Paris Was Always Just the Beginning — Here’s How Everyday People Can Help On Climate
The Paris Agreement, government, the news, and naysayers…would have you think that we’re all waiting on policy and industry in order to avert drastic climate change. But even the architects of the Paris Agreement have always said that the agreement alone was only part of the solution.
The Climate Movement’s slogan is “To Change Everything It Takes Everyone.” And let me tell ya, we’re doing plenty on our own to contribute to the problem and tear down the ecosystems that manage and maintain our climate.
I’ve even seen likeminded, well-intended people miss the connection between their everyday actions and impact on the climate.
I can’t remember a time when the environment and climate change weren’t in my top concerns. It’s something that I’ve embedded into everyday decision making and as a communicator, over the years have thought a lot about and experimented with how to communicate with others in a way that changes their perceptions and behavior.
So if this issue really matters to you, here are systemic changes that you can make that also enable you as an individual, to effect change that is much greater than yourself.
Ready? Together, let’s help tip the scales on climate:
#1: Stop Making Trash
You, me, we need to talk…about this: https://munionthis.files.wordpress.com/2014/08/tumblr_mv7ixpjdvl1sr4w0lo1_500.jpg?w=1000
There very likely isn’t a kid on this earth who wasn’t lectured about waste by their parents. And as adults we continue to understand this concept by saving “the good stuff” for special occasions, squeezing every drop out of bottles and tubes, taking home leftovers, and determining what to trim from our budgets so that we can make that big purchase. — Well the environment is no different.
Every object that we touch requires using precious, limited resources from the earth. Some are even more precious than others — like old growth trees, fisheries, rare earth minerals (hello mobile phones), land, fresh water….
When these resoures are removed from nature it also causes problems — it creates imbalances where the resources came from. AND in addition to using up precious resources, anytime something is made — carbon is emitted into the atmosphere.
If you’ve ever heard the slogan “Reduce, reuse, recycle”…this is why reduce comes first. Our society has emphasized recycle or “use stuff made from supposedly less harmless materials”, but our impact on the environment all starts with the MAKING of STUFF.
Looking to government to accelerate the use of renewable energy and limit carbon emissions from polluters is only one big piece of the climate change puzzle.
Have you recently asked a foreign visitor to the U.S. what they think? A very common topic is how much waste there is in America. The plastic “to go” containers, disposable coffee cups/cups for water at the office, bags, extra napkins, disposable chop sticks!?, packaging (holy dry cleaners Batman!), etc. etc. that are used on a daily basis? Nevermind the latest thing that we don’t really need: gadget, cheapie promotional item, extra this or that, that permeate our daily lives… The amount of waste that comes our way is inundating.
All of this requires precious resources from the environment that become part of a complex supply chain that requires harvesting the materials, taking them to often multiple facilities, making it into “stuff”, sending them to another place where everything gets assembled, and then transport and delivery to us.
Every step along the way produces carbon emissions that enter the atmosphere. Double. Whammy.
Those cloth bags, reusable coffee containers…that’s what this is about. I often even take a plate or mug from the office to the store to pickup some daily caffeine or lunch — anything to avoid creating waste.
These precious resources are way too valuable to become our trash. And we can’t afford the carbon emissions either. If everyone started paying attention to what they use with a goal of creating minimal trash — we’d make a nice dent in the problem in the U.S.
#2: Take Power Into Your Own Hands
In some states, like New York, it’s the customer that decides how the power that fuels their home or office, is produced. That means that you get to choose whether the lights in your house are powered by fossil fuels like coal, or by renewable energies like wind and solar.
It takes two companies to get power to your home. Energy Service Companies generate the power, while your Energy Delivery Company is the one who delivers it and is usually the one who sends you your electricity bill.
To change to energy that comes from renewable sources and thus does not contribute carbon emissions to the atmosphere, check your state’s status here. You will then want to choose a service company that is truly using 100% renewable energy sources. In a lot of cases you can make the switch directly through the service company or by calling your delivery company.
