Lots of good stuff from Energy Bulletin

and some that leaves you scratching your head...

Ending industrialism

by Jan Lundberg

Here is first the Pledge for Climate Protection, which Eban Goodstein says "Looks very good." Goodstein is Professor of Economics at Lewis & Clark College, and Project Director of Focus the Nation. (This section will be followed by an additional ten steps, to be offered for consideration by the Global Warming Crisis Council.)

“I pledge to begin taking as many of the following steps as I can to stave off the worst effects of global warming, and spread the word. In so doing I will cut fossil fuel use. I will do some or all of the following:

1. Cut down on driving my vehicle, or carpool. I will walk or bike, and not buy a car if I do not have one (best of all). I will support and use mass transit. I may work closer to my home.
2. Cut down on working just for money: I can thereby barter more, and cut down on commuting.
3. Depave my driveway, or help others’ depave their driveways, or depave parking lots, and grow food in depaved land.
4. Unplug or retire my television, and perhaps go off the electricity grid. I will reduce energy for heating, and share appliances such as my oven with neighbors, and not buy or use power tools or jet skis, etc.
5. Publicly oppose new road construction and road widening in my community, to start undoing sprawl, prevent growth in traffic, and halt the spread of forest roads allowing clearcuts.
6. Take vacations without jet air travel, and avoid career activity dependent on jet travel.
7. Plant trees, collect rainwater, and avoid overusing municipal water as it is energy-consumptive (and thus may emit CO2, the main heat-trapping gas that fossil fuels release).
8. Buy local products, buy as little plastic as possible, carry a travel mug. Minimize consumption. Support alternative plant materials to cut down on petrochemicals and trees for paper. Avoid eating animal products especially shipped-in beef.
9. Not bring more children into the world, or limit my offspring to one, and possibly adopt. I recognize the threat of overpopulation.
10. Inform my community and the greater national and global community on the need to take action such as the above for climate stability.”

Pledge for Climate Protection (and Even a Little Human Liberation) II:

• Take brief, cold showers. If you "can't," because it's too miserable, and that's the only option, then you prefer being dirty. Cold running water is a luxury, and because of the fossil-fuel-powered pumps, it's a source of greenhouse gas emissions.
• Go to bed when darkness falls, or shortly afterwards, and get up when it's light, to save on energy for lighting and heating.
• Live without refrigeration. Okay, some people are unusually dependent on refrigeration at this time.
• Dumpster dive some time, or be observant enough on the streets or anywhere to pick up for yourself some useful abandoned item.
• Go for a wilderness or parkland camp-out for an extended period. Augment your outdoor skills. Note useful materials from nature and use them when needed, such as in making pipe out of bamboo.
• Tell a motorist in his or her gas-guzzling car that you hope he or she will be able to save the climate and cut oil dependence soon, by car-pooling, biking, etc. Actually, rather than be confrontational and risk road-rage and run-of-the-mill insanity, it's safer to either hum "Have a global warming day..." or just cough conspicuously while giving the car a dirty look.
• When buying a product in a jar or a bottle, if the cap has a clear plastic sealant in it, ask the cashier or manager if they know about bysphenol-A (endocrine disrupter).
• Rethink eating: (A) Eat wild herbs you pick in the neighborhoods or vacant lots, such as dandelion, yarrow, plantain, red clover, and fennel. (B) Go on a fast from time to time, in order to detoxify and regain appreciation for the food that comes your way.
• Give a homeless person some food, including those asking for money, with some helpful words such as locations of shelters, camp-sites, or Food Not Bombs, and encourage the person to eat wholesome foods.
• Raise your voice to uphold what is right in the common interest and what you oppose, in the name of the common good -- including for all species.

(originally from Culture Change)

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