigail Disney, Melinda French Gates, and Robin Wall Kimmerer.

Related Posts:

Excerpts of wisdom from The Serviceberry: Abundance and Reciprocity in the Natural World  [Added January 2026]

Green Business, Corporate Social Responsibility, and Ethical Finance Resources

Fossil-Fuel Divestment and Future-Friendly Investments

NOTE: We’ll be publishing a companion post within the next year: Generosity vs Greed: How the Super-Wealthy Could Be Super-Heroes. And we offer strategic advising services to individuals, foundations, or philanthropic organizations who would like guidance in identifying important groups and programs to fund.

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March 21, 2025
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True peace is not merely the absence of war; it is the presence of justice.
— Jane Addams  (and Dr. MLK Jr. said something very similar)

“Blessed are the peacemakers.”
— Sermon on the Mount

This listing of organizations includes groups that focus on: human rights, nonviolence, nonviolent social action, violence prevention (including gun violence), peace and justice, peacebuilding, preventing or stopping war and genocide, restorative justice, conflict resolution, nuclear safety (weapons of mass destruction, disarmament), and peace and human rights in the Middle East/Israel/Palestine. This is not a comprehensive list of organizations; if you know of other groups that you would recommend to others, please mention them in the Comments.

My hope is that more of these organizations will work together and collaborate, to broaden their reach and amplify their impact, nationally and globally.

Human Rights Groups

Nonviolence Groups
(Nonviolent Action and Violence Prevention)

Gun violence prevention:

Peace Groupsflying dove

Nuclear Safety & Anti-Nuclear Groups

Israel/Palestine, Middle East Peace & Human Rights Groups

 

A couple of peacebuilders I recommend following online: Bernice King and Ami Dar.

I’ll add more people and organizations to this list over time. I also plan to provide a list of groups that address extremism and political violence, but that could be a separate post.

Lastly, click the following link for some quotations on peace and power.

True peace requires awareness, restraint, strength, and effort. May we all become peacemakers and peacebuilders, starting in our own lives and relationships and expanding that skill out into our communities and world.

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January 23, 2025
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“I am only one, but I am one. I cannot do everything, but I can do something. And I will not let what I cannot do interfere with what I can do.”
– Edward Everett Hale

“Do not be daunted by the enormity of the world’s grief. Do justly, now. Love mercy, now. Walk humbly, now. You are not obligated to complete the work, but neither are you free to abandon it.”
– The Talmud

We are facing a sociopolitical-environmental-economic-technological polycrisis. As time goes on and it becomes more difficult to ignore, more people will see and understand the tangled ball of troubles and threats that are being aimed at many of us within the U.S, as well as many others across the world, and our shared air, water, lands, ecosystems, and climate. And as the awareness and the alarm grows, more people will try to figure out what they can do to reduce some of the harms.

None of us gets to choose the era we live through or to control a whole lot about the world we live in. But we should strive to rise to the challenge of the situation we are confronted with and meet the moment, by doing what we can to make our communities, our country, and our world as livable (and worth living in) as we can. We can strive to be among the many flickering lights that will guide a way through the darkness.

I offer you my wishes of strength, courage, endurance, solace, serenity, and solidarity. And I humbly offer up some specific, practicable ways to cultivate those skills and conditions, presented below in the following sections:

  • Self-Care
  • Community Care
  • City/County/State Actions
  • Personal Actions
  • Organizations and Resources

Note: I have written this from the United States, with the United States in mind, but much of what I’ve included can be applied to other areas of the world or any community facing crises.

I will update and add more suggestions to this guide over time.

 

Self-Care

We can only help others well when we are feeling fairly strong and stable ourselves. So we need to take care of ourselves—our physical, mental, and emotional health and wellbeing—and recognize that there are times when we need a break from taking in more terrible news or taking care of others or trying to “fix” the world. Our brains and our hearts are not equipped to take in bad news from all over the country and around the world, all day every day. We cannot process all of that information, and we can’t expect ourselves to carry the weight of the world. We can take turns in our efforts; and we should accept and ask for help or support when we need it. We all have our own ways of coping, self-soothing, and caring for ourselves. But we should strive to make our healthier coping mechanisms into habits, so we don’t succumb to the unhealthy ones very often. Here are a few general tips and reminders:

  1. Set aside periods of time (ideally at least one day a week, or a portion of every day) for a “media fast,” when you will not look at media, social media, or emails or expose yourself to the day’s horrors. Try to stay grounded in the Here and Now (the present) whenever you can, rather than letting yourself become overwhelmed by the There and Everywhere and Everyone and the Future, Forever. Build some time into each day when you and your brain can rest and recover.
  2. Get enough sleep, every night that you can. We can’t function properly, think straight, or stay healthy without enough deep sleep.
  3. Eat nutritious and nourishing foods that will give you energy and help keep your immune system strong.  (And if possible, take a third-party-vetted multivitamin, or at least Vitamin D/K, especially in winter months.)
  4. Get some exercise almost every day, even if it’s just some stretching or a short walk around the block or 5 minutes of yoga (or tending to a garden).
  5. Stay connected with good friends. Regularly reach out and make time for friends and supportive family.
  6. Try deep/slow breathing exercises that are proven to help us relax (like cyclic sighing or “bee breath“ or humming or singing), meditation, or other relaxation or mindfulness techniques. Or listen to music or do something creative.
  7. Try to get out into natural settings (e.g., parks, forests, waterbody areas, vista points) and spend time with animals. Both of those things can help you regain some perspective.
  8. Make time for some humor and comedy, amidst tragedy.
  9. Remind yourself to notice and seek out and appreciate beautiful things (large and small), funny things, good moments, good news, good people (helpers), glimmers of compassion or beauty or joy, to counter the ugliness. Share some of these good things with other people (through conversations, posts, photos).
  10. If you regularly struggle with overwhelm or grief, despite your best efforts to practice healthy habits like those above, you might want to check out the Good Grief Network’s workshops and resources, or Pema Chodron’s books, or look for (or establish) a Support Group, or find a good therapist. (If the climate crisis is one of the primary drivers of your grief or anxiety, you might be interested in checking out the Climate Psychology Alliance of North America’s Climate-Aware Therapists Directory.) A few people/pages to follow online for wisdom and inspiration include: Cole Arthur Riley, Anne Lamott, Brene Brown, Rebecca Solnit, Ami Dar, Hell and Earth, and Humanity & Peace.

