Russ Vernon-Jones

love, justice, and climate change … I know you can make a difference.

Individual action

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5 Ideas to Hold Firmly in Your Mind

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My blog posts are mostly about racial and climate justice. This one features some ideas that are not specifically on those topics, but which can, in my experience, lead us to be more effective, see reality more clearly, and be happier in general, including in our social justice work.

We humans have a remarkable ability to choose the perspectives that we hold in our minds. Sometimes we can succeed in holding the view that we are smart, loved, and capable. However, left to their own devices, too often our minds tend to turn toward self-criticism that undermines our confidence and reduces our happiness and effectiveness. These negative ideas often come from hurtful interactions we’ve experienced and from the oppressive society in which we live. These negative notions about ourselves sap our energy and reduce our effectiveness in our anti-racism and climate work.

We tend to think that ….

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Climate Action: Move Your Money & Switch Your Credit Card

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One Friday night in the fall of 2012 I found myself in a room at Amherst College with Bill McKibben, a good number of college students, and some local residents, many of them in their later years. I was only just beginning to really pay attention to the issue of climate change and thought of myself as a visitor or observer in this gathering. McKibben looked like a very ordinary guy, but once he started to speak, the power of his vision and persuasion transformed the room. At that point, no college or other institution had committed to divest from fossil fuels, but McKibben announced his intention to start a nation-wide divestment movement.

It seemed unlikely that such a movement could have much impact on an industry as wealthy as the fossil fuel industry. McKibben explained that he didn’t expect to bankrupt the industry, but rather to cause them to be seen as moral pariahs for their climate-destroying business model and to delegitimize the power they wield through political donations. He thought college students and alumni could effectively pressure colleges and universities to divest, and he announced a cross-country tour to enlist them. This made sense to me and I soon wrote to my alma maters encouraging them to divest from fossil fuels.

Fast forwarding to the present … the divestment movement that Bill McKibben announced in Amherst that night has grown. More than 1500 institutions–colleges, pension funds, faith-based organization, etc.– whose investments total more than $40 trillion, have ….

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Our Food and Climate Change

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I thought it might be interesting this week to return to a very personal topic that we all encounter daily — food. What we eat, and don’t eat, impacts climate change. The diets of people around the world affect climate change.

More people in the U.S. are eating diets that include more plant-based foods. A recent survey found 63% making efforts to eat less red meat. Many are eating more plant based foods because a plant-based diet is healthier–and the “best way to avoid heart disease.” Increasing numbers of people are turning to more plant-based foods to help the environment. A diet made up mostly of foods from plants is both healthier and better for the climate than the traditional family diet in the U.S.

What does this term “plant-based” mean?

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VOTE and a Quiz to Help You Find Your Role in Climate Action

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Today is Election Day in the United States. If you are eligible to vote and have not yet voted PLEASE VOTE TODAY. Many states and districts have very close election contests where every vote will count.

Even if it seems that the elections in your area are not close, there is a reason I think it is very important for people who care about climate to vote. The Environmental Voter Project estimates that 8 million environmentalists did not vote in the 2020 presidential election and 12 million didn’t vote in the 2018 midterms. Clearly these voters could have had a very large impact if they had all voted. More important now, is that the more climate voters everywhere vote, the more it will be clear to politicians that leading on climate will be vital to electoral success in the future.

Taking action on climate is clearly important. It’s important to solving the climate crisis. It’s important in helping each of us feel more purposeful and less despairing and hopeless about climate. But lots of people don’t know what to do. Street protest isn’t for everyone, neither is lobbying your state legislators.

Now two climate author/activists have designed an engaging “quiz” that leads the reader through a series of options that helps you identify what sort of climate action might best fit your preferences and personality. The quiz became available on the Yale Climate Change Connections website in October 2022. It’s reminiscent of the simple identification keys that are available for helping to identify flowers.

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The Upcoming U.S. Election and a Bit of Good Climate News

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Once again, as most of you know, we find ourselves facing a critical election in the United States. It’s not clear whether the Democratic Party can hold onto either or both houses of Congress in the mid-term elections in November. If they don’t, it will be disastrous for the climate and for racial justice, as well as for other key issues. It may well be disastrous for democracy as well, given the Republican party’s current move toward authoritarianism. Some states are also voting to choose the person who will run future elections in their state. These contests may have a big impact on the 2024 elections.

I find these to be scary times. Rather than writing a long blog post, I want to first thank you for anything you have already done to help get good outcomes in the upcoming election. And, if you are not already engaged, I want to encourage you to get involved in some way in supporting fair elections and candidates who are committed to climate action, racial justice, and democracy. You may want to send letters or post cards to voters; you may want to donate more money to good candidates or political organizations; you may want to join phone banks or text banks, or go door-to-door. Please choose some way to get involved. There are so many opportunities to be found online with a quick search.

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Seeing Ourselves as a Part of Nature May Be Essential

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I’ve been interested to learn about the indigenous people on whose land I live in western Massachusetts. As far as I know I don’t have any Indigenous heritage myself. I’ve learned that this area was home to the Pocumtuc and the Nipmuc people. Nipmuc people still live in Central and Western Massachusetts and have an elected tribal government.

There is some debate about dates, but indigenous people apparently moved into what’s now called New England more than 10,000 years ago, soon after the last glacial ice sheet receded. They have lived here ever since, despite disease, warfare, and displacement brought by European settler colonizers. (The 2020 U.S. Census found more than 13,000 American Indians living in Massachusetts, although other studies put the number higher. It found that the number of people in the U.S. who identify as Native American and Alaskan Native, alone and in combination with another race, is at least 9.7 million.)

