Are you alarmed about Climate Change but don’t know what YOU can do about it? To provide focus and encourage action that is so urgently needed, each month the Climate Action Group of the Unitarian Society of Northampton and Florence provides suggestions at each of 4 levels: personal, community, state/national/global, and educational. To learn more about this group contact Molly Hale at hellomolly@comcast.net or 585-0791.
1. Personal: This suggestion is simple but often overlooked. Reduce home heating use by wearing warmer clothes indoors: long underwear, sweaters, fleece jackets, vests, fingerless gloves, cozy slippers, even a hat. This can really make a difference in your comfort without ballooning your energy bill.
2. Community: Sign up for the 5-session discussion of the book Navigating the Coming Chaos by Carolyn Baker. The book offers guidance and specific exercises to help cope with our grief, anger, fear and other emotions about climate change, peak oil, and economic unpredictability. Meets 3rd Mon. of the month starting 1/27 at the Unitarian Society in Northampton. To register, or for more info, or to order a copy of the book, contact Alison Bowen at abowengoshen@aol.com or 268-9924.
3. State/National/Global: Attend the Fossil Fuel Divestment Panel on Saturday, Jan 25, 2014 10:00 am to noon at the Springfield Central Library at 220 State Street. Sponsored by 350ma.org, Better Future Project and Climate Action Now-MA, this is one in a series of statewide public discussion forums whose focus is state fossil fuel divestment legislation (S. 1225) as a strategy to address climate change. The panel will be composed of experts on student divestment, faith based divestment and the financial sector. More info here
4. Inform yourself: The article “The Fossil Fuels War” by John Bellamy Foster in the 9/1/13 Monthly Review (link here) begins with a succinct explanation of the implications of deepwater drilling, fracking, and the exploitation of tar-sands oil. He then lays out the strategies and conflicts between climate activists, fossil fuel companies, and the Obama administration, and concludes with the assessment that economic growth under a capitalist system is the fundamental paradigm that needs to be changed to maintain a “safe operating space” for human survival.
