Get Involved with an Organization!
Last month we urged you to write letters to the editor of local papers and contact your government leaders on climate-related issues and advocate for acting on the climate crisis. Individual actions like these are important and help push society to a better climate policy and fight climate change. Weatherizing your home, lowering your thermostat, using public transit, and the many individual acts we’ve mentioned in past months are important for reducing your carbon footprint and impact on the earth.
As important as individual actions are, collective action can be key to making bigger changes happen. Many of us have joined OUUC to be part of an organization that encourages effective collective action on social justice and peace. To fight climate change and environmental degradation, a dedicated group of people working together sometimes can accomplish more than the sum of individual efforts. Everything from clearing ivy at a local park to stopping an oil pipeline can be more effectively be tackled by collective action! Stopping the rise in CO2 and methane in the atmosphere will require collective action on an international level.
The problem is often not that we can’t find organizations to join, but that there are so many from which to choose. We have only a limited amount of time, energy, and money and there are way too many issues that need these from us. Unfortunately, we don’t have time to suffer from the paralysis of choosing and end up doing nothing. You can be a volunteer rehabilitating parks or trust land, an active member of a local or regional environmental organization acting on land use and climate issues, or support a national or international organization fighting climate change. We would be happy to have you work with us on the OUUC Environmental Action Team. Each of us needs to evaluate our abilities, strengths, and passions and get to work!
You can find a list of environmental organizations, films, books, and websites on the OUUC Faith in Action Pathway, Climate Change, and Sustainability Page.