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Ask HN: Best ways to spend money towards climate efforts

78 points| esotericn | 6 years ago

Hello HN,

I'm going to be putting a significant percentage of my income aside going forward in order to combat climate change.

Let's say, as an order of magnitude estimate, between $250-$2500/mo.

I've already made a lot of changes to lower my personal impact and I'd like to go further. It strikes me that, for example, though I own an electric car, this is almost certainly not the most effective use of funds.

Possible ways include:

- supporting protests globally with funds

- buying carbon offsetting directly

- buying / funding research into carbon capture

- funding renewable energy in general etc

What does HN think? Opinions on specific businesses, charities, platforms, etc?

How can individuals use their earning power to make a difference?

79 comments

order
[+] duckerude|6 years ago|reply
The effective altruism movement should be worth checking out. They're focused on finding the most cost-effective options for charitable giving.

They mainly target other cause areas in which they expect marginal donations to do more good, but their general approach is very useful to understand even if you have a narrower goal.

There is general information about the approach here: https://www.effectivealtruism.org/

And an analysis of climate change in particular here: https://www.givingwhatwecan.org/research/other-causes/climat...

https://www.givingwhatwecan.org/post/2013/11/less-burn-for-y... evaluates a few specific charities that attempt to reduce greenhouse gases.

[+] henryaj|6 years ago|reply
Note that the Giving What We Can recommendations are from 2013; they're likely no longer valid.
[+] code_scrapping|6 years ago|reply
I have the feeling that the answers below are going away from what the OP was trying to find out.

It's not about going vegan, starting a garden or using condoms. If a person is already exhausted personal efforts (to the extent one can with a given life condition), where can we help by directly investing.

Because I'm a working professional with solid income, maybe I don't have time/space to do the time-consuming activities proposed, but I do have excess funds that I can direct to the higher cause.

So - where should we invest our money, and not our time? Because we possible have the first, and not the later :(

[+] toomuchtodo|6 years ago|reply
Support candidates who have climate change mitigation as part of their top priorities. Local, state, federal, whatever. You will have no greater leverage than through public policy. Until an election cycle occurs, aggressively engage with your representatives or pay an org to do so.

The US military is one of the largest CO2 emitters in the world. No non profit or startup can fix something like that, but public policy can. At the local level, you can form a muni electric coop and buy only renewable energy in bulk. You can change zoning to phase out gas stations, disincentive internal combustion use, and acquire electric buses for mass transit (both cheaper and faster to deploy than light rail). Similar changes can be made at the state level. But these changes are then impactful act scale.

Find a political point of leverage and exert maximum force. I understand the squeamish feeling, but these are not tech problems; these are people problems. The tech is already mostly solved.

[+] _bfhp|6 years ago|reply
I do agree that answers in the vein of "doing more stuff" doesn't help when someone wants to spend money, not time. But with a mindset of incrementalism, vegetarianism and veganism can be mostly effortless. Mentally/spiritually grappling with and letting go of the social incentives and punishments around having children (called "natalism" by some) may take effort, but if you are already in a position where these don't really affect you, it's effortless: it's not doing something.

What's more, I can frame purchases within these lifestyle choices what OP wants: buying more expensive substitutes for animal-based food I'm used to is investing in the environment and the well-being of sentient creatures. Purchases for hobbies, adopted pets, and experiences is money I would have spent on child-rearing.

[+] esotericn|6 years ago|reply
Right.

I wholly agree with all of those. In fact I'm doing all of the ones that are practical for me.

The main purpose of my post is - I believe that my talents in software development allow me to use that for good.

Essentially, that by me voluntarily reducing my consumption and redirecting it towards climate efforts, I can do more and faster.

I think this is genuinely more efficient than quitting my job and going all-in on protest or working directly for a charity.

Whether it's more efficient than starting one - time will tell.

[+] rndgermandude|6 years ago|reply
You miss the point of condoms. They do not work just for you, and a sizable chunk of the world population has limited or no affordable access to contraceptives, or doesn't know how to use them. And there are quite a few charities dedicated to changing this, thus not only helping the climate, but lowering human suffering (starvation, overcrowding, STDs) in general.
[+] perfunctory|6 years ago|reply
I have spent a very, very long time thinking about it. Now, I can't give you a detailed report with numbers, but my hunch is this:

After having made personal adjustments and having moved your investments from fossil to renewables, the most efficient way to spend money is to donate to XR [0], and then take some time off (opportunity cost) and join the movement on the streets.

