Take Action
The multiple converging emergencies that threaten to overwhelm our world are not your fault or mine. But if we don’t take responsibility, who will?
Thankfully, more and more people around the world are waking from the trance of “business as usual” and finding ways to speak out and work for change. It turns out that regardless of success or failure, working together in a worthy cause is inspiring, invigorating, and deeply fulfilling. And there are literally millions of ways to plug in, from small groups to large organizations.
In this space I will offer a sampling of options for contributing your time and energy where it is needed most – or at least dipping your toe into the current of change. I concentrate my own efforts on three particular areas (listed below), but I contribute to many others by signing a petition, showing up at a rally, making a donation . . .
Every issue is vitally important, and for each, one or more citizen groups has formed to work for fairness and sanity. Pick the one that calls to you and give what you can. Time, money, energy, creativity – it all counts.
To learn more, read my essay “The Community of Hope” here.
To plunge right in without further ado, check out the suggestions on the right-hand side of this page. Below you’ll find links to my own particular issues of priority concern.
HOW YOU CAN HELP:
TERM LIMITS FOR THE SUPREME COURT! With 33-year Justice Clarence Thomas unabashedly on the take, 18-year Justice Samuel Alito openly supporting insurrection against the Constitution, and a full one-third of the Court appointed by Donald Trump, it’s no wonder our democracy has been backed into a corner. Replacing lifetime Supreme Court appointments with limited terms would restore balance to our system of checks and balances. The Supreme Court Tenure Establishment and Retirement Modernization Act – or TERM – proposes fixed 18-year terms for Supreme Court Justices, with one new nomination in the first and third years of each presidential term. Read and sign a petition to Congress from Left Click here to restore democracy to our judicial system.
NO PERMITS FOR LINE 5! Operated by the notorious Canadian company Enbridge, the aging Line 5 pipeline transports 22 million gallons of crude oil and liquid natural gas across 645 miles of countryside every day, illegally trespassing on the sovereign territory of the Bad River Band of the Ojibwe Nation along the way. To date, 30 separate spills have leaked a total of 1.1 million gallons of toxic fossil fuels. The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers has prepared a draft “Environmental Assessment” of Enbridge’s proposed re-route and expansion of the pipeline, which is now open for public comment through Aug. 4. Join the Sierra Club in demanding permanent closure of Line 5, or at the very least a full-scale Environmental Impact Statement (EIS) before making any decision. Read and sign the petition here.
(And remember, signing petitions is not enough!)
Native activists speak out against Line 5.
Photo: Devon Young Cupery
Take Action and Learn More
Our political, social, and environmental concerns are all connected at the root. I have concentrated my own efforts on the three areas listed below, Every issue is vitally important, and for each, one or more citizen groups has formed to work for fairness and sanity. Pick the one that calls to you and give what you can. Time, money, energy, creativity – it all counts.
Stephen Wing
Poet, activist and author Stephen Wing lives in Atlanta with his wife Dawn Aura and assorted pets. Read more about him here.