What can one person do about climate change?

Climate change is an overwhelming problem, and ultimately the solution must be global. There is no way around this; no amount of you and me changing lightbulbs or eating less meat is going to slow global warming unless everyone is doing the same thing. It’s like standing in front of a speeding freight train; the train will squash you like a bug and not slow in the slightest.

Knowing this, it’s very easy to give in to despair – and do nothing. That, however, is not morally acceptable and it will also do nothing to stop the runaway train of global warming. So what can you do? Is there anything that will make a difference?

The answer is yes, there are many things you can do that will make a difference. Some make a very minuscule difference, but if done by enough people add up to a very big difference. These things you do because they are the right thing to do and because they set a good example for others. Humans are social beings; if enough people do, or do not do, something, then that thing becomes the socially acceptable thing to do or not do. You could be the person who pushes us over the tipping point to widespread social change. You could be that butterfly that flaps its wings and stops the hurricane.

There are also larger actions you can – and should – take. All of us need to get involved. Here are some of the small and large things other people are doing to stop global warming. Note that some of them are illegal, some are dangerous, and some have not yet happened but will. I am not recommending violent action, simply saying that it is inevitable as awareness of climate change grows and some people become angry or despairing.

Low-risk action

• Sign an Internet petition, preferably mine urging the Maldives to charge Rex Tillerson with crimes against humanity. This is a perfect example of a small, risk-free action (for you, not Rex) that could lead to big results.
• Join a rally. Unfortunately, the predators who run the world have figured out that they can safely ignore rallies. They know we will go home and complain, but we won’t come back with pitchforks.
• Make common cause. All environmental and social justice organizations should be very concerned about global warming – and should be working together to get action. They are not. The churches should be in there, too. If you are a member of any of these, convince the Executive Director, minister, or whoever is in charge to insist upon this. If they won’t, find a charity or church that cares about your children.
• Take personal actions that set an example. Change those lightbulbs, walk places, insulate your house, grow a garden, go meatless on Monday, and so on. You’ll want to get used to these things anyway for when the price of oil goes up.
• Donate to me. This supports my blog, my Inconvenient Truth and Way Home presentations, my climate change radio show, and lots more actions. When there’s enough money, there will be TV ads, a lawsuit against the Canadian government, and more.

Civil disobedience and beyond

NOTE: Once again, I am not advocating these actions. They are things that people have done or will do as anger and despair grows. All are illegal, but then civil disobedience has always been made illegal by those in power to prevent challenges to their authority. The latest attempt to quell disobedience is to label it terrorism and charge you accordingly. All but the first of these go well past civil disobedience, however.

• Torch a Hummer. Some folks in Germany have been torching luxury cars. They figured out a way to put firestarter briquettes under the cars so that by the time the flames are visible, they are long gone.
• Blow up a gas or oil pipeline. Potentially very dangerous to the bomber, pipeline workers, and innocent bystanders. That hasn’t stopped someone.
• Assassinate an oil executive. Again, I am NOT saying to do this. But as Jim Kunstler has pointed out, the rich in the developed nations live awfully close to the people they are screwing over, making blowback tempting and simple. And let’s not forget the American anthrax attacks.
• There are lots more, and some are terrifying. Imagine someone blowing up a Liquefied Natural Gas tanker; that could take out a big chunk of Los Angeles. Bombing a Saudi oil refinery would take down the U.S. and world economy overnight.

Lots of innocent people are going to suffer and die because of climate change, primarily in developing countries at first. Not all of them are going to go quietly so we can keep enjoying our gas-guzzling lifestyle; there will be blowback. As the President of Maldives recently said:

Some might prefer us to suffer in silence but today we have decided to speak. And so I make this pledge today: We will not die quietly.