Climate activists need vacations too Union Station in Los Angeles. | Photo by S. Greg Panosian/iStock By Cynthia Kaufman August 9, 2023 Sierra Magazine I am a climate activist committed to serious policy change, but I also wanted a vacation. I had a big chunk of time off work, and I wanted to go snorkeling. I … Continue reading My Cross-Country, Low-Carbon Road Trip
Anti-capitalism and the Climate Crisis: A review
Every day it becomes clearer how important it is to understand the political and economic forces that are getting in the way of addressing the climate crisis. The scientists’ understanding of the crisis is clear. The technological solutions to support human life into the future without destroying the natural matrix we depend on are … Continue reading Anti-capitalism and the Climate Crisis: A review
Advice for Joining the Climate Justice Movement
The reason the world is not making the transition away from the use of fossil fuels at the speed required for human thriving is because of entrenched systems of power. Getting those systems to change will take everything we have. As Frederick Douglass said, “Power concedes nothing without a demand. It never has and it … Continue reading Advice for Joining the Climate Justice Movement
Consumerism, Sustainability, and Happiness: How to Build a World Where Everyone has Enough
Order Here What would it take to have a world where everyone had enough? How can we eliminate poverty, leave enough for non-human nature, and increase wellbeing? This book explores ways the reader can live their life, engage with cultural change, and engage with policy making, to build that world. We are presently on a … Continue reading Consumerism, Sustainability, and Happiness: How to Build a World Where Everyone has Enough
We Can Solve the Climate Crisis Without Worrying About Population
I am working on a book that argues that the world has enough for everyone. To get to that world of enough, we need better ways to organize society such that the politics of profit aren’t driving social, economic, and political decision making. One of the reviews I received on my manuscript took me to … Continue reading We Can Solve the Climate Crisis Without Worrying About Population
Shifting Wasteful Consumption
In San Mateo County California, where I live, advocates worked hard to create a new public electricity supplier that would provide everyone electricity from renewable sources at no extra cost. I turn off the light when I leave a room, but my personal carefulness does not come close to the impact of the work people … Continue reading Shifting Wasteful Consumption
Consumerism, Inequality, and the Climate Crisis
Is it possible to build a society where people have enough to live well and also feel that they have enough? Or are we doomed as a species to stay on the hedonic treadmill that keeps us wanting more consumer goods, even as we destroy the natural world to get those things? Are we doomed … Continue reading Consumerism, Inequality, and the Climate Crisis
Is Reinvestment a Good Strategy for the Fossil Fuel Divestment Movement?
Fossil fuel divestment is emerging as a powerful strategy in the fight against climate change. Right now there are hundreds of campaigns in the US as well as globally. Despite the movements' successes, there is much confusion about the roles of politics and economics in divestment work. It is crucial that we keep our focus … Continue reading Is Reinvestment a Good Strategy for the Fossil Fuel Divestment Movement?
Racism, Capitalism, and the Climate Crisis
For the past few years, I have worked with Fossil Free California, a mostly white group, trying to get the gigantic California pension funds to divest from fossil fuels. Two years ago, we embarked on an internal process to look at how race and racism operate within our organization. We started to question how a … Continue reading Racism, Capitalism, and the Climate Crisis
Investing in Destruction: California Teachers Pension Money Should Not Be Funding Line 3
Environmental organizers across the country are converging in Northern Minnesota in support of Indigenous Water Protectors, to stop the construction of the Line 3 pipeline expansion. Across the country, people are protesting, sending letters, and making calls to demand that President Biden shut down the construction of Line 3 just as he called for the … Continue reading Investing in Destruction: California Teachers Pension Money Should Not Be Funding Line 3
Cynthia Kaufman 