It struck me that Indigenous people lived in my area for more than 9,500 years without damaging the environment nor creating environmental crises. Clearly they found ways to live in harmony with their environment–ways that allowed humans and the rest of the natural environment to thrive together. Things have gone less well for the environment since the Europeans invaded North America.

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A Battle for Your Mind

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I used to think that if people of good will had more information about climate change, they would all be moved to take action to stop the climate crisis.  I don’t think that any more.  Why are some people moved to take action as they learn about climate change and some are not?  One key variable is whether you believe you might be able to make a difference, and whether or not you see yourself as significant, or potentially significant.  If you believe you can make some difference you are much more likely to take action.

Don’t we all have this problem, to some extent? Don’t we all have days when we feel engaged, connected to others, and glad to be part of the action; and other days when it seems like nothing we do matters and the problems
are all too big for us?

Many people, perhaps including yourself, feel as though they have very little choice about how the world looks to them and how they feel about it.  They take what comes their way.  Even when you don’t want to, you may find yourself feeling discouraged, hopeless, or despairing. Your perspective may seem to be buffeted about by the latest news item, a comment by a friend, a minor failure.  I invite you to consider that we humans have the power to choose, and fight to hold, a good perspective.

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“Dangerous Radicals”

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If earlier reports from the UN Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) were wake-up calls to take climate action, the one released in early April is a blaring emergency horn that the world dare not ignore. In a statement accompanying the report, UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres said that the failure of governments and corporations to keep pledges and take effective climate action has “put us firmly on track toward an unlivable world.”

The report indicates that in order to keep global warming within the 1.5°C target, greenhouse gas emissions can continue to rise for only 3 more years. They must fall 43% by 2030. The scientists report that this is still possible, but that unless transformative climate action is taken in the next 8 years, the 1.5°C target will be out of reach forever. Unless countries step up their reductions in emissions, we are on course for a global temperature rise of 2.4°C to 3.5°C. This would bring unimaginable devastation to populations everywhere.

I have not plowed through the entire 3,675 pages of this latest report, but in the summaries and articles about it there are items of good news. The first is ….

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Adams Brook, Shutesbury, MA
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Examples of Climate Action and an Invitation to Join In

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In my previous post I offered some “tips on stepping up our climate action” and encouraged us all to take action more frequently despite any feelings of discouragement or despair. I proposed that we each 1) decide to act, 2)take some action, 3) be pleased that we have acted, 4) repeat the first 3 steps again, over and over.

While I mentioned some possible actions in that post, it seems that some more specific, personal examples might be useful.

I’m not yet as bold and effective in my climate action as I aspire to be, but I do persist and do a number of things that are helping me get connected to other people and, I believe, make a difference. In the hope that these examples will lead you to think further about what you want to do, here are a few of the things I’ve been engaged in recently.

I learned, through an email from 350.org, that a federal judge voided a huge sale of drilling leases in the Gulf of Mexico that the federal government had recently completed. This is such good news, because …

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Tips for Stepping Up Our Action on Climate Change

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We continue to make slow progress on climate change in the United States. More of the population is concerned about the situation, more political leaders are advocating action, and a few businesses are reducing their carbon footprints. But slow progress is not what we need in the climate emergency we are facing. Only dramatic acceleration of our action on climate will give us any chance of avoiding global catastrophe.

With the failure of the Congress to pass the Build Back Better bill and with big businesses mostly trying to improve their PR campaigns instead of actually cutting emissions, it is clear that neither government nor business on their own can be relied on to solve this crisis. Only a very large people’s movement demanding bold action has any chance of accelerating action sufficiently.

We have a good climate movement in the U.S. with bold solutions, but it needs far more people actively engaged. I propose that most of us could be more engaged, and all of us could be doing more to get other people join in taking action.

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“A Code Red for Humanity” Calling for “Solidarity and Courage”

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“A code red for humanity. The alarm bells are deafening and the evidence is irrefutable.” This is UN Secretary General Antonio Guterres’s description of the most recent report from the UN’s Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC).

The August 9th report is “a comprehensive summary of what is known about the drivers of climate change, its impacts and future risks, and how adaptation and mitigation can reduce those risks” compiled by 234 scientists from 66 countries, who reviewed over 14,000 studies from thousands of scientists around the world.

Their findings include :

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The Only Path to Climate Success?

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Good news abounds on the climate front. More solar and wind power is being installed all over the world. The international financial industry is slowly but surely withdrawing support for fossil fuel projects. The President of the U.S. is aiming for net-zero carbon emissions from the electric grid by 2035 and is moving legislation forward to support climate action.

Yet the overall picture with our climate is still quite dire and getting worse.

Seven things you can do to make a difference.

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A Conversation with Isioma

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Last week, through the wonders of Zoom, I had the opportunity to meet and talk with Isioma, a Black woman in Lagos, Nigeria. She told me that the rains that traditionally fall reliably at this time of year in her country are not falling and that disaster looms for farmers and cattle herders. She said that because of drought many grazing lands have been exhausted. Conflicts are arising as herders seeking dwindling reserves of pasture clash with farmers and each other. She shared her sadness that so many Nigerians have been made homeless by the effects climate change. She called them “refugees within their own country.”

I’ve read about these things in news reports, but it was a new experience for me to be sitting in comfort in my home in the United States developing a friendship with this woman, while she was in Nigeria experiencing climate disaster firsthand. I began to think about the fact that my country, the United States, has played a big role in causing the suffering being experienced around her. Cumulatively the U.S. has emitted more climate-change-causing greenhouse gases than any other nation.

Just as I was pondering the responsibility of the U.S., she said to me, “I don’t think we can stop climate change without doing something about racism. The wealthy white nations don’t care what happens to us. It’s racism that makes them not care.” Even though I’ve made similar statements myself, it cut right to my core to hear it directly from her. I’m still shaken by it.

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