Five Dollars To Save The World

Maybe I’m a control freak, or maybe I’ve just joined the growing ranks of those who are totally frustrated with Washington’s absence of anything remotely resembling leadership. Whatever the cause, I’ve been borderline obsessed lately, noodling on how the Climate Change Action Movement can take back control of its vital work from the federal government and the corporate greed that clearly drives the political process.

It’s oblivious that much of the real power on this level comes down to who has the money and who controls the purse strings – how and where the money is spent. Well, last time I checked, 100% of the money is actually generated by John Q Citizens like you and me. And this is where I start feeling a bit rebellious. No, I’m not ready to quit paying federal taxes—not yet. But instead of turning over all of our resources to Washington and greedy corporations, we the people—and specifically the people who understand and care about accelerating climate change—need to take back control of our money! 

Rather than send all of our dollars to pay for taxes that are being misspent on disastrous fossil fuel subsides and the like, and then spend the rest of our precious dough to line the pockets of greedy corporations bent on protecting fossil fuel income or ramping up dangerous consumerism – we need to start building our own large and powerful fund to pay for real climate change solutions now.  A fund that is people driven and really really big. We’re talking billions. 

Let’s not buy into the belief that the money isn’t available today to put into climate change solutions. Forgetting for a moment how much our government is spending, we the people are also spending huge sums of our own money every single day. It’s not lack of money. It’s a lack of leadership to actively cultivate the public awareness, foresight and commitment that’s needed to help us put a higher priority on spending our money wisely – for the protection and well-being of our families, homes and communities, and yes, for the future of our planet for generations to come.

Think for a moment about the insurance industry. Recent calculations estimate that the world spends upwards of 3.5 TRILLION DOLLARS every single year on insurance. For what? Not for tangible goods and services; not for food or recreation; not for buildings and cars; but exclusively for the CONCEPT of our future security. This astounding figure clearly says that those of us who are committed to addressing climate change must start doing a much better job of conveying the CONCEPT of how investing in climate change solutions is the best insurance we can hope to buy right now. Taking control of the situation by individually choosing to channel a greater portion of our own dollars into building a huge climate change fund is the only short-term way we have available to protect our long-term future—not to mention deal with the climate change impacts already pounding our global family today.

We can’t afford to wait for Washington to “get it” and finally act with foresight. And it’s not like we need to spend a ton of money individually—unless of course we have a ton to spend. I am reminded of how many millions the Obama campaign raised with all those emails we all received asking us to donate five to fifty dollars to get President Obama into office. Well, no offense President Obama, but after observing Washington’s recent mockery of the Cancun negotiations and your failure to actually participate there, I’m feeling a whole lot more inclined to give my next 5 bucks to someone I can actually trust to do something about climate change.

When hearts and minds are a little less steamed there’s probably some solid thinking and planning to be done by wiser people than I on how best to organize and build this type of people’s fund. But for now, I’ll just go on record saying I’d love to see a general fund be generated by people like Bill Mckibben and a few others with his understanding and vision—people who I know “get it” and who will use my 5 dollars well.

If insurance agents can raise 3.5 trillion this year, why can’t we the people raise a billion or two for something like a Carbon Neutral Climate Action Now Fund? I’m ready Bill; just  let me know where to send my 5 dollars to start doing some real good.   

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