Buy green. In this market-driven economy, what you buy and what you don’t buy have an impact. Look for socially responsible businesses and products. Avoid excess packaging and single-use plastics. Buy locally to cut down on transportation emissions. Purchase products with recycled content. Boycott ones that come at the expense of the planet. Your dollars speak loudly.
Put your money to work for justice. When you buy organic, you guarantee more farmers can grow healthy, safe food. When you buy fair trade, you provide living wages and fight poverty. When you buy from a business owned by women or people of color, you help build an inclusive economy. When you bank with a community bank or credit union, you are investing locally, and you are likely not funding fossil fuel projects. Choose justice.
Invest and divest. Invest in the future, not the past. Your bank account, insurance, or stock portfolio may be supporting the fossil fuel industry. Find out what businesses benefit from your money. If they do not align with your values, divest. Change banks, insurance companies, or stockbrokers and tell them why. Make your money support clean energy and sustainable practices.
Take stock of your stock. Follow the lead of
Wespath, The United Methodist Church’s financial steward. Their values include long-term prosperity for all, social cohesion, and environmental health. Change your own financial portfolio to include socially responsible investments (SRI) or funds that take into account environmental, social, and governance (ESG) factors. Invest with your values.
Finance a better future for all. Donate to organizations doing work you believe in but cannot do yourself. Even a small financial gift helps. And the collective return on investment is huge. Explore United Methodist
Creation Justice Movement donation options.
Invest in a young person’s future. Purchase stock in renewable energy (solar or wind, for example) and give it to your teenager or young adult. Take the opportunity to talk about the hopes you have for their future that they live securely in a sustainable world. Throughout the year, as the stock reports come, the two of you will have opportunity to talk about what you value both in terms of money management and care for the Earth.
Buy community renewables. Not every home, business, or development can go all solar or put up a wind farm. However, more and more private companies and utilities are offering power from renewables for a buy-in, which offsets some of the monthly costs for electricity and supports the expansion of clean energy sources. Check with your local utility or with
Arcadia for solar that doesn’t require a roof.
Put your land or your rooftop to work. Contact a community solar provider to see if what you have to offer is a good candidate for them to lease. Community solar programs need space. If you have it, you can benefit financially from the lease and know that others will benefit from your choice to help the economy move to renewables.
Advocate for financial action. Climate change has financial consequences for the economy, which means for all of us. Government engagement is essential for moving away from fossil fuels and toward a sustainable future. We need to pressure law- and policymakers to act on our behalf. Check out this 5-minute video from
Evergreen Action to learn more and then speak up to those with power.
Use your power for good. Of the many daily financial decisions we make, from the grocery store to the stock market, a number will involve choices about how we care for creation and what we do for justice. Be vigilant in evaluating seemingly small choices. They can lead to big dividends.