 

We may not be able to stop most or even many of the awful things that are happening or that will happen (and there’s only so much we can do all by ourselves, as individuals). But we can focus on harm reduction strategies, and we can find ways of building our power by working together. While we can try to influence (or delay) what happens at the federal level, for the time being—in the United States, in particular—more victories and successes will probably be achieved at the local/community/city/county and state levels (and we can also press for positive policies at the international level, and in other countries), so focus most of your energy on those efforts. Even if we cannot make the world or our immediate future good, we can do our best to make it less bad, and limit unnecessary suffering as much as possible. Small steps and successes are important and should be celebrated. Even if each of us can only help a few beings and make their lives easier—or save even one being (or wild place)—those efforts will be worthwhile.

Working with other people is rarely easy, but it’s necessary and can be rewarding and effective. We’ll have to summon up as much patience and kindness as we can, and resist falling into permanent despair or fatalism—or the urge to shut down, become cold and unfeeling, or to isolate ourselves from others—as those may feel like the easier paths. We’ll never agree with or relate to everyone else or their tactics or their way of dealing with things. But we have to continuously try to accept our forgivable differences, to not let our egos or pride get in the way of our efforts, and to not turn on (or away from) each other.

We should strive to be of service, and to give what we can. I try to regularly remind myself of this statement by Robin Wall Kimmerer (from her book, Braiding Sweetgrass): “Wealth among traditional people is measured by having enough to give away.” In addition to monetary and material wealth, we should also consider our levels of energy, hope, strength, and resilience as other types of wealth that we should strive to have enough of that we can offer them—”give them away”—to others.

There are many ways—big and small—to make a tangible difference. If you’re looking for suggestions, I offer these:

Community Care

  1. Get to know your neighbors, and check in on them or offer to help out if they need anything (especially any neighbors who are disabled, elderly, alone, or vulnerable). Consider inviting a few neighbors over to your house for a gathering. Also periodically reach out to friends, and find out how they’re doing and what they might need.
  2. Find and support local groups that help the most vulnerable (e.g., immigrants/refugees, unhoused people, the disabled or elderly, low-income or unemployed people, abused or neglected or foster children, domestic violence survivors, trans and gay people, prisoners and detainees, people with severe mental illness, and animals). For example, you could support local shelters, housing groups, food banks/pantries, and Community Action Agencies. Also search for (or consider starting) a local Mutual Aid group or Rapid Response Network or CERT (Community Emergency Response Team) group. Choose at least one local group to get involved with, through volunteering or donations. (Or choose different groups to support each month or year.)
  3. Support (and use) your library, as well as local arts organizations or venues, and community gardens.
  4. Patronize/support small, local businesses, worker-owned businesses/cooperatives (coops), local farms/farmers and farmer’s markets.
  5. Volunteer at or support the local, state, and national parks in your region.
  6. Find (or start) a local climate action group, even if it’s just with a few friends, neighbors, or co-workers.
  7. Donate needed/requested items to a local group for the unhoused or the poor. Items that are often needed include clothing (e.g., coats, underwear, warm and durable socks, gloves, hats, scarves, rain/snow pants, other layers, shoes/boots); tents, sleeping bags, blankets and emergency blankets, tarps, roller bags and rolling carts, and hygiene items. You could also give money, food, or other items directly to unhoused people.
  8. Put some food items in a Little Free Library box (if there’s room). Or build a Free Food Pantry box in your front yard, or suggest that local churches or grocery stores do this.
  9. Propose that your local Democratic Party office (or a specific candidate’s campaign office) be used regularly as a space for local community organizing and mutual aid initiatives that help meet people’s needs (e.g., food donations and distribution, housing assistance, etc.).

City/County/State Actions

  1. Tell your state representatives to pass stronger affordable housing regulations, and tell your city and/or county leaders (mayor, city council, county commissioners, officials, developers, and land owners) to build more affordable housing for low-income people, as well as tiny home communities or apartments and/or RV parking areas (with support services) for unhoused people, and more shelters (that are also set up to accept people who have pets).
  2. Tell your city, county, and state officials that you do not support the mass deportation or detention of immigrants (particularly those who have no record of violent crime), and you want them to protect and support immigrants in your community in any ways that they can, and require that any “law enforcement” officers wear name badges and do not wear identity-concealing full-face masks.
  3. Support groups that focus on state and local races/elections (e.g., DLCC, The States Project, Sister DistrictOathand your state and local Democratic Party). There are important state and local elections (including “special elections” to fill vacant seats) every year. State Supreme Court/judicial races, as well as State Attorney General, Secretary of State, and local school board races are especially important, but they are often neglected by funders and voters.
  4. Tell your state representatives and Governor to immediately develop and pass Healthcare for All/Universal Healthcare legislation for your state (so far, Oregon’s Healthcare for All plan is the furthest along in the process), and to develop state-based programs that could help shore up residents’ Medicaid and Social Security (retirement and disability) benefits if federal benefits are cut back. Also demand that they pass anti-poverty laws and initiatives, including a much higher minimum wage (a Living Wage)paid sick days, and paid medical/parental/caregiver leave requirements for everyone employed in your state.
  5. Tell your state and local representatives to bolster and fund state and local disaster response and relief initiatives, to make up for the shortfall of support from the federal government.
  6. Tell your state representatives to protect and conserve your state-owned public lands, and not to allow them to be used/exploited or leased for resource extraction and private profit (logging, mining, grazing, or development). Tell them to designate more land and river/waterbody areas for wilderness/wildlife conservation and state parks.
  7. Tell your state representatives to pass legislation that will protect doctors, midwives, nurses, patients, and anyone who assists or communicates with people who are seeking reproductive health care, miscarriage care, medication or surgical abrtion, or contraception (including emergency contraception) from federal or out-of-state prosecution. Life-saving medical interventions for pregnant women must always be protected and allowed and never delayed by legal or governmental obstacles.
  8. Ask your city, county, or state leaders and policymakers to start a Universal Basic Income (UBI) program. These programs have proven very successful.

