Our Car-Centered Society

The 1986 Great Peace March for Global Nuclear Disarmament, which was also a cross-country march seeking to change the world, lost one marcher to a vehicular collision. The Great March for Climate Action has gone for seven months without incident, but that awesome track record came to an end on Friday, Sept. 26. While walking along Route 65 out of Maumee and toward Toledo, a pick-up truck operated by a sleeping driver struck me head on. Unlike the unfortunate Peace Marcher in 1986, I can live to tell the tale.

Pushing My Weight

A response to the Climate March I hear a lot is, "Isn't it hypocritical to say you're walking to fight climate change while you're using all of those gas-guzzling vehicles?"

Yes, you caught us. The Climate March is not fossil-fuel free. We have a gear truck, a kitchen truck, a truck to haul our Eco-Commodes and several personal vehicles. We rely heavily on these vehicles to make it through our days, and attempts to reduce our number of vehicles are often stymied due to the wide variety of needs from our diverse community.

In response to people being skeptical of the March because of our vehicle use, I'd like to quote two of my fellow Marchers. During one of our emotionally-intense group meetings about our fossil-fuel usage, Jeffrey Czerweic pointed out that it takes fossil fuels to produce wind turbines and solar panels. My fellow marcher Mack McDonald often cites the following statistic: if every single American started living a truly sustainable lifestyle tomorrow, it would only cut about 20 percent of our emissions. The other 80 percent comes from industry and corporations.

It's true; we need to drastically cut our carbon emissions if we have any hope of even a bearable future on this planet. While it is important to make changes in our own lives, it is even more important to tackle industry, consumerist capitalism and wasteful individualism. Currently, our daily lives and the resources we use and think we 'need' encourage this system, and one way we can bring down the giant is to remove our monetary support from it.

That's why, inspired by my fellow marcher Kelsey Erickson, who has been carrying her own gear in a cart or a backpack for most of the March, I decided to start using a cart in Nebraska and I am still going strong now.

Suggested Reading & Activism Spotlight: Featuring Stephanie Khoury

Activism Spotlight Featuring Guest Writer

Today, I am honored to have an Ithaca College student as this week’s Guest Writer on Viridorari! Stephanie Khoury is a junior Documentary Studies and Production Major at Ithaca College. If found her through an awesome environmental edition of Ithaca’s student publication, Buzzsaw, in which she wrote an article. Today she is featuring DivestIC for today’s “Activism Spotlight.”

Divestment is an ongoing environmental movement in the United States toted by Bill McKibben and 350.org that encourages cities, states, business, and (mainly) colleges and universities to withdraw their investments from fossil fuel companies that are damaging the environment. Although withdrawing these investments won’t necessarily make a big dent in this multi-billion dollar industry, the goal is to show big businesses and governments that we are determined to start focusing on a future that relies more heavily on renewable energy and that wreaking havoc on the environment to make profit is no longer acceptable, socially, politically, or economically.

    I asked Stephanie to provide some information about herself, and this was her response:

    A lover of all things related to ducks, marshmallows and polka-dots, my name is Stephanie Khoury and I hate grammar and bottled water. One of my favorite places is Ithaca College. As a junior I am kinda getting the whole college thing by making some room for friends and family, but sometimes I breathe, so that’s good. In between editing and interning for the All-American High School Film Festival, by Andrew Jenks (MTV's World of Jenks) I love making documentaries. If you’re an avid Googler, check out some of my docs, including "Expressions of Hope", which recently won the Loreen Arbus Focus on Disability Award at College Television Awards!

    Stephanie also included some cool videos in her writing for you to watch. I encourage you to view them to enhance your knowledge on this topic! Congratulations to all of the people around the country who have successfully obtained or are currently rallying for divestment. Keep fighting the good fight for our tomorrow!

    So, without further ado, I give you Stephanie and her DivestIC spotlight.

Suggested Reading: Fossil Fuel Divestment

Fossil Fuel Divestment 

I asked you to get vocal about the environment in Green Challenge #7. What exactly is going on right now in the world of environmental activism? I’ve already discussed Keystone XL and fracking on Viridorari, but there’s another big movement happening right now, and it’s gaining steam.

Fossil fuel divestment.

Divestment is the opposite of investment- it’s withdrawing current investments or avoiding investing in particular companies. Divestment was popular in the 1980’s to end apartheid in South Africa by withdrawing investments from companies that profited from South Africa. Although the actual economic impact of the South African divestment was minimal, it made a big statement to representatives and legislatures and paved the way for policy change.

And policy change is exactly what Bill McKibben and 350.org, the instigators of this movement, want. McKibben has recently been encouraging colleges and universities around the United States to divest their stocks in fossil fuel companies, in particular, the 200 companies on 350.org’s list. Even if the economic impact isn’t big, the social and moral statement will be. Many colleges boast their environmental friendliness on campus, but then don’t put their money where their mouths are when it comes to investments. (Visit 350.org's website here.)