BoycottPro

stabby_cicada made an interesting comment on how personal choice and leading by example can be combined with politics to effectively address climate change. This is a good article that combines the two approaches, it shows you some changes you can make along with reminding people the importance of voting, and being involved politically. The article mentioned the biggest user of fossil fuels in homes may be a gas fired furnace so if it's time to replace your furnace you may want to consider an electric heat pump.

One thing not mentioned in the article is if you have any incandescent light bulbs that receive regular use consider replacing them with LED. The payback period can be pretty fast for example if you replace a 60w light with a 10w LED assuming you use it for an average of two hours a day and you pay $0.20 kw/h you'll save $7.3 per year. This was calculated as follows:

(60 energy usage of old bulb - 10 energy usage of new bulb) * 2 hours per day average usage * 365 days in a year / 1000 to convert from watts to kilowatts * 0.2 cost per kwh = $7.3.

Over a 10 year period that's $73 in savings.

If the light bulb cost $2.5 to buy you'd break even in only 125 days (a little over 4 months) if we use the same usage assumptions.

Payback period can be calculated like this:

$2.5 cost of light bulb/(50 our energy savings*2 hours of average use)*(1000kw /0.2 price per kwh)

You can see how much individuals associated with British American Tobacco contributed to campaigns. In 2024 it was over $26 million a vast majority of that going to Republicans. https://www.opensecrets.org/orgs/british-american-tobacco/summary?id=D000067317 they also spent over $5 million in lobbying in 2024.

Some other notable quotes from the article:

In February 2021, the Organized Crime and Corruption Reporting Network (OCCRP) published an investigation according to which trafficking of BAT cigarettes had helped finance jihadist and separatist groups in northern Mali using, among other mechanisms, a system of oversupplying the country with tobacco. This has allowed billions of cigarettes to be smuggled out of the country.

In November 2012, the Zimbabwean government arrested several people for spying on factories owned by local tobacco companies, including Pacific Cigarette Company (PCC). BAT's involvement was suspected but not proven.[76][77][78] Later that month, President Robert Mugabe accused BAT of spying and hijacking PCC trucks to "kill competition".[79][80][81] In September 2021, a BBC Panorama investigation found evidence that BAT had enlisted Forensic Security Services, a South African Security firm, to sabotage and surveil factories owned by competitors, including PCC. After the spies were arrested, BAT negotiated a bribe so that the government would release them from jail.[82][83]

This is why I say politics matters more than individual action.

Yes, changing the lightbulbs in your house from incandescent to LED is great but it's just a drop in the bucket. Politicians can mandate energy efficient bulbs for everyone as an example, at scale this makes a huge difference.

We all have 24 hours in a day and a lot less of that is free-time, use it to contact your politicians and urge other people to do that.

I really hope after reading this post that you'll consider sending an email, calling or faxing at-least one politician. Your message can be really simple.

For example this could be your message:

Dear (politician),

I'm really worried about the effects on climate change. I believe it's hurting the economy much more than the cost of transitioning to renewable energy such as solar and wind. I'm calling for ending subsidies for fossil fuel companies and a faster transition to renewable energy.

Thank you so much for your consideration,
(Your name)

See that wasn't so hard was it? Sending an email could take just minutes a day and you're message could have a huge impact.

The Wikipedia article is well worth a read! It looks likes the owner of Dubai-based Legatum Group made his fortunes in part with Russian gas money. The Legatum Institute which it seems is now called the "Prosperity Institute"* is registered in Bermuda and controlled by a company in the Cayman Islands.

* usually at-least speaking about things in the U.S. when a non-profit or a think tank has the words prosperity in it, it usually means that they advocate for a far-right viewpoint that screws over you and helps the billionaires become richer.

I recently posted an article about the effects of Fox News to the politics community.

Fox News is like a virus of the mind, it attacks and destroys reasonable thinking and puts people in a constant state of fear so they're addicted to watching the program. It tears apart families and infects other with their propaganda too. It spreads lies, misinformation and disinformation.

When I first found out about GB News I felt really worried that another country would have what is essentially a carbon copy of Fox News. It's the same brainwashing slop that differs only in accent. That's why I want to warn about this and do what I can to stop it, I don't want anyone else to suffer the way we're suffering in America. It's scary here, people are getting detained for no reason, even U.S. citizens who had valid ID on them.