Personal Actions

  1. Try to set aside more savings for your retirement and emergency/medical expenses, as ACA health insurance, Medicaid, Medicare, and possibly even Social Security benefits could be cut back by the new regime (to pay for their massive tax cuts for the wealthy).
  2. If you know someone who has student loans they are struggling to pay down or pay off and you are financially comfortable, you could offer to help them with their payments. Or you could send money to debt relief groups such as the Debt Collective, Undue Medical Debt, and Dollar For.
  3. If you have a bank account with one of the large, national banks (especially Wells Fargo, Chase, Citi, or Bank of America), one of the best things you can do is to move your money to a local credit union (or a green bank, or a customer-recommended community bank that doesn’t gouge its own members). And if you have any stock-based investment accounts (401Ks, mutual funds, etc.), make sure they aren’t funding evil companies and switch them to socially/environmentally responsible investment accounts.
  4. To stop feeding the beast, opt out of buying things from (i.e., giving your money to) predatory, greedy, exploitative corporations (e.g., Amazon, Walmart, Home Depot, Uline, and most other large, multinational companies) whenever possible. Instead, try to support small, local businesses, and B Corps-certified or benefit corporations or worker-owned businesses/coops that are socially and environmentally responsible and good to their employees.
  5. Start growing some of your own food (note: using “cold frames” can help you extend your growing season), and if you grow more than your family can eat, share the bounty. Also buy food from local (preferably organic) farm stands, farmer’s markets, and CSA (community supported agriculture) programs.
  6. Support and help fund community solar projects, and tell your state and local representatives and your utilities to build more solar/wind projects and renewable microgrids with fire-safe battery storage for energy security. If your utility offers a renewable energy program, sign up for it.
  7. Subscribe to and share information from media outlets that consistently produce solid, independent, fact-based journalism (e.g., ProPublica, Courier Newsroom, States NewsroomThe Guardian, MongabayMother Jones, The Tennessee Holler, Press Forward, Scientific American, local newspapers and public radio stations, NPR, PBS, and for a longer list of suggestions, click here.)
  8. In addition to local and state and national groups, identify at least one international organization (or an organization based in another country) to donate to. The next section (Organizations and Resources) lists a number of groups to check out. (To see lists of some non-profit organizations, by topic, click here.) Also consider doing more direct giving to people in need, in person or through sites like GiveDirectlyKiva, and GoFundMe. And consider supporting a disaster relief organization, such as Direct Relief, CORE, Global Giving, International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies, your regional Red Cross, Mutual Aid Disaster Relief, Team Rubicon, IFAW, or The Climate Mobilization.
  9. If you are financially secure, consider using some of your money to donate to Land Trusts (local/regionalor international) or re-wilding organizations, or purchase a forest or wildland property (or other undeveloped, non-urban land parcel)—to protect it from development, logging, mining, industrial/Big Ag, or other destructive uses; or purchase disturbed land to remediate it and either re-wild it or create affordable housing on it; or purchase industrial farmland and convert it to organic farming. You can work with a regional Land Trust or conservation group to make sure the land will be permanently protected beyond your lifetime.
  10. If you don’t want to have kids, or you don’t want to have more kids than you currently have, you (if you’re a woman) could get a tubal ligation (or men can get a vasectomy, which is reversible)—or a birth control implant or an IUD (which work for many years)—so you won’t be at risk of getting pregnant or at risk of dying due to life-threatening pregnancy complications or a partial miscarriage that might not receive prompt or proper medical treatment. You could also donate to clinics that provide vasectomies and tubal ligation and contraceptives, so they can provide these services to people who cannot afford them. And you could buy contraception (e.g., the over-the-counter O-pill, condoms, or packages of emergency contraception) for anyone who might need them now or in the future. Some states have signaled that they are likely to try to curtail or ban contraception.
  11. Implement online/digital privacy and security recommendations, including these and others published by the Electronic Frontier Foundation (EFF) or by WIRED. Use the Signal app for private/secure texting (and you can set your messages to disappear after a specified amount of time). Also check out services (e.g. DeleteMe) that get data broker websites to remove your personal information that they’ve posted online, and consider getting identity theft insurance and other security/privacy protections from a service (e.g., Aura). It’s a pain to try to stay on top of online security protocols, but there are so many scammers and hackers out there (as well as surveillance), and our federal government is destroying its consumer protection and cybersecurity apparatus (e.g. the CFPB and CISA), so we’re largely on our own in trying to protect ourselves from spying, scams, fraud, and hacks.

Feel free to add your own suggestions of specific and effective ways that we can face the challenges of our time, reduce harms, and help turn things around.

