2 Year Carbon Diet Blog

Social Justice Christians Against Trump

Social Justice Christians Against Trump

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To the extent of my limited abilities and time, I’ve been doing my best to fight the GOP in 2020– mostly through my involvement with environmental organizations.  After some painful nights of cold-calling, though, I was feeling like th

To the extent of my limited abilities and time, I’ve been doing my best to fight the GOP in 2020– mostly through my involvement with environmental organizations.  After some painful nights of cold-calling, though, I was feeling like the environment wasn’t a great selling point when contacting voters.  So last night I tried texting potential Christian voters in Pennsylvania with a social justice-focused Christian group called “Faithful America.”
I really hate both calling and texting voters– it feels invasive, and I find it really hard to see how it can advance a cause because I think people universally loathe being contacted this way by strangers.
But– I also feel like I won’t be able to live with myself if I don’t try to do what I can to end the GOP this election season. So I covered my eyes, and texted 200 registered voters who had been identified by Faithful America as “likely” Christians.
Out of 200 text messages, I got a lot of unsubscribes (understandable!)
I got 3 positive “I voted” or “planning to vote” messages.
I got 5 “Pro-Trump” messages.
I got 2 cryptic but Trump-y messages.
And it’s strange, because even though the numbers of “Biden” and “Trump” responses are not actually that far off from each other, the Trump messages loomed so much larger in my psyche.  After sending the first volley of 200 messages, I had gotten some crazy responses, like:

e environment wasn’t a great selling point when contacting voters.  So last night I tried texting potential Christian voters in Pennsylvania with a social justice-focused Christian group called “Faithful America.”

I really hate both calling and texting voters– it feels invasive, and I find it really hard to see how it can advance a cause because I think people universally loathe being contacted this way by strangers.

But– I also feel like I won’t be able to live with myself if I don’t try to do what I can to end the GOP this election season. So I covered my eyes, and texted 200 registered voters who had been identified by Faithful America as “likely” Christians.

Out of 200 text messages, I got a lot of unsubscribes (understandable!)

I got 3 positive “I voted” or “planning to vote” messages.

I got 5 “Pro-Trump” messages.

I got 2 cryptic but Trump-y messages.

And it’s strange, because even though the numbers of “Biden” and “Trump” responses are not actually that far off from each other, the Trump messages loomed so much larger in my psyche.  After sending the first volley of 200 messages, I had gotten some crazy responses, like:

“As a good Christian, i am voting for Donald Trump and against a liberal abortion loving, senile old moron who loves to sniff little kids.”

and, even more puzzling (possibly funny?)

“Trump will [win] again you capitalist infidel.  Allah be praised!”

It really made me want to quit.  I don’t have a thick skin, and even small doses of negativity tend to burn little holes in my stomach.

Of course, while I was texting with Faithful America, I was also making dinner, trying to listen to my 11-yo tell me about Parkour, building a car wash out of cardboard for my 5-yo, and trying to remember whether I’d hidden the remaining dog food somewhere while trying to avoid stepping on the hungry dog.  So the midst of all this, I did a check-in with my personal understanding of Jesus.

Here’s what I know about Jesus:

– his ministry and discourse focused on women and children at a time when women and children were broadly regarded as second-class citizens, and often as property.

– he was anti-capitalist and advocated selflessness

– he elevated the poor, the sick, beggars, foreigners

– he bravely went up against the hierarchical structures of inequity that characterized his time, ultimately giving his life for the cause.

And, after a small glass of wine, I decided that– spamming or not– sending the words “Christians for social justice and against Trump” to people’s phones was worth it.

In most spheres, we can’t say those words all together, often for good reason.  At church, we don’t want to polarize or be political.  In secular affairs, we don’t want to alienate non-believers.  But, if you are a follower of Jesus, it’s an important moment to cut through the crap of the way practiced “Christianity” has been used to shackle and divide us, and to read some parables with an eye to the WWJD of this election.

So I sent another 200 text messages.  The words “Christian” “social justice” and “against Trump” all belong together.  The clock is ticking.  Let’s say it every way we can.

