As I write this (to make a deadline) it is too early to say who won the presidency and by how much. Many climate activists are feeling discouraged, however, and wondering what to do now. Here are some suggestions from Grist, Tree Hugger, E Magazine and even the Department of Energy! (The three ecology news consolidators are very worthwhile and are free.)
First, no matter who wins or which party controls, there are plenty of things environmentalists can do. Nathanael Johnson lays possible scenarios in this article, “The Foreseeable Future.” We can certainly keep on demonstrating. Greta Thunberg and her followers have re-started the Friday climate action school strikes despite the COVID-19 threat. Other organizations will be responding with rallies and marches to support climate action legislation. Keep informed and join in. A good source of Columbus information is Simply Living, where you can sign up for a weekly newsletter or just check the calendar of events.
You can lobby your legislators and the government agencies. Province V of the Episcopal Church has just finished an online class in how to be an activist. Videos of the class and some of the materials are available online at the Political Theology site.
You can join organizations that lobby for creation care, including the Creation Care ministry of the Episcopal Church, and the many, many member organization that work to protect the natural world, Green Dreamer has an expanded list of many environmental organizations. You can check out their effectiveness on Charity Navigator.
You can just keep on living a sustainable life and telling others about it. Lloyd Alter argues that individual choices have a huge impact on pollution and climate change. We need to stop thinking “What difference does my commitment make?” and realize that it can make a difference, especially if we can convince others to limit their consumption, too. And sustainable living doesn’t need to be dour and serious. Check out this new book, The Art of Frugal Hedonism.
There are a few easy ways to fight climate change and pollution as well. Free the Ocean gives you a trivia a question every day. Each time you answer you fund the removal of a piece of plastic from the ocean. Ecosia is a search engine that plants trees. Every 45 searches you do on Ecosia pays for planting a tree for reforestation. Most of the main browsers have widgets for Ecosia that you can install to make it your default search engine.
And, finally, since transportation is one of the biggest contributors to greenhouse gases, consider changing how you get from place to place. Can you walk? Can you bike? Can you take the bus? And if you must drive, how about an electric car? Even the Republican-led Department of Energy thinks electric cars are a great idea.
You can find this and all the Creation Care blogs for the church website I have written at a consolidating blog I have created: ststephenscreationcare.blogspot.com
Thanks for your interest in caring for God’s creation!