 

Organizations and Resources

Also see: Non-Profit Organizations to Know (organized by topic)

 

Other Relevant Posts:

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December 10, 2024
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This listing includes a wide variety of groups that focus on women’s issues. Most of the organizations that are listed here are based in the U.S. and have a U.S. focus, but some international groups are included, as well. We are not familiar with every group listed below, so inclusion in the listing does not constitute an endorsement.

We‘ve organized the groups into the following categories:

  • Environmental
  • General
  • Political action / representation
  • Health / reproductive health
  • Legal
  • Safety
  • BIPOC
  • Military / veterans
  • International
  • Media and films

A few organizations have been listed in more than one of these categories.

ENVIRONMENTAL

GENERAL (women’s rights, equality, empowerment, advocacy)

POLITICAL ACTION / REPRESENTATION

HEALTH / REPRODUCTIVE HEALTH

LEGAL

SAFETY (from violence / assault)

BIPOC women (Black, Indigenous, and People of Color)

WOMEN IN THE MILITARY / VETERANS 

INTERNATIONAL

MEDIA

Films  (this is just a small selection; we’ll add more to this list over time):

 

If there are other groups or websites that you think should be added to this listing, please mention them in the Comments.

Related posts:

 

#womenslivesmatter #womenarepeople #WomensRightsAreHumanRights #personhood #liberty

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July 31, 2024
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The Goldman Environmental Prize is the world’s largest and most prestigious annual award for grassroots environmentalists. Many people refer to it as the “green Nobel.” Goldman Prize winners are models of courage, and their stories are powerful and truly inspiring. “The Prize recognizes individuals for sustained and significant efforts to protect and enhance the natural environment, often at great personal risk. Each winner receives a financial award. The Goldman Prize views ‘grassroots’ leaders as those involved in local efforts, where positive change is created through community or citizen participation in the issues that affect them. Through recognizing these individual leaders, the Prize seeks to inspire other ordinary people to take extraordinary actions to protect the natural world.” Over the 35 years that the Prize has been awarded, there have been more than 220 recipients of the prize.

This year’s prize recipients (representing each of the six inhabited continental regions of the world) are:

  • Andrea Vidaurre—USA: “Andrea Vidaurre’s grassroots leadership persuaded the California Air Resources Board to adopt, in the spring of 2023, two historic transportation regulations that significantly limit trucking and rail emissions. The new regulations—the In-Use Locomotive Rule and the California Advanced Clean Fleets Rule—include the nation’s first emission rule for trains and a path to 100% zero emissions for freight truck sales by 2036. The groundbreaking regulations—a product of Andrea’s policy work and community organizing—will substantially improve air quality for millions of Californians while accelerating the country’s transition to zero-emission vehicles.” (Support/follow: The People’s Collective for Environmental Justice, and Moving Forward Network)
  • Marcel Gomes—Brazil: “Marcel Gomes coordinated a complex, international campaign that directly linked beef from JBS, the world’s largest meatpacking company, to illegal deforestation in Brazil’s most threatened ecosystems. Armed with detailed evidence from his breakthrough investigative report, Marcel and Repórter Brasil worked with partners to pressure global retailers to stop selling the illegally sourced meat, leading six major European supermarket chains in Belgium, France, the Netherlands, and the United Kingdom to indefinitely halt the sale of JBS products in December 2021.” (Support/follow: Mighty Earth, AidEnvironment, Environmental Investigation Agency, and Repórter Brazil; and please sign this petition.)
  • Teresa Vicente—Spain: “Teresa Vicente led a historic, grassroots campaign to save the Mar Menor ecosystem—Europe’s largest saltwater lagoon—from collapse, resulting in the passage of a new law in September 2022 granting the lagoon unique legal rights. Considered to be the most important saltwater coastal lagoon in the western Mediterranean, the once pristine waters of the Mar Menor had become polluted due to mining, rampant development of urban and tourist infrastructure, and, in recent years, intensive agriculture and livestock farming.”
  • Alok Shukla—India: “Alok Shukla led a successful community campaign that saved 445,000 acres of biodiversity-rich forests from 21 planned coal mines in the central Indian state of Chhattisgarh. In July 2022, the government canceled the 21 proposed coal mines in Hasdeo Aranya, whose pristine forests—popularly known as the lungs of Chhattisgarh—are one of the largest intact forest areas in India.” (On Twitter, follow @SHasdeo and @CBARaipur)
  • Murrawah Maroochy Johnson—Australia: “Murrawah Maroochy Johnson blocked development of the Waratah coal mine, which would have accelerated climate change in Queensland, destroyed the nearly 20,000-acre Bimblebox Nature Refuge, added 1.58 billion tons of CO2 to the atmosphere over its lifetime, and threatened Indigenous rights and culture. Murrawah’s case, which overcame a 2023 appeal, set a precedent that enables other First Nations people to challenge coal projects by linking climate change to human and Indigenous rights.” (Support/follow: Youth Verdict)

Click on each recipient’s name to read a longer profile—or watch a brief video—about their remarkable efforts and achievements.

Posts on Goldman Prize winners from previous years:

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April 29, 2024
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If you’re reading this, you’re probably someone who is concerned about the climate crisis. And you might have wondered, “But what can I do about it?” (or “What should I be urging government and business leaders to do about it?”) If so, you’re not alone. These are excellent and frequently asked questions. And answers are out there—but some are more informed, concrete, and constructive than others.

Often, these questions are asked by people who either: A) have been too busy dealing with other responsibilities or activities in their lives to spend much time learning about climate issues, and who genuinely don’t know what the primary causes of and solutions to climate change are, or B) are highly informed about climate issues and are overwhelmed by the wide range of contributing factors and potential solutions, to the point of decision paralysis. Regardless of whether the questions stem from a lack of relevant knowledge or an abundance of knowledge and overwhelm, almost everyone wants to know which climate actions would be the best, most effective uses of their limited time and money.

