With great power comes great responsibility

Finally, I want to address the wealthy and the greater impact you have.

What the top 10% can do:

If you are wealthy, which I define as being in the top 10% of income earners in your area, then you have additional responsibilities and abilities besides those I’ve already outlined to supercharge the change we need.

For starters, government leaders listen to your opinions more. That is the ugly truth we all know. So use your power to pressure leaders, and don’t let up on them. They must make changes now, not ten years from now, not a year from now, NOW. Many of you are lawmakers, so please begin leading the charge in whatever position you fill.

Most of the population cannot afford very much of the grassfed, local, organic, ethically-sourced food and clothes, etc., even though we want them, and until those are more mainstream, prices will stay high. You have the ability to bridge the gap and nurture the ambitions and good work of local farmers and local craftsmen.

If you speak out in any way on environmental issues, then make absolutely sure you are walking the talk. Otherwise, you are doing damage to the cause with your hypocrisy – there are too many limousine liberals who have soured ordinary people on environmentalism by preaching about climate issues and then flying to their next speaking gig in their private plane. There is no excuse for that sort of behavior.

Want to leave a legacy? Want to be remembered the way Andrew Carnegie’s library projects have made his memory live on? Devote your charitable donations to establish grants, loan programs, and scholarships for sustainable agriculture businesses and for helping retrofit houses with solar power or similar projects.

Stop the damage you are doing: Rethink your yacht. http://www.sailorsforthesea.org/programs/green-boating-guide/carbon-footprint. Ditch the private plane. Change your conspicuous consumption from constant trips overseas, luxury clothes made in sweatshops and transported thousands of miles and enormous and water-sucking lawns to building your own team of bespoke tailors locally to make you completely unique clothes, beautiful landscapes of native plants that nurture beneficial plants and insects and also provide you with healthy organic food, make wild and impressive projects like installing a private neighborhood trolley car system on The Hamptons or similar neighborhoods, and acquire the latest and greatest technology to make your beautiful home both comfortable and energy efficient. Every time you have an impulse to indulge in something, especially something impressive, think about how you can impress people in an eco-conscious way.

Don’t assume you can just buy carbon offsets and that will make your waste and carbon emissions okay. Not only are carbon offsets only a partial and temporary fix that should not be relied upon, if you take the lazy way out you are depriving legitimately good local businesses of the chance to build a robust ecosystem of food, household items, luxury goods, building materials, and commerce that does not require carbon offsets. Again, carbon offsets are a band-aid designed to make you feel less guilty. We are all focusing now on getting to a place where we don’t need carbon offsets.

I am specifically NOT saying it’s bad to enjoy having money. I am NOT saying it’s bad to enjoy luxury. I am saying that those with wealth and power need to use it very intentionally to help create a world where their descendants will be able to survive.