In his State of The Union Speech, President Barack Obama noted that Americans are flipping the switch on as much new solar power every three weeks today as they did in all of 2008. There are good and growing reasons for that explosive growth.
And all indications are that solar adoption in the United States will only continue to accelerate in the coming years. The reason: solar technology is advancing rapidly. It's becoming more and more affordable and more and more popular.
Just as cell phones started as cumbersome bricks that cost a fortune and made a statement about the people who used them, rooftop solar panels started out as a weird and expensive technology that we weren't sure would catch on.
Today, Bolivian women pull flip phones from the pockets of their traditional garb and American six-year-olds play Candy Crush on their parents' iPhones without anyone batting an eye.
Reference: help-save-planet.blogspot.com
ShareAction's new online tool.
Billions of pounds are currently flowing into dangerous fossil fuel projects every year.
A massive chunk of this money comes from our savings.
Our pension funds are currently the silent players funding companies who are destroying the climate. And this will continue until people tell them that enough is enough.
But, if these savings were to be moved out of dirty fossil fuels, the financial power of our pension funds could be a major force for good.
Instead of investing in dirty energy, they could be investing in projects and companies that are building a safer, greener economy.
A small number of pension funds are already leading the way with low carbon investment.
With enough pressure, the rest of the pensions sector will follow.
It's your savings they're investing - so if anyone has the power to intervene, it's you.
A new campaign, "Green Light" - run by ShareAction and supported by unions UNITE and UNISON and NGOs including WWF, Greenpeace, Friends of the Earth, Oxfam and Christian Aid - is set up to help both pension fund members and managers support a fruitful and clean energy transition.
British pension funds are currently responsible for the equivalent of almost a quarter of the UK's greenhouse gas emissions through the companies they invest in.
With an inherently long-term perspective, these investors are seen as a key player in the financial industry's role at mitigating climate change.
ShareAction have created the first of a series of online tools, which will allow savers to contact their own pension fund, asking them to divert money away from dirty energy sources and into low-carbon projects - including renewable energy, water and energy efficiency, forestry, recycling etc.
Joining other savers across the UK and around the world, you can put pressure on pension funds.
Individual savings might not seem like much, but combined with thousands of other savers, they make a powerful economic force that can shift the priorities of UK pension funds.
If even a small fraction of the trillion pound pension industry was put to work supporting a low carbon future, we'd see thousands of green jobs created and clean energy powered by new technologies.
This would begin the transition to a safer planet for us to enjoy today and for future generations.
Join the thousands of savers taking action today. Ask your pension fund to invest in a better future.
Contact your pension fund >>
