Countdown to Earth Day 2016: #21 Divest from Fossil Fuels

So you’ve already signed A Pagan Community Statement on the Environment, and you don’t want Earth Day (April 22) to go by unobserved. What can you do? Over the next 21 days, I will be offering practical and productive suggestions for how you can honor the Earth this Earth Day.

It’s no secret the effect that the burning of fossil fuels is having on the ecosystem.

When we think about what we can do, we have been trained to think about reducing our own consumption: buying fuel efficient cars, riding a bike and walking, using public transportation, eating local, eating lower on the food chain, programing our thermostats, insulating our homes, wearing our stuff out before throwing it out or trading it in.

These are all good things that we should do. But here’s the catch … We need system-level change and individuals consumers do not have the power to change the system.

The system is driven by big money.  So the way to change the system is to take away the money.  One thing you can do to honor the Earth this Earth Day is to support divestment from fossil fuels.  This means demanding that large organizations which we support — like businesses, universities, churches, employers with retirement funds, etc. — no longer invest their money in the fossil fuel industry, and instead invest their money in ecologically responsible ways. Not only does divestment take money away from the fossil fuel industry, but it encourages the development of ecologically sustainable industries.

Here’s what you can do:

1. Click on this link to gofossilfree.org.
2. Click on your country.
3. If you’re in the U.S., click “Find a Campaign”.
4. A map will come up, click on a location close to where you live. As the map zooms in, continue to click until you find a local campaign to support.
5. Follow the instructions to support a local campaign to divest from fossil fuels

Or you can start your own campaign on the same site!