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.