[0] https://xrebellion.org

[+] henryaj|6 years ago|reply
How did you come to this conclusion? Hard to imagine XR being underfunded, spending the money effectively, and being more effective on the margin than other climate charities.
[+] idoubtit|6 years ago|reply
My view on climate efforts is rather orthogonal: spend less money.

A large part of the damages to the world comes from the consumerism of modern society. Mass tourism destroys pretty places and their social structure, mass farming destroy ecosystems from soils and insects to birds and trees, mass consumption means more pollution and climate change.

I last bought clothes two years ago. I wait for end-of-life before changing what I have (computer, phone, etc). I don't mind taking a quarter an hour to cook a meal, so I mostly buy local raw food, and very rarely meat. I avoid mega stores. On a typical week, I don't use my wallet, only the change that I keep near my home door to buy bread. That is the kind of life I enjoy, and it is sustainable at large scale.

[+] esotericn|6 years ago|reply
I agree and try to practice it as much as practicable.

I actually don't think this is orthogonal, though.

Ultimately - at least if you're a full time salary(wo)man - you're getting the money anyway.

So step 1 is to not spend it on crap. Step 2 is to spend it on actively positive things.

[+] ptah|6 years ago|reply
I would say: - go vegan - learn permaculture/similar to grow some of your own food - invest in tree planting/greening initiatives
[+] chunkyslink|6 years ago|reply
Yes. This is the single best thing any human can do. It would have an overnight impact on climate change if the world stopped consuming meat from Agribusiness.

Forests would not be cut down for beef, therefore sustaining trees that remove C02. Species extrinction would slow down because of sustaining habitats.

[+] wtdata|6 years ago|reply
Let's please stop with the vegan fallacy. Cutting all meat production (and it's support industries) in USA and EU together, would have an impact of the global emissions of only 1%. [1] [2]

The more we try to mix personal ideologies (i.e. animal rights) with climate change, the more we are going to make the public at large ignore everything about the theme.

P.S: If you are really after a personal action to fight climate change, take public transportation to work, or better go by bicycle. [3] That - unlike veganism, actually makes a huge difference.

EDIT: Added links with the actual facts supporting both points. USA Meat Industry and associated industries emits 3% of their country total.[1] Same for every highly developed country due to very high efficiency of the process. Transportation on the other side, accounts for 27% of the country total in USA. [3] USA and EU together account for 20% of the world total emissions [2]

[1] citeseerx.ist.psu.edu/viewdoc/download?doi=10.1.1.182.3630&rep=rep1&type=pdf

[2] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_countries_by_carbon_di...

[3] https://skepticalscience.com/animal-agriculture-meat-global-...

[+] Glench|6 years ago|reply
After personal decarbonization (using an electric car powered by renewables, using a heat pump / radiant heating powered by renewables [1], not using airplanes, eating less meat, living close to where you work and play so you don't have to use much transportation), I think funding political candidates could be a good use of your budget. It certainly seems like national candidates have an outsized impact on how quickly we as a nation mobilize to decarbonize.

Funding local elections is also an interesting way to invest where marginal dollars have a bigger impact. An acquaintance of mine has an organization that identifies local elections around the US with large climate impacts (like fossil fuel pipelines) and funds candidates that will be able to stop them. He told me their success rate is 90%. You can contribute on their site: http://leadlocally.org/

Also, I know that Wren has options for sending money to carbon-offsetting projects that usually also reduce poverty: https://projectwren.com

[1] https://medium.com/otherlab-news/how-do-we-decarbonize-7fc2f...

[+] cies|6 years ago|reply
I think habit-change and lobby for increased taxation on climate burdening behavior are the best options.

A vegan requires a fraction of the climate burden for his/her food compared to someone on a regular diet.

And without a fair-and-square climate impact tax (i.e.: a CO2eq tax), we are going no where.

[+] Juliate|6 years ago|reply
I'm considering doing so as well (after having read https://nadiaeghbal.com/microgrants) with a small personal fund first, that I will consider to open to friends & family later. France context.

However I'm wondering about the efficiency, that will start as an experiment first.

Not many different targets than yours, but my hunch starts with funding & following up in their development _local_, identified young students projects/studies working on energy, water, food, environment & politics.

