Companies and Organizations

You may be wondering “What companies and organizations should I try to change first?”. The answer is simple: The ones you’re already a part of! That could mean your employer, your school, your place of worship, or just about any other institution you care about.

Here are some examples of ways that companies and organizations often reduce their carbon footprints:

• Divesting from fossil fuels. In other words, moving the money in a retirement fund, endowment, or other type of investment fund out of fossil fuel companies.
• Buying 100% of their energy from renewable sources
• Allowing working from home, or livestreaming events so everyone who wants to participate from home can do so

Government

Governments, from the local to the national level, have powerful tools at their disposal for fighting climate change. Here’s a partial list of things they can do:

• Local: Enact building codes that require energy efficient construction, provide tax credits for renewable energy infrastructure like solar panels, permit dense development so that more land elsewhere can remain undeveloped, and commit to buying 100% renewable energy
  • To get involved with the transition to 100% renewable energy, check out the Sierra Club’s Ready for 100 campaign!
• State/Provincial: Permit renewable energy production facilities like wind and solar farms, end tax subsidies that are currently being given to fossil fuel companies (source), implement a carbon tax, expand public transit networks, and increase vehicle emission standards
• National: Everything that local and state/provincial governments can do, but bigger!

Here are some ways you can encourage your government to make these changes:

• Call or send emails to your local, state/provincial, and national representatives. Make your voice heard!
• Attend local government meetings, like for your city council, and speak up when they allow comments from the public
• Volunteer for the campaigns of political candidates who take climate change seriously

Image credit: The United Nations’ #ClimateAction campaign via Trello