What can I do?

-In a democracy, the simplest and cheapest action is to vote. Besides voting, find out the addresses of your elected representatives, and take some time each month to let them know your views on specific current environmental issues. If representatives don't hear from voters, they will conclude that voters aren't interested in the environment.

-You can reconsider what you, as a consumer, do or don't buy. Big businesses aim to make money. They are likely to discontinue products that the public doesn't buy, and to manufacture and promote products that the public does buy. Of course, it's easiest to influence companies in your own country, but in today's globalized world the consumer has increasing ability to influence overseas companies and policy-makers as well. A prime example is the collapse of white-minority government and apartheid policies in South Africa between 1989 and 1994, as the result of the economic boycott of South Africa by individual consumers and investors overseas, leading to an unprecedented economic divestiture by overseas corporations, public pension funds, and governments.

-Another way in which consumers can influence policies of big business companies, besides buying or refusing to buy their products, is by drawing public attention to the company's policies and products. One set of examples is in campaigns against animal cruelty that led major fashion houses, such as Bill Blass, Calvin Klein, and Oleg Cassini, to publicly renounce their use of fur. Another example involves the public activists who helped convince the world's largest wood products company, Home Depot, to commit to ending its purchases of wood from endangered forest regions and to give preference to certified forest products.

-Those of us who are religious can further multiply our power by developing support within our church, synagogue, or mosque. It was churches that led the civil rights movement, and some religious leaders have also been outspoken on the environment, but not many so far. Yet there is much potential for building religious support, because people more readily follow the suggestions of their religious leaders than the suggestions of historians and scientists, and because there are strong religious reasons to take the environment seriously. Members of congregations can remind fellow members and their leaders of the sanctity of the created order, of biblical metaphors for keeping Nature fertile and productive, and of the implications of the concept of stewardship that all religions acknowledge.

-An individual who wants to benefit directly from his or her actions can consider investing time and effort in improving one's own local environment...It sets an example to others, both in your own country and overseas. Local environmental organizations tend to be in frequent contact with each other, exchanging ideas and drawing inspiration.

-Finally, any of you who have some discretionary money can multiply your impact by making a donation to an organization promoting policies of your choice. There is an enormous range of organizations to fit anyone's interests...All such environmental organizations operate on low budgets, and many operate cost-effectively, so that small additional sums of money make big differences.

Go Green with these books

		An Inconvenient Truth Al Gore Paperback $16.00 $13.60 add to cart Read more...

		A Green History of the World Clive Ponting Paperback $16.00 Read more...

		The Omnivore's Dilemma Michael Pollan Hardcover $26.95 add to cart Read more...

		Green Living E Magazine Paperback $17.00 add to cart Read more...

 
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