A small percentage of people who ask “What can I do?” are only asking in a rhetorical way, and they don’t really want answers or plan to do anything. Some folks are so attached to the status quo that they would rather say that “nothing can be done” than consider changing any norms or habits. But we know the situation is not hopeless and we are not helpless. We all have agency to make a difference, and most of us realize that widespread inaction will consign us and future generations of all species to a wretched future.

Fortunately, most people really do care and want to do something (and want our leaders to do more). A study found that most of us wildly underestimate other people’s level of climate concern and their support for climate action. But the vast majority of people in the world—more than 76% of Americans, and more than 86% of people worldwide—are concerned about the climate, approve of pro-climate social norms, and want more political action on climate. (See: 2024 study published in Nature Climate Change, and an article about it in Carbon Brief).

That said, concern, good intentions, pledges, and commitments are not enough. These must be converted into actual action. And we can’t leave it to others (or rely solely on our leaders) to do this for us. There’s no more time for delay. We need all hands on deck now—which brings us back to the “What can I do?” question. I think that the moment after this important question gets posed is the critical juncture where climate progress too often gets stuck. Too many people are not seeing or hearing (or finding) answers that are specific or substantive enough, in the media or online or from peers. Many people don’t have the time, energy, or knowledge base to do this type of deep research or to figure out how to interpret or implement vague or wonky recommendations. That’s why my aim is to provide some clear guidance and direction—nuts-and-bolts information that can help people move forward and turn climate concerns into concrete actions. Thus, I’ve provided a Climate Action Starter Pack (below).

There are so many ways we can make a difference, on our own or as part of a collective effort. Each of us can take actions within our various roles: 1) as citizens, who have the power and responsibility to engage with and speak up to our representatives, governments, and other institutions, 2) as members of our assorted social circles, networks, and communities, including our workplace; and 3) as individuals, family members, and consumers. As I see it, those roles translate into these general categories:

  1. Systemic/Civic Actions
  2. Social/Community Actions
  3. Personal/Household Actions

Arguably, the changes we push for and achieve in those first two areas—influencing and working with others, and demanding policy changes and actions from government, businesses, institutions, and other entities—will have the biggest impacts and are therefore the most necessary. Clearly, one household’s lifestyle changes won’t be enough to change the world or stabilize the climate. However, there is an interplay among all three of these areas, and we should not discount the powerful ripple effects that our personal actions and choices can generate. They can set a needed example for and inspire our peers (people are much more likely to do something if they know someone who has already done it) and they send beneficial demand signals to “the market.” And admittedly, it can be easier or more immediately gratifying to make personal/household changes that are well within our control than to try to shift policies and systems, which requires a sustained, collective effort. Ideally, we can each find a good balance of actions within all of these realms, from macro to micro.

Climate actions and choices can include things To Do and things Not To Do. They can be high-tech or low-tech/no-tech (which is often preferable). And they can be no-cost, low-cost, money-saving, or higher-cost (and high payoff) investments. Many people assume that all climate-smart choices are going to be expensive or complicated or require huge sacrifices. But many of them are none of those things. Some climate actions might require a little thought, effort, or time, but many will save you (and society) money and improve quality of life.

There are literally thousands of things any of us could be doing to mitigate climate change, but it’s not possible for any of us to do all of those things, let alone all at once. All we can do is start somewhere, where we are, and do whatever each of us can do, and then do more when we can. We don’t all need to do the same things, but we do all need to do something, and it makes sense to try to do some of the things that will make the biggest difference.

Climate Action Starter Pack

This guide includes some of the most important climate actions you can take, some of which are also easy and money-saving. This is not an exhaustive list of actions. It’s a set of recommended actions—a menu of options that can help you build your own Climate Action Plan. Many are basic, beginner level actions and some are intermediate (i.e., they might require more time or money).

You may already be doing a number of things that help slow climate change. You might find it motivating to make a list of the things you have done or are doing and check off the suggestions below that you already engage in, and then identify some ways you want to build on those steps.

No one would expect anyone to take every action in this post. I recommend picking 2-3 actions to focus on at first, to make it manageable. Then once you make progress on those, add a couple more. You could set reminders and deadlines for yourself and regularly update your plan. Aim to add more actions each month, quarter, or year. It could be helpful to do this with others in your household or with a group of friends or neighbors, for support and accountability.

Every climate advisor’s list of top actions will look a little different. I have developed these suggestions using a combination of sources, including Project Drawdown’s scientific analysis of top climate solutions, plus the Emergency Brake measures they identified (which are ways to make the deep emissions cuts that are needed immediately), as well as a Swedish study on the most effective individual actions for climate mitigation. And I’ve added my own commentary throughout on other important actions and “low-hanging fruit” (i.e., easy/quick, or free/low-cost choices), and some practical tips (and links) on how to implement the solutions.

I am presenting these suggestions within the three main categories that I mentioned above, but in the reverse order, from micro to macro: Personal/Household, then Social/Community, and then Systemic/Civic actions. However, please feel free to switch up the order and start with the broader systemic or community-level actions first. Or better yet, pick at least two solutions within each of these categories when creating your own Climate Action Plan.

NEW: Download our Climate Action Plan Checklist here. The checklist provides an easy way to keep track of the actions you’ve taken and actions you plan to do. The following section provides a more detailed description of the items on the checklist:

I. Personal/Household Actions (and Choices)

To take actions that make the biggest difference (in terms of climate impact), you could prioritize your actions based on Project Drawdown’s science-based solutions. Two of the most effective, high-impact solutions that they identified through their methodology are related to food: Reduced Food Waste and Plant-Rich DietsThese are some personal actions you can take in those two areas:

  1. Reduce food waste: Refer to the numbered list in our recent Food Waste post.
  2. Shift to a more plant-based diet, i.e., eating less (or no) meat and dairy (a shift which also happens to be good for our health—as well as for the welfare of animals, and for land and water conservation): It’s easy to find delicious recipes online for meatless/vegetarian and dairy-free, vegan dishes, as well as vegetarian and vegan restaurants (those are search categories on Yelp), and plenty of information on protein-rich, plant-based or “plant-forward” diets. I’ve shifted to a mostly vegetarian and increasingly vegan diet. It’s gotten easier to do over time and I don’t feel like I’m depriving myself; I almost never crave meat anymore.