#2yrCO2 Now Has a Facebook Group

#2yrCO2 Now Has a Facebook Group

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2 year Carbon Diet now has a Facebook Group to support participants.  Check it out here: https://www.facebook.com/groups/2yearcarbondiet/ 

Note: We are piloting the use of Facebook’s “units” scheme as a way to create separate pages for the various 2 year carbon diet actions.  It seems this structure has been created for classes/ online learning, which is why you get a notification that “admin can see your progress in each unit.”  Please disregard this.  Though it seems admins can see if you’ve checked out each “unit”, nobody is actually checking in this case.

Talk About Climate

Talk About Climate

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I hate talking to other people about climate change.  I’d rather talk about almost anything else.  And I don’t think I’m alone in that.  How weird is it to live in this moment of existential threat, with this looming cloud in the room, so scary, so pervasive…. and to find that it’s almost impossible to bring it up.  Even when I organize protests, or participate in protests, I find it hard to want to talk to people about this issue.  My kids have the book “Magic School Bus: the Climate Challenge” and honestly, I hate reading it to them.  One of the worst feelings is to look into the eyes of those who will come after you, and admit to them that you fail them in a million small ways every day.
So now that I’ve admitted how much I dislike having to talk about climate change, I will tell you that I try to do it every day anyway. Sometimes with humor, sometimes on social media, sometimes one-on-one, I try to be real with people about what I know.  Some days I feel stronger in my ability to do this, some days I feel weaker.  Some nights I lie awake and worry, and some nights I’m able to take in the sweep of life history, and see that cataclysmic change has always been part of the history of life.
The thing that would make it easier to talk about climate change would be if other people were willing to talk about it more.  Just in small ways, for example: “I thought about flying to visit both sides of my family for the holidays, but I didn’t because I’m worried about how burning that much jet engine fuel will negatively impact my kids’ future.”  or “I need to set aside some time to research electric heat pump technology, so I can see if it’s possible to get my house free of natural gas and its problem with methane emissions.”
This, in the end, is what THEY, (the oil companies, the Trump Administration, the plastic producers, the big box retailers, the airline industry, Big Ag, and so on) are afraid of. They’re so afraid, that they tried to softball the release of the very scary 4th National Climate Change Assessment Part II by dropping it on Black Friday at 2pm, while we were shopping, taking tryptophan-induced naps, playing with kids, hanging Christmas lights, etc. etc.  They are afraid because they know that we love our kids enough to change, and that the details of this report put a price tag on the impacts of climate change in all of our lifetimes.  They are terrified of us talking.
So let’s talk.  And by talking we will make change.  And at least, we can look our kids in the eye and at least say that we tried to be honest.
#talkaboutclimate #letstalkclimatechange
Why We Must Act Now on Climate

Why We Must Act Now on Climate

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This is an important moment to take personal action against climate change.

The next two years– the 24 months between January 2018 and January 2020– likely represent the last moment we have to pump the brakes on the accelerating feedback loop of global warming.

The way we play the next two years can have a big impact.  Taken en masse, our every day decisions make up that ever accelerating curve of global greenhouse gas emissions.  Greenhouse Gas Emissions Are Still RisingIf we continue to fly, drive, eat, and buy in the same accelerated fashion we’ve been doing since the 2008 global economic downturn, we are almost certainly condemning our kids and grandkids to a climate that is hostile to human civilization (a global temperature increase of 2.5 degrees C by 2100).

What if, for just two years, we all decided we wanted to bend that arc away from the danger zone, by consciously abstaining from the actions we know are to blame?  I like milk products, but I am willing to quit my share of them for two years.  I would like to take my son to Japan someday, but I can hold on that until I can feel more certainty about whether it is possible to buy meaningful carbon offsets for the enormous carbon cost of that airplane journey.

Are there CO2-producing actions you could abstain from until 2020 to help give us a shot at bending that curve?  Why not try.  

This site has no buttons to sign up, and no pledges.  You can figure out what the spirit of this means to you, and pledge on social media if you want to, using the hashtag #2yrCO2.  Let us know how you’re planning to pivot.