Countdown to Earth Day 2016: #20 Vote Responsibly

Last updated on: April 2, 2016 at 1:00 am by John Halstead

Countdown to Earth Day 2016: #20 Vote Responsibly 2016-03-29T20:42:02-05:00 John Halstead

LOGO Patheos Explore the world's faith through different perspectives on religion and spirituality! Patheos has the views of the prevalent religions and spiritualities of the world.

So you’ve already signed A Pagan Community Statement on the Environment, and you don’t want Earth Day (April 22) to go by unobserved. What can you do? Over the next 21 days, I will be offering practical and productive suggestions for how you can honor the Earth this Earth Day.

When we think about what we can do to protect the biosphere and the web of life, we are trained to think about our reducing own consumption. But individual choice only gets us so far.

We need need government regulation to change the available options before we even get to the point where people can have a choice. We can’t buy fuel-efficient vehicles, for example, until companies are pressured to actually make them — and to make them affordable. We can’t reduce the amount of time we spend driving, unless our cities and suburbs actually have the necessary infrastructure — sidewalks, public transit, zoning that allows jobs and housing and shopping to coexist.

Even then, most emissions are caused by things that individual consumers don’t have any control over, decisions that are made for us, not by us. The system is driven by big money. So the way to change the system is to change the way money influences the system.

Individual consumers don’t have the power to do this … but voters do. We need responsible citizens even more than we need responsible consumers.

So one thing you can do to honor the Earth this Earth Day is to vote responsibly. Voting responsibly means knowing how your elected officials are influenced by big money.

Campaign politics tends to focus on issues: where the candidates say they stand. We all know that politicians will say a lot of things to get elected. And we all know that politics is really driven by campaign contributions. But few of us know how our own elected officials are influenced by money.

To find out where your elected officials get their money:

Click on this link to opensecrets.org
Go to the “Politicians & Elections” tab and click “Get Local”.
Enter your zip code and then click “View the elected officials who represent this zip code”.
Find out who has bought your elected officials.

Explore the rest of the site to find out more about how big money is influencing politics. Then vote responsibly!

Uncategorized

campaign contributions

Previous Post

April 1, 2016

Godless Paganism: Voices of Non-Theistic Pagans is now available for sale!

Next Post

April 3, 2016 Countdown to Earth Day 2016: #19 Take Direct Action

Browse Our Archives

Select a Category Ritual Scripts Theology Uncategorized

Select a Month January 2017 December 2016 November 2016 October 2016 September 2016 August 2016 July 2016 June 2016 May 2016 April 2016 March 2016 February 2016 January 2016 December 2015 November 2015 October 2015 September 2015 August 2015 July 2015 June 2015 May 2015 April 2015 March 2015 February 2015 January 2015 December 2014 November 2014 October 2014 September 2014 August 2014 July 2014 June 2014 May 2014 April 2014 March 2014 February 2014 January 2014 December 2013 November 2013 October 2013 September 2013 August 2013 July 2013 June 2013 May 2013 April 2013 March 2013 February 2013 January 2013 December 2012 November 2012 October 2012 September 2012 August 2012 July 2012 June 2012 May 2012 April 2012 March 2012 February 2012 January 2012 December 2011 November 2011 October 2011 September 2011 August 2011

TAKE THE

Religious Wisdom Quiz

What was the primary currency in biblical times?

Select your answer to see how you score.

Copper Bronze Gold coins Silver shekels