Nope.
Exxon signals record quarterly profit from oil and gas prices
LOL/Sob, meanwhile folks who hate Biden hold Biden responsible for corporate planet-killing gas-price-raising greed. Biden did this? Nope.
Here’s what we can actually do to defeat our Climate Crisis.
Care about our climate crisis? You are not alone. Some comments, with sources, from a helpful Reddit thread:
“UN warns Earth ‘firmly on track toward an unlivable world’
The missing piece is actually active volunteers. We need more.
We tend to overestimate how many of us are contacting our lawmakers on climate. We’re finally starting to correct for that.
If you’re an American who cares about climate change, you can easily get monthly reminders to call Congress.
Over 20% of global emissions are covered by a carbon price, some at rates that actually matter. We need volunteers around the world acting to increase the magnitude, breadth, and likelihood of passage of carbon pricing. The evidence clearly shows that lobbing works, and you don’t need a lot of money to be effective.
More Comments:
Yet temperatures have already increased by over 1.1C (2F) since pre-industrial times, resulting in measurable increases in disasters such flash floods, extreme heat, more intense hurricanes and longer-burning wildfires, putting human lives in danger and costing governments hundreds of billions of dollars to confront.
Interestingly, people already care, they just don’t know what to do / feel like they are alone. But the truth is, a record number of us are alarmed about climate change, and more and more are contacting Congress regularly. What’s more, is this type of lobbying is starting to pay off. That’s why NASA climatologist and climate activist Dr. James Hansen recommends becoming an active volunteer with this group as the most important thing an individual can do on climate change.
Kurzgesagt just put out their new video on this exact topic.
They also made sure to call out the shift of big-energy to the “too late, so don’t do anything” messaging.
There’s a reason for that. But it’s not true. If you really want to tackle the problem effectively, here’s what I’d recommend:
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Join Citizens’ Climate Lobby and CCL Community. Be sure to fill out your CCL Community profile so you can be contacted with opportunities that interest you.
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Get in touch with your local chapter leader (there are chapters all over the world) and find out how you can best leverage your time, skills, and connections to create the political world for a livable climate. The easiest way to connect with your chapter leader is at the monthly meeting. Check your email to make sure you don’t miss it. 😉
Here are some things I’ve done with the training:
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Talked with friends and family about a carbon tax. I’ve convinced several that a carbon tax is a good idea. I’ve convinced a few to start volunteering for carbon taxes. 34% of Americans would be willing to volunteer for an organization to convince elected officials to act on climate change. If you feel like you’re up against a wall in your own political conversations, here’s some short trainings on how to have better political conversations. The IPCC has been clear that carbon pricing is necessary, and talking about climate change has been scientifically shown to be effective at increasing policy support.
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It took a few tries, but I published a Letter to the Editor to the largest local paper in my area espousing the need for and benefits of a carbon tax. Maybe you don’t read LTEs, but Congress does.
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Joined several organized call-in days asking Congress to take climate change seriously and pass Carbon Fee & Dividend before joining the monthly call campaign. These phone calls work, but it will take at least 100 of us per district to pass a U.S. bill.
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Wrote to my favorite podcast about carbon taxes asking them to talk about the scientific and economic consensus on their show. When nothing happened, I asked some fellow listeners to write, too. Eventually they released this episode (and this blog post) lauding the benefits of carbon taxes.
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Written literally dozens of letters to my Rep and Senators over the last few years asking them to support Carbon Fee & Dividend. I’ve seen their responses change over the years, too, so I suspect it’s working (in fairness, I’m not the only one, of course). Over 90% of members of Congress are swayed by contact from constituents.
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Hosted or co-hosted 4 letter-writing parties so that I could invite people I know to take meaningful and effective action on climate change.
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At my request, 5 businesses and 2 non-profits have signed Influencer’s Letters to Congress calling for Carbon Fee & Dividend.
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Recruited a friend to help me write a municipal Resolution for our municipality to publicly support Carbon Fee & Dividend. It took a lot of hard work recruiting volunteers from all over the city, sometimes meeting 2-3 times with the same Council member, but eventually it passed unanimously. Over 100 municipalities have passed similar Resolutions in support of Carbon Fee & Dividend that call on Congress to pass the legislation.
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Tabled at several events, usually collecting letters from constituents to their members of Congress
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Started a Meetup in my area to help recruit and train more volunteers who are interested in making this dream a reality. The group now has hundreds of members. I’ve invited on several new co-leaders who are doing all the work at this point.
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It may sound silly, but I invited all my Facebook friends to “like” (and by default, follow) CCL on Facebook. Research shows 55% of those who engage with a cause on social media also take additional action.
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Gave two presentations to groups of ~20 or so on Carbon Fee & Dividend and why it’s a good idea that we should all be advocating for. I arranged these presentations myself.
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Co-hosted two screenings of Season 2, Episode 7 of Years of Living Dangerously “Safe Passage”
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Attended two meetings in my Representatives’ home office to discuss Carbon Fee & Dividend and try to get their support.
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Created cool charts to show how our lobbying is progressing, how our recruiting is progressing, and where we still need the most help
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Recruited hundreds of Redditors to join me
It may be that at least some of these things are having an impact. Just eight years ago, only 30% of Americans supported a carbon tax. Now, it’s an overwhelming majority — and that does actually matter for passing a bill. We are so obviously closer than we were when I started.
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