Fires and Hurricanes: One Thing We Can Do

As I write this, for the first time in my memory, the state of California is ablaze with several
destructive fires in November, one of which wiped out an entire town the size of Grants Pass, Oregon. Here in Southern Oregon, we're seeing major forest fires and unhealthy smoky air as regular features of summer. There were even fires north of the Arctic Circle this year. And in the southeast and Caribbean, Category 4 hurricanes have become the norm, not the exception.

All who understand climate change recognize that these are not coincidental. We are creating an earth that could become uninhabitable. And it's happening faster than anyone thought it would. So lacking responsible government policies limiting fossil fuels and carbon emissions, what can an individual citizen do?

Some things are easier than others. Cut our own fossil fuel consumption by limiting unnecessary automobile or airplane travel. Insist our employers stop wasting fuel with overly cold air conditioner settings. Buy less, especially new items that have to be trucked to us. Buy local. Trade our gas guzzlers for less hungry vehicles. Ride bikes, walk, use public transit.

Our greatest power though is choking off revenue to the fossil fuel industry, companies that burn coal, and those that spew carbon into our atmosphere. This we can do together. The movement to divest of fossil fuels is now the largest divestment movement in the world. Here are just some of the entities that have divested of investments that produce or overuse fossil fuels:

Churches: The National Council of Churches, the Catholic Church, the Episcopal Church, the Church of Christ, Catholic Charities, the Unitarian Universalist Association, the Pacific NW Methodists and numerous local churches.

Colleges: Too many to name but including Yale, Stanford, Georgetown, Johns Hopkins, the University of California, University of Washington, and here in Oregon -- OSU, Lewis and Clark, the UO Foundation, Western Oregon University.

Communities: Many cities like New York and including in Oregon the Cities of Ashland, Eugene, Corvallis and Portland. Multnomah County also.

Countries: Ireland is the first!

Pension/Retirement Funds: California's Teacher Retirement System, CalPERS, and others.

And the divestment movement is strong in Australia, Canada, Europe, Africa, and around the world. You can see a full list of organizations and governments that have divested here.

I have decided that this is an effort worth doing. I began this weekend by researching my personal mutual funds. We have investments in IRAs and a 403b account. Both are with socially responsible funds I originally (in 1993) researched and chose myself. I used fossilfreefunds.org to examine how well each is doing on the five standards for divestment. One (Parnassus) hit all five. It's also been a champion in earnings. The other (Pax) hit just two of the standards and also hasn't performed that well in the 25 years I've owned it. Today I called the two funds I've chosen to transfer my Pax money into and have set that ball in motion. Both are good performers with low expense ratios (what consumers are charged each year) and excellent ratings for promoting alternative energy and avoiding fossil fuels and carbon polluters.

Once this process is done, my next step is to politely contact Oregon PERS, where I am also a member with an investment, and find out what fossil fuel and coal polluting shares they own, while encouraging divestment. The Oregon Treasurer's office makes these investments and it will take many more than me to make this change but it needs to be made. Our legislators have a role here too. Will you help?

Step three will be contacting all of my former colleges to inquire about the state of divestment. So far, none of them appear to have divested.

And what good will it do, you ask? First, if enough of us join in, funds to the fossil fuel industry begin to constrict, making future investors wary of their financial stability. Second, investments in alternative energy are expanded, giving wind, solar or geothermal companies better access to capital. Third, you and I know we're now part of the solution, not the problem.

Are you in?