As a retired high school physics and earth science teacher, I am deeply concerned about the urgency of the climate crisis.

Climate change will devastate the global economy, cause widespread conflict, and displace millions of people — this is how the United Nations Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change summarized its latest report released in March. These dire predictions leave many without hope and feeling powerless. I would like to suggest three actions that we could undertake that would have the potential for far-reaching and significant impact.

As a member of PeaceWorks, I believe that ending the preparation for and waging of wars, as elusive as attaining that goal might seem to be, is the number one solution to the climate crisis. The military has by far the largest carbon foot print on the planet. If we are to ever end war, we must effectively deal with the jobs issue. It is possible for Bath Iron Works to make windmills, solar panels, and light rail rather than ships of war.

Activists in Bath (Midcoast Citizens for Sustainable Economies) are sponsoring a June 27 forum which will explore the conversion/ diversification movement across the US. A key step coming out of this meeting will be a statewide effort to pass a law in Augusta mandating the creation of a permanent conversion planning commission similar to one passed in Connecticut last year. With your help we can inject this issue into statewide elections this fall.

A second action would be to become involved locally in efforts to enact a revenue-neutral carbon fee and dividend. According to both conservative and liberal economists, the most efficient way to address carbon emissions is through a market-based, revenueneutral carbon fee. A revenue-neutral fee, as proposed by Midcoast Maine Citizens’ Climate Lobby, would be assessed as far upstream as possible (e.g., the mine or oil refinery) and return revenue directly to Americans by way of a monthly dividend payment. The fee would encourage both industry and consumers to choose more sustainable energy options; the dividend payments to individuals would help offset increased fuel costs.

A similar fee has been implemented successfully in British Columbia, and studies by Regional Economic Models Inc. in California, Washington, Massachusetts and, mostly recently, the United States as a whole, have found that a revenue-neutral fee might both reduce emissions and boost the economy. At the same time, we would be reducing our dependence on foreign oil, strengthening our infrastructure and avoiding the worst (and most expensive) repercussions of unmitigated climate change — all of which will leave us with a more secure and sustainable way of life.

A third action would be getting involved locally in the growing divestment movement. The fossil fuel industry has spent vast sums to deny science and foster a climate of doubt. Their CEOs and their purchased politicians need to be prosecuted for willful negligence in denying the truth of climate science. The industry needs to be stigmatized and shown to be the rogue industry that it is. The world’s fossil fuel reserves are several times what scientists estimate can be burned while staying within the internationally recognized limit of 3.6 degrees Fahrenheit of warming.

Nonetheless, the fossil fuel industry continues to spend hundreds of billions of dollars exploring for new reserves, and it continues to block meaningful political action to stop climate change. As citizens, we cannot stand by idly as our future, and the future of our children, is recklessly gambled away.

Many believe that the power of the fossil fuel industry is the primary obstacle to stopping climate change. Divestment aims to highlight the destructive practices of this industry and to wake up our nation to the most pressing ethical issue of our time. We need to ask our towns and state, our faith communities, our colleges and universities to divest from the fossil fuel industry to send that industry a clear message that it needs a new business model.

Divestment movements work. When Nelson Mandela was released from prison, he visited California to thank personally the students who pushed the University of California to divest from South Africa. Now, the apartheidera hero Desmond Tutu has called for fossil fuel divestment, writing that we can stop climate change if we use the tactics that worked in South Africa.

The 350Maine.org Divestment Team invites you to sponsor a divestment resolution in your town, municipality or faith community. They can provide you with a simple starter kit that is straightforward and easy to use.

So there you have it: three local actions you can undertake to deal with the climate crisis; and while doing so meet new friends, reconnect with neighbors, and nurture a sense of community in your hometown.

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Billy Rixon has written this commentary on behalf of Peaceworks. He lives in Freeport.