Something frequently discussed with regard to climate change, e.g. in the latest IPCC report, is that it's up to governments to shut down coal and oil power plants and provide financial aid to poor countries so they can also do so.
However, hasn't it been governments that have been consistently failing us? Or rather, oil and gas companies failing us, and governments not standing up to them, or helping them? For example, I want to divest from coal and oil, but my country's pension fund, which I'm forced to contribute to if I work at most jobs in my country, is forcing some of "my" investments to be in oil and gas:
https://www.cbc.ca/news/science/pension-funds-ties-to-fossil-fuel-industry-1.6781293
This makes me ask: is it possible for individuals or non-government institutions, etc., to provide the money that's apparently "needed" to switch to renewable energy? It's of course possible to buy stocks in solar panel companies or buy green bonds to finance climate-related projects (similar to how government bonds supply the government's debt and lets them spend money they don't have). Could it be as easy as switching some of our investments to raise the financing needed to cause coal and oil projects to disappear? Or is there something to donate to that would cause them to disappear? If governments of rich countries can do that to help governments of poor countries, then why couldn't individuals or non-government groups?
Even just thinking about the coal power plants in NB, what can individuals do to get them shut down? If NB power doesn't have the money to replace them, then shouldn't individuals be able to invest in something to cause them to be replaced? Or at least buy their electricity elsewhere? But because of, again, the connection of NB power to government and not having another place I can buy electricity (other than buying solar panels, if I own a house), I don't see how we (the people) can shut down those plants.
Of course, it would be a lot easier if we could choose what our pension fund gets invested in. And of course, there are lots of other lifestyle things you can do in your life to reduce your carbon footprint, but I think money is one that is often overlooked, and I don't think most people, including me, have much knowledge of how to use their money to fight climate change.
This looks like a decent charity. They plan to convert coal power plants to nuclear to fight climate change without having a lot of the infrastructure of the power plant go to waste.
Another option I found is various charities who donate solar panels to people in poor countries, or their communities (e.g. to power hospitals). That helps people as well as reduces their reliance on fossil fuels. I don't know what the best such charity is though.
@adamrichard The big coal plants are over 3000 MW, which is a very large nuclear plant. This article looks like a mini 300MW plant. Also, all coal plants I've walked through tend to be falling down.
@hasmis I didn't look into too much detail and don't know much about it, but where do you see that? Could it be that you were just looking at an example power plant? From my understanding their goal is to convert lots of power plants around the world of varying sizes. I'm guessing the ones that are falling down are better off just being decommissioned rather than converted, and they'd probably start with the most cost-effective ones.
@adamrichard Although there are no details, it looks like a mini nuclear reactor. These are 300 MW, and Ontario is installing one. My general impression is that this is a conxxx influencer job. A big single reactor is about 1000 MW.
@hasmis What's a conxxx influencer job?
@adamrichard Sorry, I just think they should provide more details. You can't replace coal with mini reactors.
I did find this example of an individual donating a lot of money to try to end coal:
https://thebulletin.org/2019/06/bloomberg-donates-500-million-to-help-end-coal/
However, looking into the details of the article, a lot of the money apparently just went for political campaigning to try to get governments to change their minds. I was hoping for a way to donate to or invest in an actual project that replaces coal with solar panels, something that people want to do but need funding to make happen. So far I still can't find anything, at least for ordinary people. The best I can think of is to do energy upgrades, or lend money to people who want to do energy upgrades but need money to do them sooner. We have enough money in the world to stop climate change, and it sucks that I can't find a way to coordinate enough people with that money to do it.