I also see Fox News as being similar to a cancer. It will keep growing and growing until someone stops it. In America we didn't do enough to stop Fox News so the cancer has been growing, spreading to other parts of the body and now we're really sick. With advance treatment I think we'll make it but it's not going to be easy. Once we beat our cancer we'll probably have to spend a lot of time fixing the damage caused by the cancer.

My understanding is that GB News is still somewhat in it's infancy, like a stage 1 or stage 2 cancer. You can beat GB News a lot easier than we can beat Fox News. That's why I'm calling on you to take action now and defeat GB News.

You have the power to prevent the U.K. from becoming like the U.S. I recently found out about a campaign called "Stop Funding Hate". They do a great job listing who advertised on GB News on their Bluesky account.. Consider following them and contacting the advertisers. It could only take a few minutes a day and it will make a huge difference in defunding hate.

Another idea is writing to Legatum, the foreign Dubai based investors who own GB News. Contact them here: https://www.legatum.com/about/contact/. Tell them you don't like GB News.

Also consider sending this video: https://bsky.app/profile/stopfundingheat.bsky.social/post/3lnhwsu7h6c2j to Ofcom. Proof that the purpose of GB News is influence.

According to an article from the EU Council the United States supplies 16.5% of all gas to the EU. For LNG it's a staggering 45% which makes the United States the top supplier of LNG to the EU.

Those fossil fuel companies then take those profits and give it to the Republican party and Trump. OpenSecrets has a webpage that displays the enormous amount of money contributed to the Republican party (labeled in red). The Republican party is mostly dependent on a few well off donors. If you take those donations away it will make a huge difference fighting the global far-right because American politics is driven by money. Money is what fuels the Republican party, without that fuel they will putter out. The reason I say global far-right is because those fossil fuel companies and the Republicans are not just hurting America, they are hurting the world. As an example Koch Industries is interfering with European politics as documented here and more recently here.

With Trump declaring economic warfare against Europe, U.S. politicians like JD Vance and Marco Rubio and oligarchs like Elon Musk interfering with Europe's politics, it's Europe's duty and right to fight back! I feel one of the most powerful ways to fight back is to fight against the U.S. fossil fuel companies who helped put Trump in power. Not only that but fossil fuels are hurting the planet so when you fight those companies you are saving the world both environmentally and politically.

Also it's not just U.S. fossil fuels that are problematic. Russia is funding their invasion of Ukraine using money from fossil fuels and countries in the middle east use fossil fuel money to fund terrorism. Defeating these companies will help bring peace to the world and save the planet.

The solution is electrification powered by renewable energy. No more will Europe be dependent on foreign nations who fund extremists, instead clean power will be generated locally.

Here is how you can help advocate for this:

1. The most important thing to do is demand faster electrification and switch to renewable energy from your politicians. Because of the situation in the U.S. and because the technology is getting so much better I feel there will be more political will for this so now is the time to strike. Please reach out to all the politicians you can and simply state that you want a much faster transition to renewable energy such as solar and wind to help save the planet and to prevent funding extremists and terrorists.

2. Spread the message. On other platforms you can either post a link to this or post something in your own words advocating for a faster transition away from fossil fuels. Also consider writing op-eds or letters to the editor to local news publications.

3. If you can consider getting solar and/or wind yourself if it's right for you. I personally feel that political advocacy is much more important than individual choices but if you can make the change yourself please do, every bit helps! The reason why politics matters more than individual choices is because they set the standards for lots of people so if for example you only have 30 minutes a day to devote to this your time will likely be way better spent on politics than personal choices or trying to get other people to make different personal choices.

One idea I had is the EU could issue an ultimatum to U.S. fossil fuel companies: either stop donating to the Republican party or we will immediately cease buying your fossil fuels.

Also I would recommend identifying who are the largest users of fossil fuels, of those who can most easily switch to renewable energy. Keep picking the lowest hanging fruit until everyone is no longer using fossil fuels. If everyone works together to focus on one low hanging fruit at the same time I think it will be powerful.