The benefit is that:

  * they're already aware of the situation,
  * they'll see support from people for that area specifically
    (both financial and moral, and networking),
  * they'll have far better energy & networking & ideas & initiative to spread this further,
  * I can spread funding to more different people at first
   (funding with a significant impact is easier to reach toward students).
[+] counterpig|6 years ago|reply
Maybe look into investing in triodos bank or something similar.

A lot of the changes that need to happen are quite costly and realistically unless you are a millionaire there isn't a lot you can do to fund a solar or wind farm on your own. But by investing in an ethical bank with a focus on renewable energy you can pool money with other like minded investors to fund these projects.

Another option is a p2p lending platform like abundance https://www.abundanceinvestment.com/investments

But bare in mind these are pretty risky investments.

You could also make steps to reduce your own carbon footprint e.g purchasing solar panels or something similar. Or if you have access to a renewable energy provider or a provider with a green tariff consider switching.

Finally aside from money, investing your time in your local government to make it clear you think they should be doing more is potentially more impactful. Especially if you are based in the US.

[+] catears|6 years ago|reply
One thing that will cost you comparatively little and is often overlooked is moving any savings investments into options which have some form of climate/ethics guidelines (for example investing only in wind, water and solar in the energy sector). A lot of people here on HN often talk about index funds and these quite often invest in large oil companies such as exxon, shell or bp. I don't know the rules outside of my own country for selling and buying investment options but generally if you move a large sum of money from one option to another you need to pay taxes (and you seem to be able to put away some money per month for this so thats why I suggest it).

I also think it makes sense if you are the kind of person who wants to help fight climate change that you do not let your savings fight against your personal goals and values.

[+] dgellow|6 years ago|reply
If I may be slightly off-topic, I have a similar question I still haven't found a satisfying answer to:

What's the best way to spend my work time towards climate efforts? (i.e: I have useful professional skills, how can I help in a serious way?)

For example, is there anything like a job board focus on companies/organizations/scientist labs/other structures working on stuff related to climate change? As a software engineer, I would greatly prefer to work for a group that has some positive impact on the situation, and I would expect that there is a demand for better tools, platforms, etc that can help research or whatever is the important thing to do.

[+] marapuru|6 years ago|reply
Another way of approaching this could be to look into what you can do without money. As a wealthy person, it makes sense to think that money is the only way to DO something or to make a change.

But how about this:

- Work less (no transportation needed, less power needed)

- Go out for a walk in a park, meadows, forest etc.

- Explore and discover nature and realize how much benefit it already gives you (apart from oxygen, food etc.)

- Inspire other people to take a walk

This could stress the importance of nature for well-being to others. Making it more easy for them to make a eco-friendly decision.

[+] Slimbo|6 years ago|reply
You could consider Divestment, making sure any of your pension investments, savings accounts etc are not invested in fossil fuel equities.
[+] lcall|6 years ago|reply
As commented in 2 recent discussions (I got upvoted once, downvoted once, on them):

https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=20339865

https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=20353814

...in effect we are not competent to solve this or our other key problems while rejecting the creator (and basic rules like honesty and the Golden Rule), and that none of the current events should be surprising at all, though they are sad. These are predicted, expected, and it will get worse, but we can be at peace and seek good things, and really, we can be OK. Linked to details on why I think that, and more info (a simple site: http://lukecall.net/e-9223372036854581820.html)

[+] surfgreen_dev|6 years ago|reply
I commute by bike to my office every day and heavily use german train connections. Haven't touched my car for a long time. If I could I'd invest in an electrical freight bicycle, so that I can transport also heavier stuff.

A friend of mine has invested in a sustainable fond that supports green and sustainable project across Europe.

I, myself, have put an amount of money to found my own company that is focussed on green and sustainable web design/development/ux to create energy efficient websites and webapps as the internet is becoming a heavy factor in carbon dioxide emission. With https://www.surfgreen.dev you can test websites regarding their sustainability. It's still in beta and not finished yet, but already working.

Best,

Carl

[+] henrik_w|6 years ago|reply
I trust https://www.goclimateneutral.org/ (but with a higher amount than just offsetting your current lifestyle).

Started by (among others) Henrik Kniberg, author of SCRUM and XP from the Trenches.

[+] willmoss1000|6 years ago|reply
Money will be best spent in areas that change the global agenda. We are moving faster and faster in the wrong direction. Money spent on carbon offset etc. will only delay the issue very slightly, but they may well clear your conscience and make you feel good.