Click here for other top solutions identified by Project Drawdown. One of the other top solutions is Family Planning and Education. (Please check out our new post on women’s organizations and initiatives.)

Drawdown has also identified some “Emergency Brake” measures: “the fastest, largest, lowest-cost climate solutions we can deploy—right now” to make the deep emissions cuts that are needed immediately. Below, I’ve suggested some specific personal actions you can take to effect change within each of the Emergency Brake areas. Some of these actions are easier and cheaper than others; you might put a couple of these in Phase II of your Action Plan, and many are best addressed through Systemic/Civic actions (which appear later in this post):

  1. Reduce deforestation: Only buy paper products (e.g., toilet paper, printing paper) that are FSC-certified or 100% recycled content, and reduce your use of disposable paper towels and napkins by using sponges/rags and washable cloth napkins. Only buy wood products (e.g., lumber, furniture, etc.) that are FSC-certified or reclaimed or used. Also, avoid products that contain palm oil (or non-organic soy, which is often grown in the Amazon region), when possible; palm oil and soy plantations—along with cattle grazing—are some of the primary drivers of global deforestation.
  2. Reduce potent, short-lived greenhouse pollutants such as nitrous oxide, “black carbon”/soot, and methane: Don’t use synthetic/chemical fertilizers and pesticides (which produce high levels of nitrous oxide), and do buy or grow organic food. Replace gas-powered lawn equipment (e.g., mowers and leaf blowers) with battery/electric equipment (or even better, reduce or eliminate your need to mow by replacing your grass lawn with native groundcovers or a garden, and “leave the leaves” or use them as mulch on your plants); and avoid using vehicles fueled by diesel and avoid burning wood (and charcoal) as much as possible (because these contribute to “black carbon” emissions). And if/when you can, switch from “natural gas” (methane) to electric equipment and appliances (e.g., stoves, furnaces).
  3. Increase energy and fuel efficiency: Switch to highly energy-efficient equipment and appliances (e.g., Energy Star certified), which sometimes qualify for utility rebates or tax credits/deductions; weatherize/insulate your home, and adopt energy-saving habits (note: conserving water also helps save energy). To avoid excessive energy consumption, also avoid buying cryptocurrency/bitcoin or using unnecessary AI tools. Choose fuel-efficient vehicles (non-oversized vehicles that ideally are electric or hybrid; or electric bicycles and scooters/motorcycles)—or better yet, drive less overall, e.g., telecommute or reduce your commute distance, ride a bike, walk, take mass transit, or carpool.
  4. Reduce all types of waste: Reduce your purchases of new materials/products, and reduce material and packaging waste (as well as food waste—see above). Always reduce first (i.e., don’t buy what you don’t need), then reuse/repair what you have, and buy used or salvaged items or borrow/rent items when you can. (Note: There are local Buy Nothing groups all over, where people give their used items away for free, and some places have a “Library of Things” or “Tool Library” or other venues where sharable items can be loaned or rented out). Lastly, recycle what you can. But be aware that many things are not readily recyclable, most plastics never actually get recycled and are shipped overseas, and recycling requires energy, plus melting down some materials—like plastics—can produce toxic emissions. It’s particularly important to avoid buying new plastic items (especially single-use, disposable items and all PVC items) and products with plastic packaging, as much as you can; I know this one isn’t easy, since plastic is everywhere. Plastics are made from toxic petrochemicals (fossil fuels) and they are a massive threat to environmental and public health, as well as the climate.

I want to expand on #4. I think it’s accurate to say that Buying Less Stuff is one of the most important things that all of us can do. In America, in particular, we are constantly pushed to buy, buy, buy—by companies and their advertisers, and also by our peers (or just from feeling like our social status depends on “keeping up with the Joneses”). People in the U.S. consume much more, on average, than people in any other country. The ultra-wealthy consume the most by far, but most middle-class Americans also buy way more than we need. Our materialism and gross over-consumption greatly affect our climate and cause the degradation of all aspects of our environment. A study published in the Journal of Industrial Ecology found that, globally, the stuff we consume (buy) is responsible for up to 60% of global greenhouse gas emissions and between 50 and 80% of total land, material, and water use. Everything that’s made has its own carbon footprint (“embodied energy”) and environmental impacts—throughout each stage of its lifecycle, from raw materials extraction through manufacturing and use and finally disposal, via landfill or incineration (neither of which makes anything go “away”—it just ends up in our air or soil and water).

Using a different methodology than Project Drawdown, an earlier study from Sweden— which specifically focused on identifying the most effective individual actions for climate mitigationfound that the choices that will most affect your own contributions to climate change are:

  • how many kids you have (particularly if you live in a high-income, high-consumption, high-waste country like the U.S.)—This decision has a much bigger climate impact than any other we can make as individuals.
  • how much (how often and how far) you drive and fly;
  • how much energy you use in your home and how much of the energy you/your utility company use is from clean, renewable sources vs. dirty sources [Note: If your utility does not use much renewable energy yet, they might offer a program you can sign up and pay for that helps support the development of renewable energy projects in your region, an option that would be considerably less expensive than adding solar panels to your own home, though that’s also a great solution and investment if you have the means, as is getting a highly efficient heating/cooling system, e.g., a “heat pump”];
  • how fuel-efficient your vehicle (or the vehicle you are driven in) is; and
  • how much meat you eat.

