3 New Years Resolutions - For the environment

Happy New Year. I hope you’re recovered from whatever frivolities accompanied celebrating the earth successfully orbiting the sun. I am still working through an ice-cream sandwich hangover so if that gives you any idea of how cool i am. you’re probably right. But, this is the season of making and breaking resolutions so in that spirit I’ve got 3 resolutions that might actually help heal the climate crisis. Now, there are loads of little things you could pledge to do this year for the environment, but the eternal self-sacrifice, don’t eat meat, be more conscious about what you buy, turn off the lights, don’t fly etc. etc. And don’t get me wrong, lifestyle changes are important, they signal to those around us and to ourselves a commitment to the environment -- but they are hard, and honestly in this great big world we live in -- they don’t do that much. So what can you actually do? What’ll make a real meaningful difference? #1 Vote And this doesn't just mean in the 2016 presidential campaign if you’re in the US. While national elections are incredibly important -- your senators, congressman, and other officers at the local level can be lot more hands on. They’re the ones voting on what power plants get built, on the zoning ordinances for new solar power plants, how garbage and recycling is sorted, or whether or not your city introduces composting solutions. Not to mention, oftentimes your local ballet will have citizen initiatives and other measure that decide if money is allocated to more parks or nature preserves -- so it is import to know when you vote, where you vote and how you vote. So if you’re able to, register, and get to the poles. #2 Direct Action Direct action can be anything from signing a petition to protesting a new coal plant, or calling your representatives about the bills they are voting on. Now if you follow resolution #1, you elected them, they represent you, and it is important that both you and them, don’t forget that. Direct Action works. The proposed KXL pipeline will never exist to pump tar sands out of canada down thru middle america, microbeads aren’t going exist in our soaps in the U.S. anymore, almost 200 countries signed on to combat climate change at the Paris Climate Talks, shell pulled its arctic drilling plans, coal plants are increasingly being shuttered and countless schools, people, even countries have divested from fossil fuels. A cynic might say these are financially motivated -- but that’s not entirely true, we put bodies on the ground, and we got results. There are loads of great organizations out there running campaigns day in and day out to make it easier for you get involved in local, national and even global politics and actions. #3 Educate For me, to truly participate in direct action I need know what and who I’m voting for or what I’m protesting. Which is why the third resolution, while it probably won’t have any direct affect on the quantity of dissolved carbon in the atmosphere it is probably the most important to me. Educate means, knowing who is running for office and what they stand for. And educating yourself on the science of climate change. Understanding how policy, human psychology and the science all fit together to describe our behaviors. Where is all the carbon coming from, how are average atmospheric temperatures warming, why does it feel like no one is doing anything sometimes and what does that mean for our future? And you’re like woah, hold up. That sounds like a lot. That’s like four masters degrees. Which fair, i may be setting my sights kinda high on this resolution -- but the best part, you only gotta do what you have time for and what you’re interested in. So if you’re all about reef health and keeping ocean pH and temperature stable so all those polyps don’t die. AWESOME. learn about that. Or if you’re big into policy and want to know how the zoning for renewable energy sources or the tragedy of the commons. Boom do that. Which is where my New Year's resolution, for myself, comes in. I want to help answer some of those questions. So if there is anything, you want to know, or already know and want to make someone else explain it to your friends with fancy graphics, let me know and i’ll make a video. Otherwise I’m just going to start going through my old college textbooks. So to refresh -- environmental resolutions to make 2k16 the greenest year yet. 1. VOTE. 2. Direct Actions. 3. Educate yourself and others. As always there are loads of links down below for some of my favorite organizations offering rocking campaigns, some resources for figuring out all of the complicated voting stuff and some great places to start if you’re down for learning all the things about the environment. Like the video if you liked it and subscribe if you wanna hang out with me this year. And I hope your 2016, is off to a great start. By333.