On November 1st, I was on SEPTA, a place to catch bits and pieces of what neighbors are talking about on any given day. The person sitting behind me was on the phone. They said, “You know, it’s going to be really warm today. I don’t understand what’s going on. It’s going to be 80 degrees.” The day before had been an unusually warm Halloween. Election Day was also too warm for comfort. As was the day after, when many of us learned the results.
In our region, the start of fall was a time of unseasonably warm weather. It also was the longest stretch without measurable rainfall in recorded history.
Last month, I felt so much grief.
It wasn’t just about the temperature. Things like walking around outside in November in just a t-shirt or not being able to go camping on the weekend because it’s too profoundly dry to have a campfire serve as reminders of something much bigger: what we’re on track to do to our planet – and ourselves. So many real people’s lives are at stake with climate change, and I feel an obligation to them, to all of us, to do what I can to help save lives. We all deserve to live and thrive, no matter where we are or how much money we make.
In the past couple of weeks, the weather may have returned to something that feels more like normal, but the threats of climate change continue to loom. Asheville, North Carolina may have finally gotten drinkable water restored seven weeks after Hurricane Helene, but the devastation of this hurricane season showed us that there are no climate havens.
So now, facing what it means for the incoming federal government to be hell bent on racing us down a path towards the tipping point of climate catastrophe – and with such disregard for the communities who’ll be most impacted – I feel devastated. And there are so many other issues also at stake here that are weighing on my heart, with terrible impacts I feel clear about and other deeply uncertain impacts I fear.
At the same time, I’ve experienced comfort and hope and trust this past month, looking around my local activism communities, tapping into our shared values and principles, and remembering what we have accomplished together. I know we’re surrounded by rich social movement wisdom, we can choose to keep learning from everything we do, and we’ve got deep capacity to keep growing ever more into our power.
One recent example of this that I got to experience was on November 20th at the Chester County offices of Vanguard, the global investment company. Vanguard is the world’s largest investor in fossil fuels, and also one of the worst when it comes to using its power to encourage its portfolio companies to do better on emissions and environmental justice. For over three years, Earth Quaker Action Team has been part of the Vanguard S.O.S. campaign, an international effort calling on Vanguard to invest for a livable future. With $444 billion invested in fossil fuels, Vanguard could help shape our transition to a more just and sustainable economy if it were to use its power and influence responsibly.
So, two weeks ago, about 30 people went to the entrance of Vanguard’s headquarters in superhero capes and masks. We were reminding ourselves that, when we take collective action, we are heroes. And we were also inviting Vanguard CEO Salim Ramji to be a hero and to take meaningful action on climate change.
This protest was just one of dozens of protests at Vanguard over the course of the Vanguard S.O.S. campaign – locally, and also at Vanguard offices in North Carolina, Arizona, England, and more. This time, it served to show Vanguard that the Vanguard S.O.S. campaign is still going strong. It also served to show us our own power and agency in the face of the most important issues of our time.
At the beginning of the action, we took time to ground and build community with a grief ritual and guided meditation. In the process, we reminded ourselves of our interdependence – how we need each other and how we can do things together that no one of us could do alone.
READ: How Protests That Double as Trainings Are Growing This Fossil Fuel Divestment Campaign
Corporate campaigning has a vital role to play in what our social movements will be up to in the coming years. In the case of Vanguard, the asset manager can no longer hide behind the argument that it’s just waiting to be told by policy or regulation what it must do, that the government is the only institution to deal with climate change. We no longer have time to wait for others to solve climate change for us – and that’s all the more true for the world’s largest investor in fossil fuels.
In the new year, Earth Quaker Action Team will be offering trainings to help prepare ourselves and our movement allies for the work ahead. Subscribing to our newsletter is the best way to get plugged in. National partners in the Vanguard S.O.S. campaign, like Stop the Money Pipeline, offer more ways to come together and demand Vanguard to do better, like signing onto a petition to Vanguard CEO Ramji.
There are many ways we will take powerful collective action in the next year. I’m looking forward to forging ahead with the Vanguard S.O.S. campaign because, no matter who’s in office, corporations like Vanguard must change course and do better.