Many of those synchronize nicely with Project Drawdown’s top 5-10 solutions, even though Drawdown’s are not focused only on personal, individual-level actions. For more details on the Swedish study’s findings, click here (and scroll down to Part II of that post).

The final suggestion I would add to this list of Personal Actions is to think about which particular sectors or types of climate solutions you are most interested in or passionate about. Project Drawdown breaks the sectors down into: Electricity; Food, Agriculture, and Land Use; Industry; Transportation; Buildings; Land (Carbon) Sinks; Coastal and Ocean (Carbon) Sinks; Engineered Carbon Sinks; and Health and Education. You also might want to think about the skills, strengths, and resources you have that you can apply to the climate effort. Check out Ayana Elizabeth Johnson’s Climate Action Venn Diagram (and her TED talk) to jump-start your brainstorming. And OneGreenThing offers a free, quick “Service Superpower Assessment” quiz to enable you identify the “service type that best suits your personality.” Tools like these could help you pinpoint specific actions or approaches that are a good match for you and your unique set of interests and attributes.

Also check out the Climate Action Resources section towards the end of this post for links to tools and resources that provide additional guidance on taking climate actions.

II. Social/Community Actions

These are some ways to engage socially and as a member of your various social circles, networks, and communities (online and off), to help contribute towards cultural shifts:

  1. Follow and plug into one or more of the many climate groups or initiatives that already exist. (This suggestion also has relevance to the Personal and Systemic categories of actions.) Find some climate organizations that have a strategy or tone that resonates with you or that seem like a good match for your particular interests. Follow a few groups, and then join or support at least one group—it could be national, international, or local. (Also support youth and girls’ education initiatives, family planning initiatives, and women’s rights groups—in your country and worldwide.) In addition, start following and reading some fact-based climate information/news outlets: see the Climate Resources list at the end of our previous post, and go to the last section of this post for links to some Climate Action Groups, Apps, Newsletters, and Books.
  2. Share climate information from the organizations and media you follow, with your friends and social networks online or off. Or you could start by sharing some of the information provided in this post. Also talk about and share your own climate concerns and feelings with your friends and family; in addition to alleviating some of the weight of those feelings, expressing them will help let others know they aren’t alone (since most of us underestimate other people’s level of concern). You could also share some of the actions you’re taking and offer encouragement and support for others to take their own actions.
  3. Find (or establish) a climate or environmental group in your community—at your school, workplace, place of worship, and/or in your neighborhood or town. (If you decide to start one, you might consider starting it as Book+Action Group. See book suggestions towards the end of this post.) To identify specific actions to implement with your group, you could refer to the actions suggested in the Personal/Household and Systemic/Civic sections of this post, and discuss ways to apply a few of those within your group or community.
  4. “Make your job a climate job” or find ways to incorporate climate criteria and actions into the company/organization you work for: Check out Project Drawdown’s Job Function Action Guides for various types of employee roles and positions. (Also, IT specialists, therapists, and architects can find job guides in this Climate Action Resource Library.)
  5. Food-based solutions: Ask owners/managers of local grocery stores and restaurants (and your school or workplace cafeteria program, if applicable) what they do with their excess food, and ask them to donate their extra produce or other items nearing their expiration dates to local food pantries (or to sell them to overstock stores). Ask your local restaurants (and cafeterias) to offer more non-meat options (and to use more local and organic ingredients). Cafeterias could do “meatless Mondays” (or even go meatless every other day or always); I would also suggest that they should try to procure organic (and locally-grown) foods. And lastly, when hosting a group or having a party, serve plant-based (vegetarian and vegan) foods. Or host a potluck where everyone brings some plant-based (and/or homegrown, locally-grown or organic) foods to share. And if you have a lot of food left over at the end, send leftovers home with any of the guests that can use them. If you don’t have many food containers you can give away, you could ask people to bring some of their own.

And last but definitely not least

III. Systemic/Civic Actions

The following are some of the most vital and influential actions you can take—pushing for societal, institutional, and systems-level shifts:

  1. VOTE for climate champions (and pro-democracy champions) at all levels of government: local, state, and national. Vote out climate deniers and “fossil fools.” Even if you don’t do any of the other things listed in this post, please vote in every election. It’s the least any of us can do. To go a little further, inform your friends about campaigns, candidates, and ballot issues. And regularly encourage people (especially young people and fellow enviros) to register to vote, to check their registration status (and their state’s voter ID requirements), and to vote. Additionally, if you are able to, support or volunteer with a campaign, or a voting/election group that helps with voter registration or Get Out the Vote efforts, or volunteer as a poll worker.
  2. Move your accounts out of the big banks (which include Chase, Citi, Bank of America, and Wells Fargo—for those of us in the U.S.), where your money is used to fund oil and gas projects (among other unsavory projects). Move your money into more socially and environmentally responsible banks (e.g., local credit unions or “fossil-free” banks). And if your employer offers a 401k or pension program (or you have your own stock-based investment accounts), find out whether they include fossil fuel company stocks; switch to, or ask that your employer offers, a fossil-free, socially responsible investment fund.
  3. Participate in actions organized by the climate organizations you follow. Actions could be online (e.g. signing on to petitions and letters to your representatives or others in positions of power) or offline (e.g., calling your representatives, or boycotting certain companies) as well as in-person/direct actions (e.g., sit-ins, marches, protests; or meeting with your representatives). If you’re not seeing good, current petitions or letters to sign onto, directly contact your federal, state, and local representatives and officials to demand that they urgently support, create, and enforce policies that treat climate destabilization as the emergency that it is, through executive and legislative actions that: end fossil fuel subsidies, stop permitting new fossil fuel infrastructure (including “natural gas” and petrochemical/plastics infrastructure), commit to >95% renewable energy goals and the rapid phase-out of fossil fuel use, and develop (and incentivize the development) of public and private renewable energy projects. I like to remind my government reps that the primary purpose of government is to protect the health, safety, and welfare of the public for the common good. You can also urge your county to create a Community Choice Energy program, and pressure your electric utility company to rapidly make the transition to clean, renewable energy (solar, wind, no-dam hydro).
  4. Send messages and comments to media/news outlets (national & local), asking them to report more on climate change and climate solutions, and asking reporters to regularly interview climate scientists and experts who can accurately connect the dots between worsening “natural” disasters or extreme weather events and our destabilized, rapidly changing climate. (See the Resources and News Media Contact Info at End Climate Silence.) You can also submit Letters to the Editor to your newspapers, about the climate crisis and solutions.
  5. Endorse the Fossil Fuel Non-Proliferation Treaty, and call on your City and national government to endorse it.