BE CAREFUL — There is misleading marketing out there by some industries who like to claim that their energy sources are “renewable” — but they are really greenwashing. So you have to look into the actual energy portfolio to see what sources the company uses and how much of the energy generated actually comes from them.
Some companies misrepresent natural gas. Natural gas and bio-energy (energy created from burning trees and other materials) are NOT renewable energy forms under the terms needed to combat climate change. These sources still emit carbon, while wind and solar do not. Clean Choice Energy is one company that produces 100% of the power that it generates from wind and solar. This is what you want to see when choosing your energy service provider.
When you choose renewable energy, you’re also sending a signal to the market that consumer demand is increasing. About thirty states allow customers to choose where their electricity comes from — if a fraction of the people and companies that live and operate in each state switched to renewable that would demonstrate a significant shift in the market and set off a chain of events that foster the transition. If everyone made the shift — we’d be well on our way to becoming a country that relies on renewables instead of fossil fuel.
#3: Force companies to change
We can literally influence companies to change their habits. Customers complain to companies about all kinds of things all of the time, and we see them respond. It doesn’t matter if that complaint is about wait times, the poor-fitting lid to a bottle, or something ethical.
For example, Anthropologie told me that they give tissue paper with every purchase now because people saw it and kept asking for it every time they bought something. In fact, some people complain if the store is out of their favorite pattern! (Tissue paper is supposed to be used at clothing stores to protect silk from rubbing against other garments, not because it looks pretty.) Imagine if enough people were vocal about ethical concerns, like NOT giving out tissue paper with every purchase.
So be vocal on these issues as often as possible. I battle companies over waste and animal cruelty every chance that I get:
I constantly talk with Starbucks managers about their lack of reusable mugs. In Texas I ended-up speaking with the manager (who oversaw all of the restaurants in the airport) about all of the disposable plates and plasticware they tried to give me for an egg croissant. I wrote BCBG and let them know that I haven’t shopped with them since the day I was in their store 4 years ago and saw racks and racks of real rabbit fur shawls on clearance — that no one was buying and were headed for the dumpster. And that I can’t bring myself to buy anything from them again until they stop carrying fur. I contacted a milk company to ask them about their process for mating their cows….
I call companies when they send me a small item in a big box and let them know that I want it in a small plastic bag and that I base my purchase decisions on packaging because waste makes me feel guilty. (Yes, the small plastic bag is the better option environmentally.) When it’s something they can solve for me the individual — I immediately see change. When large numbers of people complain, we eventually see large scale change.
Also, the explosion in popularity of brands like Burt’s Bees, Ben and Jerry’s, Method cleaning products, etc. have led to major conglomerates scooping-up many hot brands that are doing business differently.
But while the mainstream business world sees that some socially responsible companies are doing well financially, they actually have no idea how much business they themselves are losing because they aren’t socially responsible.
So be vocal, and let them know that you wish you could buy their x, y, or z but can’t bring yourself to because they aren’t doing things right. Many years ago this kind of action was why companies like GAP made a change from sweatshop labor to creating strict guidelines for the factories it hires for manufacturing.
#4: Create Change With Your Shopping Habits
You probably already know about buying local and organic versus conventional. Maybe you look for recycled content in things like toilet paper and trash bags, because it doesn’t make sense to chop down new trees and dig-up more oil for these things when there’s plenty to be recycled.
But there’s also an entire movement within business that’s working to “benefit society as well as their shareholders,” AKA the B Corporation movement. Companies that receive B Corporation certification must meet rigorous standards of social and environmental performance, accountability, and transparency.
Swap out products that you buy from institutional brands to companies that have earned B Corp status — for example — used books from Better World Books instead of Amazon, tea from Numi or Runa, or rice, quinoa, and chocolate from Alter Eco.
B Corps aren’t the only companies striving to do business better, as not every company of this type seeks out the certification. So research the companies that you regularly purchase goods from and support the brands that are doing the right thing or doing better by the environment and society than their peers. And know that just because a company refers to itself as a “conscious brand” — does not mean that they actually are or that they even know what they’re doing.