To address the two top food-related solutions identified by Project Drawdown, in a systems context:

  1. Reduce food waste: See the first section of our post on How to Reduce Food Waste (paragraphs 4-6) for some actions that focus on the systemic aspects of this problem. Also, if your city/county doesn’t have a local compost collection program (for food scraps and yard waste), ask them to start one.
  2. Reduce meat consumption: Ask your state or city governments and school district to institute policies requiring the provision of non-meat options in government and school cafeterias and through their food vendors. I would also suggest that they should try to procure organic (and locally grown) foods.

As for Project Drawdown’s Emergency Brake measures: There are many ways to address these systemically, only a few of which I’ll mention here. You might pick one or two of these for your initial Action Plan, and add others to later phases:

  1. Reduce deforestation: Send letters/sign petitions to federal and state government agencies and officials, asking them to stop allowing the clear-cutting of large forest areas, and to ban further logging in the few remaining old-growth and mature forests; ask the state, local, and/or federal government to amend their purchasing policies to specify FSC-certified wood products and 100% recycled-content and/or FSC-certified paper products. Also ask lumber and home improvement stores to sell FSC-certified lumber and other types of wood products, and ask other retailers (e.g., office supply and grocery stores) to offer and promote 100% recycled (or FSC-certified) paper products.
  2. Reduce methane, nitrous oxide, and “black carbon” emissions: Tell your federal and state representatives to require and enforce the plugging of all abandoned wells and methane leaks; to support laws and programs that drastically reduce farmers’ use of nitrous-oxide-producing fertilizers and pesticides (and support/incentivize the transition to organic farming); and to incentivize the phase-out of heavy-duty/commercial diesel trucks in favor of electric or low-emissions trucks. You could also ask your city or state to phase out and eventually ban the sale or use of gas-powered lawn equipment, at least on public properties (something that more and more communities are doing).
  3. Increase energy and fuel efficiency: Ask your representatives (or at your least your workplace) to require that all non-essential lights and equipment be turned off in buildings after hours, and to push for high-efficiency requirements in your state building code, as well as to regulate or rein in cryptocurrency/bitcoin “mining” and unnecessary uses of AI, which are creating enormous energy demands for server/data centers. Also, ask your state and city representatives to replace vehicles in their fleets (including school buses) with electric or fuel-efficient/low-emissions vehicles, and ask your City Council or County officials to add more bike paths/lanes and bike racks throughout your area.
  4. Reduce all types of waste: Tell your federal, state, and local representatives to support zero-waste programs and procurement specifications within their agencies, with an emphasis on source reduction (including packaging and plastics reduction) and a ban on (or rapid phase-out of) single-use, disposable products, particularly plastic products.

NEW: Download our Climate Action Plan Checklist here. It provides a summarized version of the action items detailed above.

If you would like professional assistance with creating a customized Climate Action Plan of the top actions for your household, workplace, or company/organization or other group, or if you want more prescriptive, step by step instructions or guidance on exactly how you can implement the strategies in your plan, I am a climate and sustainability advisor and I offer those services.

 

One’s climate actions and choices become more obvious and automatic as one’s climate/environmental ethic or mindset deepens. Gradually, you find yourself looking at almost everything you do and choose through a climate (and planetary health) lens. This doesn’t need to be seen as a burden; it is simply living within the reality of ecological limits. We already apply all sorts of other filters to our decisions (e.g., cost, aesthetics, convenience). It’s important to include climate and environmental considerations, as well, and shift towards prioritizing those over less consequential considerations.

There is no definitive, one-size-fits-all list of the climate actions that each of us should take. This Climate Action Starter Pack serves as a general primer and includes a bunch of actions that most people can take. I also recommend taking a look at some of these Climate Action Resources, for other ideas and ways to get or stay engaged.

Climate Action Resources

The following are links to existing climate action groups, articles and guides, newsletters, apps, and books that might help you put your climate action plans into practice.

Climate Action Groups

These essentially function as support/action groups:

To find other types of group-based activities within climate organizations, see our larger list of Climate Organizations and peruse some of those groups’ websites.

Climate Action Articles and Guides

Climate Action Newsletters

Climate Action Apps

Climate Action Books

For lists of other books (plus films and videos) related to climate and other environmental topics, click here.

 

Again, if you would like professional assistance with creating a customized Climate Action Plan of the top actions for your household, workplace, company/organization or other group, or if you want more prescriptive, step by step instructions or guidance on exactly how you can implement the strategies in your plan, I am a climate and sustainability advisor and I offer those services.

In the future, I also plan to post about the most advanced, transformative actions you can take for the climate: the biggest steps that can help change the system, and new models of living that allow you to “opt out” of or become more independent of the fossil fuel-fueled system we live in.

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April 8, 2024
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