#5: Create New Norms
A decade or so ago the entire country seemed to know to cut the plastic rings that hold a six-pack together so that if they end-up in nature, no unfortunate animal would become strangled or otherwise harmed. It’s hard to know exactly how this became a norm, but what we do know is that peers influence one another and that people naturally gravitate towards what they perceive to be common behavior.
Whenever you adopt a habit that helps minimize impact on the environment share it in conversations — people are listening and do adopt behaviors they see and hear others taking. In fact, OPower, an energy usage monitoring company that encourages efficiency, relies on this psychological behavior. Users are able to compare their energy footprint to that of households around them. By getting to see this information, people adjust their own behavior to whatever the common level of energy usage appears to be.
Adopt this knowledge to one habit that would make a worthwhile difference in our daily contribution to climate change — (see #1: stop making trash.) Every purchase, every meal, every transaction — the materials that go into it require energy to produce, and depletes resources from the natural environment — even for items that are advertised as compostable or recycled.
This is a great opportunity to create a new norm. When you’re offered a bag, fork, napkins, that sleeve for your coffee cup, or other disposable items — think about whether you actually need it. If you don’t, refuse them and tell the person “I don’t want to waste it.” Saying these magical words gets the other person to view those materials differently and to themselves consider the same next time they’re offered something similar that they might not need.
Avoid getting takeout — all of those ‘to go’ containers are a travesty, eat AT the restaurant instead — and be a little social with the people sitting next to you while you’re at it.
When you consider OPower’s model and how successful they’ve been, the more people see others saying “no thanks” to excess waste the more the circle grows and this becomes a new norm.
#6: Invest In the World You Want to See
What’s in your retirement investment portfolio? Do those investments support business as usual like fossil fuels? Does it have renewable energy company stock? What about socially responsible companies?
Sometimes the harmful things that we’re contributing to aren’t even obvious to us. At the same time, these newer emerging ideas need financial investment in the earlier stages in order to thrive. But renewable energy isn’t even an “emerging idea” anymore, it’s growth is only expected to continue catapulting from here. If you tweeted or Facebooked anything about #NDPL, #XLPipeline, #COP20, etc., it’s time to divest.
350.org launched a divestment campaign several years ago to help move investment dollars out of fossil fuels — universities, to religious institutions, to individuals, people have been taking action. This investment capital helps companies run and operate day to day and long-term, moving your money into things like renewables and socially responsible companies and away from fossil fuels and irresponsible companies means you’re investing in a world that shares your values. And divestment was a major tactic that helped end apartheid in South Africa. This guide shows individuals how to divest. And these resources can help you move your money into investments that support socially responsible companies:
#7: Make the environment and activism part of your lifestyle — just like showering
We have a tendency to show-up for one particular battle or fight and then return to our everyday lives. The reality is that doing something about climate change is going to take a lifelong commitment. By deciding that this issue is part of your identity and integrating it into your lifestyle, you’ll always have your eye out for ways to do something about it in both your day to day activities and by participating in national actions like pressuring government on policy and key issues like the Dakota Access Pipeline. You’ll multiply your effect too, because when we lead by example we tend to influence at least some of those around us.
#8: Stay Committed — Don’t Give Up
Change happens slowly, it’s just a fact. People who are life-long activists and work for nonprofits know this firsthand. And the minute a battle seems won, another crops up. So we celebrate the victories and mark wins on the board when we get them. And there’ve been some major ones the last few years: defeating XL Pipeline, banning fracking in New York State, achieving a global climate agreement, and more. These battles were fought over a few years and longer. Change is ongoing and requires people and momentum — it’s an ongoing commitment, with breaks as needed.
If climate change is at the top of your list for issues, then becoming informed and staying informed is crucial because so many things affect the climate. To get up to speed and stay current on the ever growing and changing things that you as an individual can do to be a better environmental steward through daily decisions, a good starting point is to follow Ask Umbra over at Grist.org.
Stay in the fight, don’t give-up, and when the unbelievable and unexpected happen just remember the word — NEXT!
